Ann Coulter announced Wednesday she will cancel her Thursday speech at USC Berkeley after conservative groups that sponsored her appearance pulled their support over safety concerns.
“It’s a sad day for free speech,” Coulter told The New York Times.
Coulter previously had insisted she would go to the speech even after Berkeley said she would not be accommodated because of threats of violence.
Berkeley had offered her a later date and time when fewer students would be on campus, but the conservative group that supported her appearance, Young America’s Foundation, said it would no longer sponsor her speech.
YAF and the college Republicans filed a civil rights lawsuit against Berkeley on Monday to force the school to allow her to speak on Thursday as scheduled, but YAF later withdrew their support for the speech, and the college Republicans were required to do so as well.
“I looked over my shoulder and my allies had joined the other team,” Coulter told Fox News by email.
YAF said in a statement on its website Tuesday that Berkeley “failed to meet our demands” for a safe environment for the speech.
On Wednesday, YAF spokesman Spencer Brown said the lawsuit had not been dropped and that Berkeley “unconstitutionally violated the first amendment rights of students in preventing YAF’s campus lecture from taking place,” Fox News reported.
Coulter said she may still go to Berkeley even though she wouldn’t give the speech.
Twitter had strong opinions about the development.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.