Grand Prairie canceled a private party for Muslims at a city-owned water park after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to pull hundreds of thousands of dollars in state funding.
The city announced the cancelation Wednesday evening, about seven hours after Abbott issued the ultimatum on social media: Call off the event by May 11 or lose $530,000 in state funds.
Anti-Islamic rhetoric in Texas and across the U.S. has surged in the past year, according to a report last month by the nonprofit Center for the Study of Organized Hate. The center traced the current wave of Islamophobia to a single tweet from Abbott in February 2025, in which he amplified a post calling the Epic City development a “Sharia city.”
Over the next several months, anti-Islamic posts flooded social media, the center found. Many framed Muslims through the lens of terrorism and national security, calling for the deportation or denaturalization of Muslims. Others used dehumanizing language, labeling Islam as a “death cult,” “cancer,” and “plague.”
Abbott did not respond to an email from The News on Wednesday seeking comment.