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WEST VALLEY CITY — The billboard for a controversial Utah-based dating website was recently pulled down.

Where White People Meetdrew national attention after a billboard promoting the new website went up in West Valley City on Dec. 29. While the billboard was removed several days ago, Where White People Meet founder Sam Russell said he didn't find out about the decision until late Tuesday afternoon.

"The decision to pull the board down was not ours," Russell said. "We did not want the board taken down. The billboard company, Compass, felt they had satisfied their contractual obligation and did not want to offer us the opportunity to renew."

Russell said there is some confusion about the details of the contract for the billboard. He said his company agreed to a rate based on a 6-month term, but Compass informed him that it retained the right to cancel the deal after seven days. Compass has not yet responded to calls for a comment on the decision to remove the sign.

The dating site's founder did say the representative he worked with from Compass was up front in expressing concerns before the billboard went up, saying the company might be forced to take the billboard down if the topic became an issue. Russell said he was told the billboard was ultimately removed because other companies using Compass threatened to pull their advertising so consumers wouldn't make a correlation between Where White People Meet and their own businesses.

It was NOT our decision to pull the billboard."Compass Billboards" in Utah pulled it due to complaints. What a shame. Will have another soon — White People Meet (@Meetwhitepeople) January 13, 2016

Despite the furor caused by the first billboard, Russell said Where White People Meet is looking to not only put up another sign in Utah, but in other states as well. He said that for what the dating service is doing initially, billboards might be the most effective way to go.

"I just hope that somebody can see the logic," he said. "This isn't about content of the billboard, it's just about a right. It's about the First Amendment. It's about equality. I believe in equality, but it has to be two ways. It has to be good for everybody."

Where White People Meet has faced criticism from some who believe the site is racist or misguided, but Russell maintains his stance that it is not since the dating service is open to people of all races. He says the overwhelming response has been positive and pointed to the existence of other dating websites targeted at specific demographics like Black People Meet, LDS Singles, Christian Mingle and Farmers Only.

"I think it's just one of those topics that gets people talking and our position is that we have the right to put the site up. Period. End of subject," he said. "It's not 'whites only' — that would be wrong. That would be exclusive and discriminatory. It's just a site that if your preference in dating is a white person, you have good odds of finding that person on the site."

As of Jan. 5, more than 1,000 people had signed up — although it is unknown how many accounts are active. A message on the website Wednesday afternoon said new sign-ups were temporarily disabled as the service switches to a larger server. Memberships cost $69 for 6 months, with an option to create a free account to preview the site.

Contributing: Cleon Wall

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