Coulter on Cancellation: ‘Dark Day for Free Speech in America’

The enemies of free speech won the day when the campus groups that invited conservative commentator Ann Coulter to speak Thursday at the University of California, Berkeley, pulled their support, Coulter announced Wednesday.

The Young America’s Foundation, along with the Berkeley College Republicans, had invited Coulter to deliver a speech April 27. But when enraged Berkeley liberals and radical progressive activists threatened to shut down the speech violently and intimidate students who wished to attend, YAF caved and withdrew its support Tuesday.

“I’m very sad about Berkeley’s cancellation, but my sadness is greater than that. It is a dark day for free speech in America.”

“Ms. Coulter may still choose to speak in some form on campus, but Young America’s Foundation will not jeopardize the safety of its staff or students,” the YAF statement posted to its website read, adding that Berkeley “failed to meet our demands” to provide a safe environment for the event.

After YAF’s concession, Coulter conceded defeat and announced Wednesday that she would no longer speak at UC Berkeley on Thursday.

“I’m so sorry Berkeley canceled my speech. I’m so sorry YAF acquiesced in the cancellation. And I’m so sorry for free speech crushed by thugs,” Coulter tweeted. “If we had continued to fight we would have won.”

“I’m very sad about Berkeley’s cancellation, but my sadness is greater than that. It is a dark day for free speech in America,” Coulter added.

[lz_third_party align=center includes=”https://twitter.com/AnnCoulter/status/857301151745589248″]

[lz_third_party align=center includes=”https://twitter.com/AnnCoulter/status/857301734443540480″]

[lz_third_party align=center includes=”https://twitter.com/AnnCoulter/status/857302413199290368″]

Although Coulter will no longer be speaking, she told Fox News Wednesday, “I think I’m still going to Berkeley, but there will be no speech.”

Coulter’s highly publicized back-and-forth struggle with the university began when radical liberals threatened protests over her scheduled speech. Berkeley initially rescinded the invitation, citing security concerns. But when the conservative commentator, YAF and BCR pushed back, the university offered an alternate date during finals.

That was unacceptable to Coulter, and she vowed to come anyway on her originally scheduled speaking date while demanding that Berkeley provide an appropriately safe environment for her and the attendees.

On Monday, Berkeley found itself slapped with a lawsuit alleging the university practiced “discriminatory application of a policy to restrict conservative speech” and sought “to restrict and stifle the free speech of conservative students whose voices fall beyond the campus political orthodoxy.”

Though Coulter will no longer be speaking, YAF says the lawsuit has not been withdrawn.

[lz_related_box id=”786802″]

“The lawsuit has not been dropped,” YAF spokesman Spencer Brown said Wednesday, according to Fox News. “At no time did Berkeley provide a time or place for Coulter to speak, and unconstitutionally violated the First Amendment rights of students in preventing YAF’s campus lecture from taking place. We are moving ahead with the lawsuit.”

In response, Berkeley released a statement insisting that it “is committed to providing a forum to enable Ann Coulter to speak on the Berkeley campus.”

“The campus seeks to ensure that all members of the Berkeley and larger community — including Ms. Coulter herself — remain safe during such an event,” the statement added.

Coulter slammed Berkeley’s vacillations as designed to prevent her from speaking on campus.

“I’m so sorry Berkeley had a different story every 20 minutes, which always was: No speech,” Coulter tweeted. “It’s sickening when a radical thuggish institution like Berkeley can so easily snuff out the cherished American right to free speech.”

[lz_third_party align=center includes=”https://twitter.com/AnnCoulter/status/857301339986051072″]

[lz_third_party align=center includes=”https://twitter.com/AnnCoulter/status/857302629088612352″]

Berkeley’s struggle to accommodate free speech and conservative viewpoints has already resulted in controversy in 2017. In February, Berkeley cancelled a planned speech from controversial former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos when a swarm of black-clad “antifa” protesters violently protested, destroyed property, and set fires. A planned speech from conservative writer David Horowitz was also cancelled.

In addition, the city of Berkeley has twice found itself at the center of violent clashes between protesters supporting President Donald Trump and progressive counter-protesters since Trump took office in January.