UC Berkeley official says 'We got played' on Free Speech Week
BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) -- "We got played." That's what U.C. Berkeley officials are saying after Free Speech Week was abruptly canceled.
The event will now cost the university upwards of $800,000 due to the amount of officers brought in to protect the campus and visitors.
Milo Yiannopoulos was the only speaker to show up Sunday at U.C.Berkeley as part of the event.
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His outdoor rally lasted only 15 minutes. The right wing political commentator, guarded by security, got into an SUV and left.
The other speakers had already announced they were not coming, including Lucian Wintrich who emailed Cal's spokesperson.
"I received an email from on one of the speakers that Yiannopoulos had listed as slated to come here and he said, 'don't you know what's really going on?'" U.C. Berkeley Spokesman Dan Mogulof said.
In that email, spokesperson Dan Mogulof wrote, "Wait, whoah, hold on a second. What, exactly, are you saying? What were you told by MILO inc.? Was it a set-up from the get-go?"
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Wintrich responded simply, "Yes."
The only rally going on Monday was one from an ultra-left group called "United Against Right Wing Violence." Some of its members covered their faces and prevented reporters from right wing media outlets from attending the event, even though it was university property, which is public. Then, they did the same with some from the mainstream media. That same group then briefly took over Wheeler Hall.
"What we're not going to change is our commitment to the ability and right of our students to bring speakers of their choice to campus," Mogulof said.
