New York Times Sparks Outrage on the Left With Framing of Proud Boys’ Violence at Penn State: ‘Come On, Guys, What is This?’

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The New York Times sparked a bevy of criticism on Tuesday with a tweet on a report from Mike Ives on Penn State University canceling a “comedy event” co-hosted by the founder of the Proud Boys, Gavin McInnes, after violence erupted on campus.

“Pennsylvania State University canceled a planned comedy event that was to be co-hosted by the founder of the Proud Boys after a demonstration against the speakers turned violent,” wrote the Times on Twitter, over the headline, “Penn State Cancels Event by Proud Boys Founder, Citing Threat of Violence.”

The framing led to accusations from far-right extremism monitors and reporters on the extremism beat that the paper’s framing did not rightfully blame the Proud Boys for instigating the violence and misled on the nature of the event.

“A comedy event? What? And we know who did the violence. Come on, guys, what is this?” wrote NBC’s “dystopia beat” reporter Ben Collins.

Ivers did report that the president of Penn State indicated that far-right troll Alex Stein had agitated the protesters:

The university’s president, Neeli Bendapudi, said in a statement that a peaceful street protest against the event had turned violent. She said it was her “understanding” that Alex Stein, a co-host of the comedy event, had entered the crowd and raised tensions.

Andy Campbell of the Huffington Post, who recently wrote a book about the Proud Boys, replied, “Here’s what actually happened” and included some context from a story he wrote on the event:

Penn State students warned admin about Gavin McInnes’ history of bringing Proud Boys to his events and exacting violence on students and protesters.

Admin allowed the event to move forward, and the Proud Boys came to attack students, as predicted.

Huffington Post’s headline read, “Penn State Hosted The Proud Boys Despite Outcry. Students Were Attacked.”

Jared Holt, an extremism researcher responded, “Why is NYT just regurgitating the university’s lacking recount? Why did NYT ignore video of McInnes supporters showing up and pepper spraying peaceful but loud students and members of media? How are we supposed to confront the far-right when power holds the door open for it?”

“McInnes speaking at Penn State was never a free speech issue, it was a campus safety issue. Violence follows McInnes bc that’s what his group rewards. University leaders gobbled up bad-faith “free speech” framing and refuse to take ownership for it. Cowards,” added Holt.

Reporter Sam Thielman added, “Man, who knows WHAT happened! If only there was some sort of copious video evidence and several eyewitness accounts you could access easily! What a world that would be.”

Thielman included a clip purporting to show Proud Boys supporters pepper spraying the protesting students. Zach Roberts who filmed the clip posted it on Twitter, saying, “Here’s the moment that a right-winger went into a crowd of anti-ProudBoy protestors trying to start a fight. Then pepper-sprayed the people around him (including me and @FordFischer). The police watched, not doing anything.”

Nandini Jammi of Adtech Watchdog Check My Ads, wrote, “This is not what happened, @nytimes. It was never a comedy show and the violence originated with Proud Boys fans and followers. This factually incorrect story abuses the passive voice and fundamentally misinforms the public.”

Below are some additional reactions to the New York Times story:

https://twitter.com/amandarivkin/status/1584945485420597249