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UCLA Event With Milo Yiannopoulos Gets Canned
Milo Yiannopoulos. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
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Milo Yiannopoulos—a noted troll who's known for, among other things, fanning the flames of a misogynistic attack on actress Leslie Jones and calling rape culture a "fantasy"—had been invited to speak at UCLA by the university's Bruin Republicans group. Now, the February 2 event has been canceled, according to the Daily Bruin.
In a statement released on the Bruin Republican's Facebook page, the group says that, for one thing, they couldn't "accommodate the long list of requirements that were set forth by Milo's team." (Did he ask for a bowl of M&M's? With the brown M&M's picked out?) The group also turned the tables and said that they were worried for their safety, as "protesters at Milo's events can become violent, threatening the safety of our members, administration, and surrounding community." So, you see, the decision was about our welfare.
Here's the rest of the statement:
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Certainly, it's unfair to cast the would-be protestors in such a damning light, when nothing's actually happened. There would have been a protest, though. On a Facebook page, a group opposed to Yiannopoulos's UCLA event said that he is an "established racist and figurehead of the alt-right (a fascist neo-nazi movement aimed at the disfranchisement of people of color, women, and LGBTQ folks alike)," adding that the group would be "engaging in a peaceful protest outside of the seminar Yiannopoulos will be holding." But now it looks like that won't be needed.
Yiannopoulos had actually spoken at UCLA before, back in May, when he headlined an event called "Feminism Is Cancer."
This isn't the first time that Yiannopoulos has bailed from an event at a California campus. Just earlier this month, a similar situation happened at UC Davis, where campus Republicans canned a Yiannopoulos speaking event and cited a concern for safety. "Pharma-bro" Martin Shkreli, who was scheduled to speak with Yiannopoulos, showed up to the campus even though the event was canceled. He had poop thrown at him.
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