A college campus event hosting Milo Yiannopoulos and Martin Shkreli, two controversial and polarizing figures who have both been banned on Twitter, was canceled because of heated protests Friday night.
Former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli arrives at court in New York, Feb. 3, 2016. Shkreli, who became a symbol of pharmaceutical-industry greed after hiking the price of an anti-infection drug by more than 5,000 percent, was also called before a congressional hearing on the issue that month.
Yiannopoulos, editor of the right-wing website Breitbart News, and Shkreli, a former pharmaceutical executive charged with securities fraud, were supposed to speak Friday at the University of California in Davis at an event hosted by the Davis College Republicans. But the university visit, which Breitbart promoted by using SHKRELOPOULOS, was abruptly canceled after a mass of protesters opposing Yiannopoulos’s appearance on campus showed up outside the building where it was supposed to take place.
University officials said in a statement that the Republican student group canceled it after consulting with campus police and student affairs officials.
“A large number of protesters blocked access to the venue,” according to the statement, “and it was determined that it was no longer feasible to continue with the event safely.”
The Davis College Republicans later announced on Facebook that members, along with Yiannopoulos, will gather back on campus at 1 p.m. Pacific time Saturday.
“We will not stand for the regressive left perpetuating violence, censoring speech, and spreading hate,” the student organization wrote.
Yiannopoulos said on Facebook that his event was canceled “after violence from left-wing protesters,” and that police and university officials told his staff Friday that it could not proceed.
Yiannopoulos, a conservative writer, was supposed to speak at UC Davis as part of his “The Dangerous Faggot Tour.”
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