The founder of the Proud Boys extremist group is scheduled to perform at Penn State in an event billed by organizers as a “politically provocative comedy night.”
Gavin McInnes, the founder of the Proud Boys, is set to feature along with right-wing provocateur Alex Stein on Oct. 24. Hosted by the Uncensored America campus group, the upcoming event has drawn condemnation from both students and the university.
“To be clear, the presence of any speaker on our campuses should not be taken as an endorsement by Penn State, and we can emphatically say that our University neither supports nor condones the vitriolic and hateful language targeting particular groups that has been used by these speakers in the past, which is contrary to the University's fundamental values of inclusion and mutual respect,” the school wrote in a statement.
While the university said it disagrees with the viewpoints espoused by McInnes and Stein, it noted that, as a public institution, it is obligated by the First Amendment to “protect various expressive rights.” It added that it also believes in upholding the right to free speech.
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The Proud Boys describe themselves as "Western chauvinists." The Southern Poverty Law Center notes the group’s “anti-Muslim and misogynistic rhetoric.” Members have been known to engage in violent clashes with left-leaning protesters and anti-fascists.
McInnes, meanwhile, “plays a duplicitous rhetorical game: claiming to reject white nationalism while espousing a laundered version of popular white nationalist tropes,” the SPLC says.
Asked by NBC10 whether he agreed with the viewpoints of someone accused of espousing white supremacy, Uncensored America founder Sean Semanko did not answer directly. He argued, though, that it is important to provide a platform for people to share controversial ideas in order to “have a genuinely open conversation.”
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“It’s important to have all voices at the table because if you don’t, all you do is radicalize people more and dive them crazy,” he said, adding that his group has hosted liberal performers in the past.
McInnes’ involvement has drawn condemnation from some students. The Student Committee for Defense and Solidarity at Penn State called on the university to deny Uncensored America permission to host the upcoming event.
“Paying and platforming racist, homophobic, transphobic political agents within our academic community disrupts our university operations without adding anything of merit to our campus,” the group wrote in an online petition.
Stein, the other performer at the event, is known for crashing city council meetings across the country, using the public comment portion to parody liberals. In July, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called him out for a “deeply disgusting incident” in which he recorded himself shouting lewd comments about her body as she walked by on the Capitol steps.
Semanko argued that people who disagree with McInnes and Stein should nonetheless attend the show and participate in the question-and-answer session afterward.
“If you think these people are as awful as they are, then you should talk to them,” he said.
