What went down at the Milo Yiannopoulos talk last night
While protesters chanted, “Go back to Europe,” Yiannopoulos took on the Black Lives Matter movement and immigration
Controversial speaker Milo Yiannopoulos continued his college tour with a speaking event at UCI last night.
The event drew large crowds of supporters and protesters alike. Students started lining up around 4:30 p.m. outside of Social Science Plaza A. The line stretched far beyond the 200 person capacity for the event.
At the advisement of the UCI police department the event organizer cancelled the scheduled meet and greet with Milo.
The large police presence outside included UCIPD, Newport Beach police, and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Campus Safety Officers also assisted in crowd control. Police brought bomb-sniffing dogs, barricades and riot police, according to the College Republicans of UCI (CRUCI).
Around 6 p.m. protesters started arriving with posters that read, “It’s really NOT that hard to be a decent human being,” and “Go back to Europe.” The protesters led chants of “Love trumps hate”,”Social justice is the answer”,“Fuck the police” and “Free free Palestine,” among others.
When asked about the protesters, President of the College Republicans of UCI Ariana Rowlands, said, “They could instead engage in an actual debate… Every single time there’s a protest like that… that’s 10,000 more votes for Trump.” Rowlands also said she hoped people could come to the event and hear opinion “they don’t often hear and form a more informed opinion whether that be on the left… or the right.”
Posters handed out to protesters referencing 2010 incident where students from the Muslim Student Union disrupted a speech by an Israeli ambassador
There were a few tense moments outside when the CRUCI students attempted to give pacifiers to the protesters. Another man antagonized them, some of whom called for the police for assistance.
Inside the event, Milo entered in a police uniform, dragging along a man in a collar and a Donald Trump mask. He began the proceedings by discussing the controversial decision fromlast year regarding national flags in community spaces. He then led a round of the “Star Spangled Banner.”
When discussing the campus climate of UC Irvine, Milo said, “UC Irvine is not too far gone. We can still save you,” and that “You have the right to controversial opinions and speech.”
The talk itself was relatively calm, with many dick and gay jokes sprinkled throughout. During the question and answer portion, one dissenter took to the microphone to discuss his opposing opinions with Milo. His calls for the audience to take a Women’s Studies class was met with boo’s and he eventually was booed off the stage.
During his speech Milo talked about various issues he supports:
- On Black Lives Matter: “I do recognize that blue live matter. Black live matter does not really care about black lives.” and “Black lives matter is manipulating people into doing bad things.” Yiannopoulos went on to quote homicide statistics and cited Chicago as case study for black-on-black crime.
- On Donald Trump: “Donald Trump is the only person speaking to working class white people.” He acknowledge that Trump “…is not a perfect candidate. He shoots from the hip.” Also said that Trump should pick Monica Lewinsky as Vice President because it would be, “the biggest troll move ever.”
- On men and women: “[Men and women] are different and have different brain chemistry and that’s fine!” He states he was driven against the social justice after writing how men were better than women at tech jobs.
- On gay Trump supporters: “It’s so mystifying why any gay person would be left wing,” stating that gay culture is “basically dead,” because of the “censorship” from the social justice movement. He also stated, “[Gay Trump supporters] have to come out twice!”
- On abortion: “It is murder… It is spoken of too lightly.” He also stated that Planned Parenthood is a “black baby killing machine.”
When the event ended, attendees were escorted out of the building by police. Protesters stood outside chanting, “Shame on you.” The CRUCI states later in a Facebook post that they have invited Milo to speak in a bigger venue on campus.