Commentary

Anti-LGBTQ+ trolls will soon host a “sexist & racist” roast of Kamala Harris at state college

Self-loathing "ex-gay" conservative Milo Yiannopoulos is one of the organizers along with the founder of the Proud Boys.
Commentary by
Gay man Milo Yiannopoulos was the Grand Marshal of the Straight Pride Parade.
Then-out gay man Milo Yiannopoulos was the Grand Marshal of a Straight Pride Parade Photo: Twitter/@superhappyfunamerica

Self-loathing “ex-gay” conservative Milo Yiannopoulos, white supremacist Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnis and a cohort of fellow racist and antisemitic MAGA provocateurs are polishing their pitchforks for a scheduled “roast” of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, scheduled for September 18 at the University of South Carolina (USC).

Yiannopoulos and McInnis will serve as “roast masters,” Ms. Harris will not be in attendance, and nearly 24,000 USC students, faculty and alumnae are calling for its cancellation.

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The evening event, scheduled in the ballroom at Russell House on the USC campus, is sponsored by a student chapter of Uncensored America, a group claiming to be a nonpartisan organization fighting for freedom of speech.

But beyond inviting two humorless and far-right extremists to host a “comedy roast,” the group tipped their malign hand with a promotional flier for the event that pictured Harris between Yiannopoulos and McGinnis with her name spelled “Cumalot” and semen dripping from her mouth.

While the school community has expressed disgust with the implied endorsement of the “roast” by the university, the school’s administration is holding fast to its “free speech” defense of the partisan political gathering cloaked as “comedy”.

University President Michael Amiridis and chairman of the university’s Board of Trustees Thad Westbrook said in a statement that USC is “steadfast in safeguarding the First Amendment rights of our students, even when we may be offended by their choices and statements.”

“We do not know what the speakers plan to say during the event, but they have used vulgar language in promotional material, and they have said troubling and offensive things in the past. As a university, we denounce hate and bigotry,” the men said.

“Hate speech has long served as a weapon to undermine the progress of our nation,” they added, even as they planned to enable it on the South Carolina campus. 

In a letter to Amiridis, Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, was adamant the “roast” had no place in civil political discourse on a college campus.

 “[The NAACP was] compelled to write this letter because of the blatant sexist and racist nature of the event, the advertisement for it, and the potential for violence on campus because of the proposed event,” Johnson wrote.

“If South Carolina University’s leadership values their Black students, it’s only right they shut this event down,” Johnson continued. “Our nation’s schools must remain havens for learning, not platforms for hate. It is imperative that the university takes swift action in this matter and protects the campus community from patterns of divisiveness and degradation.”

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