Charlie Kirk threatens legal action against UC Davis Chancellor for slander

Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder Charlie Kirk threatened to sue UC Davis Chancellor Gary May for comments he made in a video addressing “distress within the campus community” leading up to Kirk’s visit Tuesday night.

In the video, May described Kirk as “a speaker who is a well-documented proponent of misinformation and hate, and who has advocated for violence against transgender individuals.”

Kirk responded to these claims in a video posted to his Instagram account. 

“I’ve never done that. That is a lie,” Kirk said in response to Chancellor May’s accusation that he had advocated for violence against transgender individuals. “We might sue you for that,” said Kirk. 

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In his speech at UC Davis, Kirk explained what he believed to be the origin of this rumor. 

“I think a lot of the energy around tonight is because of a material falsehood that the Sacramento Bee first published,” Kirk charged. “Then, unfortunately, the chancellor of this school repeated it in a video today, which is completely slanderous and defamatory.” 

The Sacramento Bee had claimed in a now-revised Mar. 15 article that Charlie Kirk had “called for the lynching of trans people.”

The newspaper subsequently issued an apology after Kirk responded on Twitter, saying “This is defamation and libel. We will sue unless it is corrected. Left-wing rags like the SacBee are allowed to platform lies against conservatives and get away with it. Time for lawfare.”

Chancellor May’s video continued, stating that “just as we support students’ rights to invite speakers to campus, we also affirm the right of students to freedom of expression and to speaking out against hate and discrimination.” 

According to Fox News, violent protests did erupt outside the event, where protesters “smashed windows, hurled eggs, used pepper spray and blocked people from entering the University Credit Union Center, where the event was held.”

Protestors also directed their anger toward Chancellor May for refusing to shut down the event.

California news station KCRA 3 reported that “[t]he university’s iconic ‘egghead’ statues were spray painted with messages against the chancellor, and with the Antifa symbol.”

A number of protesters were also reportedly arrested for vandalism, resisting arrest, and threatening a police officer.

[RELATED: Students protest Charlie Kirk during Florida speech] 

Teagan Skaff, a Sacramento State TPUSA member who attended the event, told Campus Reform, “The attitude displayed was one of violent extremism and complete intolerance of opposing views. They are quite literally fascists.”

“I do believe that the [TPUSA] legal team can and should pursue legal action against UC Davis and the Bee,” added Skaff.

UC Davis and Chancellor May did not respond to Campus Reform’s request for comment in time for publication. Best efforts were made to contact The Sacramento Bee. 

Follow Travis Morgan on Twitter.