The USC chapter of Uncensored America hosted its controversial “roast” event in Russell House on Wednesday after announcing the event would continue as planned that afternoon.
The event had gathered attention in the previous weeks as the organization was set to have highly controversial speakers Milo Yiannopoulos and Gavin McInnes hosting a "roast" of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Barricades were set on Greene Street by 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, and there was an increased police presence in and around Russell House after the event had garnered lots of attention in the weeks leading up to it. The university received backlash from community members, such as a petition with around 27,000 signatures and because of this they prepared safety measures in preparation for anticipated crowds.
Earlier on Wednesday, Uncensored America Founder Sean Semanko said the organization is planning to sue the university for infringing on their freedom of speech. During the event, Yiannopoulos, a right-wing commentator, took the stage where he listed off students and faculty members he also said he would sue. He released a sample settlement agreement on X that gives potential defendants until Friday at 5 p.m. to respond.
No lawsuits against the university have been filed under the organization's name on state or federal public indexes as of Wednesday afternoon.
“USC won’t comment on any pending litigation but supports its students, faculty and staff in their ability to exercise their freedom of speech for or against any potential campus speakers,” university spokesperson Collyn Taylor said.
Throughout the entirety of the event, students and other attendees started to trickle out, with an approximate third of the attendees leaving before the end.
“I think this is an insurrection on all of the POC members on campus, all of the queer members on campus, all of the women on campus,” said Braelyn Daily, a first-year exercise science student.
Thomas McArthur, a fourth-year media arts student, came to the event in protest and left before it ended.
“I don’t think this is free speech," McArthur said. "I think hate speech and free speech are two different things.”
While some were there for entertainment, other attendees came to protest or to "see what would happen."
“I like the fact that they let them do this event because I think free speech is important and this is free speech otherwise you're prohibiting it,” said first-year psychology student Crighton Buchanan.
Around 30 counter-protesters gathered at the barricades on Greene Street starting at 5:30 p.m. A rally was also held at the Statehouse Wednesday afternoon in opposition to the event.
“Nothing about this is safe or welcoming,” third-year criminology and criminal justice student Akiya Byrd said. "That is completely unacceptable for a college campus. Like someone who speaks of ignorance and like full of hate should not be welcome on this campus, especially for minority groups. I really don't think that this is something that should have ever been allowed to happen.”
People came by the barricade throughout the event to talk with protesters, including Ian Lecker, a third-year computer science student who came by Russell House to get his dinner.
“I don't even agree with (the content of the event), but I'm a free speech absolutist,” Lecker said. “The minute we start addressing certain speech and labeling it as either allowable or not, is the minute that we open ourselves for other speech to be allowed or not. And I don't want to live in a world where I can be jailed for anything I say.”
Lecker said that the conversations he had were interesting, and that the counter protestors also had the right to be there and exercise their right to free speech.
Many of the protestors said they didn’t want the event to occur on campus, like Andrés Gonzalez, an organizer with the Carolina Liberation Front, an anti-capitalist student group on campus.
“I just wouldn't want them to be on campus anymore. You can have your political ideologies, like we have Turning Point USA, we have a lot of other conservative organizations here,” Gonzalez said. “But to keep platforming such harmful people in a campus with a lot of a lot of diverse groups of people that may feel unsafe because of it.”
Across campus, several university organizations, including Student Government, held an event on Blatt Field at the same time, drawing over 1,000 attendees. The event, Blatt Bonanza, featured free food and other activities from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Some students said they thought it was a good way to protest Uncensored America's event in Russell House.
“I think it's wonderful if they've thrown a party down the way," said former USC student Rob McCue. "I think that's beautiful, just taking the oxygen away from the narrative they're trying to paint and what they represent."
Another student organization, Uphold The Creed, an initiative that brings attention to how the Carolinian Creed applies to campus, is set to hold a rally on Thursday on Greene Street at 6 p.m. in response to Uncensored America's event being held on campus.