WATCH LIVE: White Nationalist Richard Spencer Speaks At University Of Florida

Richard Spencer Image by Getty Images

By Sam Kestenbaum October 19, 2017

Richard Spencer, one of the country’s most prominent white nationalist, struggled to begin a much-hyped and controversial talk at the University of Florida amidst chants and boos from the crowd on Thursday afternoon.

“I am speaking to you reasonably and rationally,” he said amidst hand claps and chanting. “You are not speaking. You are screaming… attempting to bring a mob that is going to shut down free speech.”

“Are you adults? Are you ready to think for yourself? It doesn’t look like it. You all look like immature preschoolers,” he said.

“Go home Spencer, go home,” the crowd, mostly standing at the back of the auditorium, chanted. Some thrust up their fists or gave Spencer the middle finger. “We won’t back down,” other chanted.

“You are trying to shut down the speech of a dissident intellectual,” Spencer said.

Veronika Vernachio, a reporter with WUFT News is streaming a video live from inside the Phillips Center where Spencer is speaking now.

Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum

Sam Kestenbaum is a contributing editor and former staff writer for the Forward. Before this, he worked for The New York Times and newsrooms in Sana, Ramallah and Beijing. Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum and on Instagram at @skestenbaum.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO