Penn State cancels Proud Boys founder’s event, citing threat of violence


Pennsylvania State University on Monday canceled a planned comedy event that was to be co-hosted by the founder of the far-right Proud Boys group, after a protest against the speakers turned violent.

Penn State officials previously said they would hold the event featuring Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes in the interest of supporting free speech — even as they criticized what they called the “vitriol and hateful language” from the speakers.

But the university backtracked just before Monday night’s event, saying in a statement that campus police determined it should be canceled due to the “threat of escalating violence”.

University president Neeli Bendapudi said in a statement that a peaceful street protest against the event turned violent. She said it was her “understanding” that Alex Stein, co-host of the comedy event, entered the crowd and stirred up tension.

“It is unclear which people at the scene then resorted to physical confrontation and the use of pepper spray against other people in the crowd, including against police officers,” she said, adding that no one had been injured. The university did not immediately respond to a request for further comment, and campus police declined to comment.

The event, billed as a “politically provocative” comedy, was organized by Uncensored America, a nonprofit that organizes what it calls “honest and fun conversations with controversial figures to fight censorship and cancel Culture”.

Uncensored America was founded two years ago by Sean Semanko, a radio host and field organizer for President Donald J. Trump’s 2020 campaign who attended Penn State. Neither the band nor Mr. McInnes or Mr. Stein could be reached for comment early Tuesday morning.

Mr. McInnes is a British-Canadian who became a far-right provocateur after working for a hipster magazine in Montreal that moved to Brooklyn. He founded the first official Proud Boys chapter in New York in 2016.

In January 2021, the Proud Boys were at the center of the violent attack on the United States Capitol. Several dozen of its members have been charged in connection with the attack.

Protests against conservative and right-wing speakers on college campuses in the United States have drawn national attention in recent years to the question of whether campuses exclude politically unpopular viewpoints.

In her statement on Tuesday, Ms Bendapudi, who became university president in May, defended the university’s initial decision to allow the comedy event, saying it reflected the institution’s support for constitutional law to freedom of expression.

Ms Bendapudi also expressed her support for students who had protested peacefully against the speakers and noted that she was among several hundred faculty, staff, students and others who gathered for an event on Monday to celebrate diversity. at University.