Trump threatens to cut federal funds for UC Berkeley after canceled Milo Yiannopoulos speech

UC Berkeley police remove protester from alt-right protest

(Image credit: Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)

published 2 February 2017

Breitbart News editor and alt-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos was on Fox & Friends Thursday morning talking about his canceled Wednesday night speech at the University of California at Berkeley, and commentator Todd Starnes said "free speech for all or no federal money!" UC Berkeley police scrapped the speech, sponsored by the College Republicans club, after a small group of black-clad protesters crashed a peaceful protest and clashed with police. President Trump, it seems, was watching morning TV:

Free speech is an important subject, but it's not clear what Trump is saying. The university did "allow free speech" — both the Yiannopoulos speech and the protest of it — and the only violence it "practiced" was police crowd control when things got rowdy. "We condemn in the strongest possible terms the violence and unlawful behavior that was on display," the university said in a statement many hours before Trump's threat, "and deeply regret that those tactics will now overshadow the efforts to engage in legitimate and lawful protest against the performer's presence and perspectives." UC Berkeley received $370 million in federal research grants in 2015-16.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.