Walsh Postpones Campus Visit due to Threats Back Home
Walsh Postpones Campus Visit due to Threats Back Home
Nashville-based threats prompt Matt Walsh to stay home with family
Conservative speaker Matt Walsh has decided to reschedule his visit to Washington and Lee University on March 30, 2023, following “threats” and “security concerns” in Nashville, Tennessee.
At 2:03 PM on March 29, Walsh posted the following statement on twitter:
Sadly I have to postpone my speech at Washington and Lee University. Due to threats against my family and other serious security concerns in Nashville this week, I cannot leave my family and fly to another state. I hate to push the event off but my wife and kids come first.
“I intend to continue my spring college tour as planned in the coming weeks. The event at Washington and Lee will be rescheduled as soon as possible,” Walsh’s post continued.
Walsh has been touring campuses across the country to promote his 2022 documentary, What is a Woman?.
Such tour has elicited controversy at Washington and Lee.
On March 14, W&L student Blake Ramsey, ‘23, posted on Instagram a famous 1945 image of Benito Mussolini’s public hanging, with the caption “Because Matt Walsh is now apparently speaking at this school, I thought I would post an important reminder of what happens to fascists.” Walsh retweeted YAF’s reaction to this post on March 15.
A campus petition received over 600 student, faculty, staff, and alumni signatures to “prevent” him from speaking this week.
President William Dudley responded to this petition on Tuesday, upholding the university’s promise to “permit all recognized student organizations to invite speakers of their choosing to campus.”
“In case it wasn't clear,” Walsh later reiterated in his tweet, “[the decision to reschedule] has nothing to do with Washington and Lee University. The event was coming together well and everything was perfectly fine.”
He did note that there “May have been some protests planned but nothing major. The potential danger is at home, which is why I need to be at home.,” he said.
It was not immediately clear what the “potential danger” may be.
“The threats to my family only make me more determined to fight this evil,” Walsh’s tweet said. “I will not let any harm come to my children or my wife. And I will not let these psychopaths scare me into silence. Neither of those things will ever happen, I promise you.
Nashville, Walsh’s home city, has been under national scrutiny this week following a mass shooting at a private Christian school that left 3 children and 3 adults dead. The shooter, who has been identified as a transgender woman, “was under care for an emotional disorder and had legally bought seven firearms that were hidden at home,” CNN reports.
Walsh, in his daily talk show on March 28, focused primarily on this subject.
The new date for Walsh’s speech has not yet been determined. The Spectator continues to work with College Republicans, the W&L Administration, Young America’s Foundation, and the Daily Wire moving forward.
