Mar-a-Lago claims no knowledge banning the singer Florida Republicans already banned for the same joke.

“{"line": "Mar-a-Lago claims no knowledge banning the singer Florida Republicans already banned for the same joke.", "mode": "zinger", "oped": "Let's be clear about what happened, because the coverage is getting ahead of the facts. A source says organizers of the Mar-a-Lago law enforcement fundraiser had no knowledge of Jelly Roll's jokes about the president when they pulled his invitation. No knowledge. That's the statement, that's what we're standing behind, and frankly the timeline supports it if you don't look at the timeline.\n\nHere's what actually happened, in order, because order matters here. On August 27, Rep. Jimmy Patronis, a Florida Republican, told the press that Jelly Roll -- born Jason DeFord -- was no longer welcome in his Panhandle district. Why? Because of a Kimmel monologue where the singer made fun of the president's weight. A sitting congressman, on the record, naming the singer, naming the jokes, twelve days before Mar-a-Lago's own event. Twelve days. That's the number. I want to be precise about that number.\n\nThe next day, Jelly Roll went back on Kimmel and explained himself -- said he's "down the middle," said watching a fight on TV doesn't mean he supports the administration. Same day, a separate item has him walking back his apolitical stance entirely, saying he plans to vote this November. So within twenty-four hours you've got a congressman disowning him and the singer politically radioactive enough to make news twice for the same monologue. By September 4, Fox News is running a piece asking whether Jelly Roll just Bud Lighted himself -- the story notes his monologue "mirrors Bud Light's brand-destroying misstep," fan backlash and all. That's four days before the Mar-a-Lago fundraiser reportedly decided he wasn't welcome there either. So walk it with me: congressman disowns him by name over the jokes, singer responds publicly, singer gets compared in the trade press to the last celebrity who tanked a brand this way, and then -- twelve days after the congressman's statement -- a law enforcement fundraiser at the president's own club uninvites him over the identical jokes and says, through a source, that organizers didn't know. Didn't know what? The congressman's name was in the story. The singer's name was in the story. The jokes were the same jokes. Okay. I'm not saying anybody's lying. I'm saying the paper trail runs twelve days deep and it has the same name in it every time, and "no knowledge" is a phrase, and phrases don't have to survive contact with a calendar to get printed. They just have to get printed.”