‘Where White People Meet’: Don’t call me racist, I dated a black woman, says romance site founder

It's why the site's “About” page carefully avoids mention of Russell or his wife, Tami, and why their address is listed as a PO box in Dallas.

But 53-year-old Russell - the former owner of a used-car empire - swears he isn’t afraid of the backlash to his brand-new dating site.

“It's about equal opportunity,” Russell explained. “The last thing in the world I am is racist. I dated a black woman once. I helped raise a young black man ... I just believe it's hypocrisy to say ‘one group can do this, but another can’t’.”

This is Russell’s first foray into the online dating industry; he’s spent most of his career in auto sales.

Out sick from work one day last year, he found himself marvelling at the number of Black People Meet ads airing on daytime TV. He and his wife, who technically owns the dating site, quickly became convinced both that online dating was a good pre-retirement business endeavour ... and that white people faced a dearth of online dating opportunities.

The couple bought the domain “wherewhitepeoplemeet.com” in May 2015 and commissioned their son, a high school senior, to design it. While an early version has been online since August, the site officially launched last weekend when Russell unveiled an immediately divisive billboard southwest of Salt Lake City.