Ann Coulter Vows To Speak At Berkeley, Despite Protests
Philadelphia (CBS) - Despite threats of protests and the cancellation of her speech at the University of California, conservative author and columnist Ann Coulter says she is still planning to give a speech in Berkeley.
Coulter, while speaking to Rich Zeoli on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, alleged the university is not acting more aggressively to quell unrest because she is a conservative.
"If I were a liberal speaker and conservatives came out to riot and protest, I promise you, the cops wouldn't be told to step down. What they're doing up in Berkeley, presumable with the connivance of the University of California, which is a pretty powerful institution in this state by the way, is they're doing what the police did that led to the Rodney King riots."
She accused city and police of administrators of tacitly allowing rioting against right wing speakers and activists and vowed to hold her event regardless of the consequences.
"Trump supporters are being beaten up and everybody has these cellphone cameras now and they go up to cops and say why aren't you doing anything? People are being beaten up right in front of you. The cops say on tape, we were told by our chief of police not to do anything, to stand down. So they just stand and watch as windows get smashed, as people are beaten up, but they only do that if what they're protesting is a conservative speaker. They'll enforce the law if it's a liberal speaker. But, I was invited to speak, so I'm going to go speak. We'll see, maybe they'll arrest me and throw me in the Birmingham jail while this modern day Bull Connor looks on."
Coulter believes it's ridiculous that someone of her stature and resume could be stopped by threats of violence.
"This isn't a joke. This is damaging to my reputation. I'm a 12-time best selling author and the topic of speech is the subject of my 11th New York Times Best Seller, Adios America, which came in number two on the list. For one thing, I love Milo [Yiannopoulos], but I'm not Milo. I don't even know if there's another living person with as many New York Times Best Sellers as I have. I can't speak? Oh, come on."