Mike Cernovich is scheduled to appear at ASU's Memorial Union building at 6 p.m. A far-right troll with more than half a million Twitter followers, Cernovich rose to prominence railing against feminism and questioning the reality of date rape. Here's a choice selections of his Tweets, courtesy of the Southern Poverty Law Center:
On diversity:
"I went from libertarian to alt-right after realizing tolerance only went one way and diversity is code for white genocide.”On Trayvon Martin:
“Today we have a moment of silence for Trayvon Martin’s rape victims. Kidding! He got got before he was able to rape anyone.”On AIDS:
“Not being a slut is the only proven way to avoid AIDS. If you love Black women, slut shame them.”
Cernovich is best known for propagating the unfounded theory that Hillary Clinton was involved in an underground pedophilia ring run out of a pizzeria in Washington, D.C. A gunman who fired a shot in the pizzeria while attempting to investigate the conspiracy theory was sentenced to four years in prison in 2017.
More recently, Cernovich has inserted himself in the criminal case against former Trump adviser Roger Stone, who was recently convicted on counts of witness tampering and lying to investigators. Cernovich filed a motion in federal court demanding a questionnaire from a juror in the case who President Trump has accused of having a liberal bias due to social media posts.
The group inviting Cernovich to campus, College Republicans Untied, has a history of bringing far-right and reactionary figures to ASU. About a year ago, the group held an event with Tim Gionet, better known as Baked Alaska, who attended the white nationalist Charlottesville rally as a speaker. And in October, the group brought to campus Carl Goldberg, an anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist who has said that Muslims want to "overtake our country and make this an Islamic country."
College Republicans United, not to be confused with College Republicans, came under fire last year after Phoenix New Times published leaked chats from group members using anti-Semitic symbols, as well as racist and homophobic comments.
In response to the controversy, the group held a press conference with the racial justice activist Jarrett Maupin wherein its leadership denounced racism. The group had previously denounced the alt-right after pressed on its event with Baked Alaska
Asked whether the group endorses Cernovich's views on rape or Pizzagate, a spokesperson for College Republicans United said: "No, of course not."
Asked how the group squares its denunciations of the alt-right with its event with Cernovich, who has associated with the alt-right before distancing himself from the movement, the spokesperson said: "You are ridiculous."
