On the night of Monday, October 24, 2022 the founder of a far right hate group (according to the Southern Poverty Law Center) known as Proud Boys was scheduled to perform a comedy show in the Thomas Building at Penn State University. The performance was scheduled to start at 8:00 pm, but hundreds of protesters had already shown up multiple hours in advance. The protest was initially planned as a peaceful protest, but as the protest continued, turmoil began to spread over campus and things started to get violent, eventually leading to the cancellation of the event.
The Proud Boys have been part of an ongoing investigation for almost two years, they have been suspected of conspiring the attack on the capitol in protest of current US president, Joe Biden’s swearing in on January 6, 2021.
The group Proud Boys is also known for instigating violence and riots against groups deemed as enemies like the anti-facist and antifa movements. The founder as well as the group in itself has made it clear that they are an extremist and White Nationalist group as they support and make appearances with other hate groups in addition to other known extremists.
The founder of the group, Gavin McInnes, as well as Alex Stein, a self proclaimed professional troll also known for being the creator of his own podcast which was banned from multiple streaming platforms due to a consistent violation of the hate speech policy, were both paid to speak at Penn State University. The event cost a total of $7,522.43 that was derived from student fees as well as another $6,500 in additional payments. The Panel approving all the costs was led entirely by students.
Penn State had invited Stein and McInnes to speak while being aware of the fact that multiple leaders as well as more that two dozen members of Proud Boys had been federally charged over the attack on January 6th. The university stated that they hesitated to cancel the event in order to preserve the free speech rights represented on campus. But as the threat of violence escalated throughout the night, university officials were required to cancel the event.
Image Source: statecollege.com