Milo Yiannopoulos spoke at the University of California, Irvine Thursday night, appropriately dressed as a police officer, to discuss many of the myths fueling the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Black Lives Matter doesn’t really care about black lives,” Yiannopoulos said at the beginning of his remarks, which came to be the theme of his talk.
“Trump is like a gay icon…he’s just as ridiculous as we are.” Tweet This
His talk, however, was not disrupted by protesters, as they usually are, possibly because UCI’s College Republicans (CR) distributed baby pacifiers beforehand to a group of students participating in a university sanctioned “safe zone training.”
The CRs passed out over 100 pacifiers with labels attached that said: “I survived! Milo Tour 2016.”
“For those who are too timid or have been mentally incapacitated to engage in debate we are giving them baby pacifiers to help them cope with the appearance of a conservative speaker on campus,” CR member Carl Olson explained.
Yiannopoulos, though, seemed disappointed in the lack protesters at Thursday’s event, saying recent disruptions of his lectures only serve the conservative cause.
“Every time they do it it serves us. Every time they do it it damages their own cause. So my answer to protesters is keep coming,” he said.
But there was one dissenter who respectfully challenged Yiannopoulos’ arguments, only to later discredit his opinions on the grounds that he is not a traditional academic.
“Try to make me into a trigglypuff,” he said, criticizing Yiannopoulos for not passing a “peer review” before he presents his views, eventually plugging his YouTube Channel for all audience members to view. Yiannopoulos later touched on his enthusiastic support of republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, but fielded the subject in a lighthearted manner, saying, “Trump is like a gay icon…he’s just as ridiculous as we are.”
Meanwhile, protesters gathered outside the event, where they audaciously criticized police officers for not appropriately handling Trump supporters in attendance.
“Where’s the police for all the Trump supporters?” one protester shouted at a police officer. “All of the police is on that side. Do you see that? Then why are they on that side?” she continued while her compatriots chanted, “Hey, hey/ Ho, ho/ These racist police have got to go!”
Recently, Yiannopoulos spoke at DePaul University where he was forced to cut his lecture short after a group of Black Lives Matter protesters refused protest civilly, likely explaining Yiannopoulos’ focus on BLM Thursday night.
Then again, on Tuesday, protesters attempted to shut down Yiannopoulos’ event at the University of California, Los Angeles, but an increase in security was able to fend off most attempts. Even so, College Republicans President Ariana Rowlands was compelled to inform the crowd at the conclusion of the event that they would not be allowed to exit through the rears doors of the auditorium “for everyone’s safety,” due to the presence of the protesters outside.
Campus Reform has reached out to UCI for an explanation of their uncharacteristic success in handling Milo’s appearance, and is awaiting comment.
This story will be updated to include additional comment from event organizers and attendees, including witnesses to the protest that occurred simultaneously outside the event.
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