Leftist ‘pirate’ disrupts pro-life display at University of Tennessee, Knoxville: VIDEO
The ‘pirate’ played loud music and blocked the pro-life display with a tarp before university officials told him to leave.
‘This is just kind of how liberals are nowadays, they don't really respect opposing speech, and all they want to do is drown it out. It’s kind of antithetical to the First Amendment in this country,’ said the leader of the College Republicans.
Activists at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) disrupted a pro-life event hosted by the College Republicans. The activists were led by a prominent campus activist who dresses as a pirate and is often referred to as “Pirate Nick.”
UTK’s College Republicans hosted the group Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR), which set up an exhibit on campus showing the graphic consequences of abortion from Oct. 28-29. The group states that it “operates on the principle that abortion represents an evil so inexpressible that words fail us when attempting to describe its horror. Until abortion is seen, it will never be understood.” The group travels across the country, visiting different campuses with its display of visual representations of abortion as part of its pro-life advocacy.
Once the display was fully assembled, “Pirate Nick”--whose real name is Nicholas Gass--and other protestors mocked the initiative by playing circus music on a loudspeaker and dismissing the abortion imagery as fake, as seen from footage obtained by Campus Reform.
[RELATED: Barnard College students demand medication abortion on campus]
Over the course of the two-day event, disruptions persisted as the activists used a large tarp to block the imagery of the display. When university administrators arrived to tell Gass and his protestors to disperse, they initially refused. Gass suggested it was within the protesters’ rights to obstruct the event and said he’d like to speak to “some man or woman of integrity who truly knows the US constitution.”
He continued, asking: “[Do] you guys have like a civics professor I could talk to? Political science? History? George Washington?” After being informed he had to leave, Gass and the other activists moved their tarp.
Amanda Levi, UTK alumna and now-CBR staff member, told Campus Reform that the protestors “couldn’t argue with the decapitation and dismemberment of little human beings, so they resorted to mockery and attempted to cover up the truth - literally!”
“Maybe they should have taken a moment to consider the fact that they were violating our First Amendment right to free speech,” she added.
Levi recalled a student who approached her “with tears in her eyes,” clearly distraught by how the protestors mocked “such a heavy topic in this disrespectful manner.”
CBR has visited the University of Tennessee almost annually and was previously hosted by Ratio Christi, a Christian organization, and Vols for Life, a pro-life student club.
Elijah Boatwright, President of UTK College Republicans and event volunteer, condemned Gass and the other protesters, saying they were “disrespectful” and that they tried to halt “legitimate speech.” He claimed that the demonstrators only left after UTK officials “threatened them with police action” for their disruptive conduct.
Boatwright told Campus Reform he “wasn’t too surprised” by Gass’s methods of protest, considering that he “has a reputation for doing this.”
“This is just kind of how liberals are nowadays, they don’t really respect opposing speech, and all they want to do is drown it out. It’s kind of antithetical to the First Amendment in this country,” he said.
Gass responded to an email from Campus Reform saying: “Ahoy, Arrr, if you want to attain an interview, you must first answer me riddles three! Riddle the first: what is your credit card number? Riddle the second: what arrr the three numbers on the back? Riddle number three: what is the expiration date and year? Perchance.”
He concluded: “In the meantime, I believe ye ought to watch the movie Dodgeball. I believe ye’ll find it most elucidating. Fare thee horribly.”
Campus Reform has contacted the University of Tennessee, Knoxville for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
