“Here at Alligator we believe free speech is a cornerstone of our great nation. That said, speech that condones, let alone promotes racial supremacy has no home in America. And it sure as hell doesn’t have a home here in our beautiful town. We’re in no position to tell you whether or not you should show up to protest or completely boycott Richard Spencer’s appearance, but here’s what we can do,” the company, Alligator Brewing, said in a statement about the beer-for-tickets program.
Spencer has called for a “peaceful ethnic cleansing” of the US as part of an effort to create a “white ethno-state” and is well-known for his vocal defense of Adolf Hitler.
“Tickets for the event are free and available to the general public” as of last Saturday, Alligator Brewing said. “So starting then, and all weekend long, for every two tickets you bring in, we’ll trade you for a free Alligator Brewing draft beer.”
— Socktober Koebi (@koebimoonlight) October 18, 2017
Next, the company will throw the tickets out, “leaving two more empty seats” at the auditorium on the University of Florida’s campus where Spencer is slated to speak October 19. “We’re going to shut. him. down.”
Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency in advance of the speech since “the threat of a potential emergency is imminent,” according to the executive order.
In August, a Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, descended into violence in which many were injured and one woman killed when a white supremacist allegedly drove a car into a crowd of counter protesters. Terrorism expert Max Abrahms said the attack clearly fell within the scope of domestic terrorism as the term is defined by academics. “Free speech” and other right-wing rallies across the countries have been flashpoints for violence for much of 2017.
