‘The Nasty Things Bad People Say’: George Floyd’s Daughter Endures Cruel Taunts From Classmates—Five Years After His Death, the Hate Lives On
The name that rallied millions to unite in a global call for racial justice is now being turned against the little girl who believed her father’s death at the hands of a cold-blooded cop had changed the world for good.
George Floyd—whose brutal murder in 2020 became a powerful symbol of the Black Lives Matter movement and sparked a global reckoning over racism and police violence—is now the subject of a bullying campaign aimed at his 11-year-old daughter, Gianna.
On May 25, 2020, Floyd was murdered by then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on his neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds outside a convenience store. Floyd had been detained on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill.
Just days before the five-year anniversary of the murder, reports have surfaced that Gianna Floyd is being bullied at her Texas middle school by classmates echoing the same cruel rhetoric that has circulated in right-wing circles to smear her father’s memory.
MAGA conservatives have been clamoring for a pardon for Chauvin, while spreading the false claim that Floyd died of a drug overdose, rather than from Chauvin’s brutal actions. With Donald Trump now back in office, that revisionist narrative has only gained traction, making it almost inevitable that such an asinine theory and other hurtful attitudes would trickle down from political circles to the schoolyard.
“They’ve teased her at school,” an editorial revealed recently in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “They know about her father and the nasty things bad people say about him, so they repeat those words.”
Now, the weight of her father’s legacy—and the conservative backlash it continues to provoke, —has fallen squarely on Gianna’s young shoulders, as her classmates mirror the same hatred that once shadowed her dad’s troubled life.
Gianna’s mother, Roxie Washington, says she’s torn on how to respond. “Do I run up to the school and act like ‘Who did what?’ Or do I let her fight her own battle?” she said. “I don’t want her to feel like she’s by herself. But I want her to be able to stand on her own two feet.”
Gianna became a symbol of hope in the aftermath of tragedy when, at just six years old, she perched on the shoulders of her father’s friend, retired NBA player Stephen Jackson, and proclaimed to a rallying crowd, “Daddy changed the world.”
Floyd’s death, captured on video by bystanders, triggered massive protests across the U.S. and globally, calling for police accountability and an end to systemic racism.
Chauvin was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter in April 2021 and sentenced to 22½ years in prison. He also pleaded guilty in a separate federal civil rights case and received a concurrent 21-year sentence.
But the facts that once united millions have now come under renewed assault from the far-right.
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro has launched a campaign for Trump to issue Chauvin a federal pardon, calling his conviction “the defining achievement of the Woke movement in American politics.” In an open letter to Trump, Shapiro claimed Floyd died from drugs, not police force, arguing, “There was massive overt pressure on the jury to return a guilty verdict regardless of the evidence or any semblance of impartial deliberation.”
Elon Musk reposted a video of Shapiro’s argument on X, commenting: “Something to think about.”
The petition, launched by Shapiro on March 4, has since gained over 50,000 signatures. Yet even some conservative followers have pushed back. “Kneeling on a guy’s neck for 10 minutes is very weak grounds for a pardon,” one wrote on X. “I can’t support this cause.”
Shapiro claims Chauvin’s “unjust conviction” sparked riots that caused billions in damage, and calls for his release as a way to “turn the page” on the “Woke” era.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene echoed these calls, falsely claiming that Floyd “died of a drug overdose,” contradicting autopsy findings and trial testimony. “I strongly support Derek Chauvin being pardoned and released from prison,” she wrote on X this week.
Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett was quick to respond: “Marjorie, I know the truth confuses you and facts ain’t your strong suit—so let me break it down real slow: George Floyd didn’t die from drugs. He died because Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for 9 minutes. That’s called murder,” she wrote. “We all saw it. You can lie to yourself all day, but the rest of us remember exactly what happened.”
The facts were laid out clearly in court. Medical experts, including Hennepin County’s Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Andrew Baker, testified that Floyd died of “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression,” with drug use being a contributing factor—but not the cause.
Floyd’s autopsy revealed the presence of fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system. Chauvin’s defense pointed to this as evidence of an overdose, but the jury was not swayed.
Even as Floyd’s past has been increasingly weaponized to downplay his death, his family has remained transparent. Floyd had struggled with opioid addiction—something his girlfriend, Courteney Ross, shared during the trial. They became addicted after being prescribed medication for chronic pain.
His criminal record, which included nonviolent offenses and a 2009 conviction for aggravated robbery, has also been used to try to tarnish his legacy. Yet one earlier conviction—over a small amount of cocaine in 2004—was later brought into question due to a corrupt Houston police officer involved in the case.
Still, Floyd’s family insists none of that justified his death.
Despite the conviction, Chauvin’s defenders are escalating their push. Greene’s claims have gained traction in MAGA circles, even though President Trump has no power to overturn the state conviction that keeps Chauvin behind bars.
“George Floyd died of a drug overdose,” Greene falsely declared again this week—prompting warnings from law enforcement that a pardon would likely spark new unrest and deepen racial divisions.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison dismissed the idea that Trump’s pardon, even if granted, would change anything. “He still owes Minnesota 22 ½ years,” Ellison said on MSNBC’s Politics Nation. “He’s going to do it either in Minnesota or somewhere.”
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Chauvin’s appeal of his state conviction in 2023.
“I think they’re pushing for it because they want to agitate and outrage people,” Ellison said. “I don’t know if Trump is going to pardon Chauvin or not, but if he does, it doesn’t change his prison sentence.”
Meanwhile, the effects of that 2020 trauma continue to ripple, not just through politics, but through the life of a child.
“She’s still a kid,” Roxie Washington said of her daughter. “She’s not going to understand the weight that her father carries. She doesn’t understand how huge of a name he has. She just knows he’s her dad.”