An appearance by cultural scourge and talking head Ann Coulter at U.C. Berkeley was cancelled Wednesday by officials concerned for student safety, the Washington Post reports.
Coulter was invited to speak by the same campus Republican group that brought bleach blonde conservative windbag Milo Yiannopoulos to the campus in February, sparking violent protests that resulted in the cancellation of his appearance. The New York Times reports that a letter written by vice chancellor Scott Biddy and vice president for student affairs Stephen Sutton stated that it was “not possible to assure that the event could be held successfully — or that the safety of Ms. Coulter, the event sponsors, audience and bystanders could be adequately protected.”
From the Washington Post:
Coulter said the university insisted that her speech take place in the middle of the day, that only students could attend and that the exact venue wouldn’t be announced until the last minute. She said that she agreed with the conditions but that that apparently wasn’t good enough.
The university’s concerns about the safety of the students is valid; on Saturday the alt-right and the far left clashed during a pro-Donald Trump cum free speech rally that devolved into violence and destruction. BuzzFeed reports that both sides claim the other started it; at one point both groups shouted insults at each other separated only by a flaming pile of trash.
University spokesman Dan Mogulof said that according to campus police, some of the groups involved in the violence over the weekend “planned to target the appearance of Ann Coulter on campus,” ABC News reports. Despite the fact that her appearance has been cancelled by the powers that be, Coulter took to Twitter to proclaim that she will indeed be speaking at Berkeley on April 27th as planned.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Coulter said that even though her appearance was “officially banned,” she will find a way. “They can’t stop me,” she said. “I’m an American. I have constitutional rights.”
Coulter’s speech was to be about illegal immigration, a topic near and dear to heart and one that she covered extensively in her 2015 book Adios America, which had six chapters dedicated to the subjects of immigrants and rape.
Regardless of the security concerns expressed by the university, Coulter is determined to make her awful voice heard. “I’m giving a speech,” she told THR. “Speech will go on.”
