Twitter suspends right-wing pundit who called for violence against Charlotte protesters

Cary Marshall
02:02, Sep 23, 2016
Copyright 2015 All rights reserved. This material can't be published, transferred, copied or redistributed.
Copyright 2015 All rights reserved. This material can't be published, transferred, copied or redistributed.

Infuriated Twitter began reporting Reynolds' Wednesday night until his account was eventually suspended. Violent protesters rampaged through parts of downtown Charlotte as anger continued to build over the deadly police shooting of a black man and the wildly different stories about what happened from authorities and the victim's family and neighbors.

UPDATE - 10:24 p.m. ET: Reynolds has been allowed back on Twitter.

Reynolds, who produces a website called "Instapundit" and whose presumably doesn't constitute legal advice, quickly deleted the tweet-but this is the internet, and there's nothing like Instashaming to remind a person that advocating for the death of innocent people is really never a good idea.

The University of Tennessee College of Law Dean Melanie Wilson released saying the school is investigating the post and that Reynolds "remarks on Twitter are an irresponsible use of his platform". My colleagues and I in the university's leadership support peaceful civil disobedience and all forms of free speech, but we do not support violence or language that encourages violence.

After learning the reason for his suspension, Reynolds defended the sentiment of the tweet while admitting it could have been worded better.

"Yes, that was my post", he said.

Kneeling during National Anthem
You would think if she was so upset she would not want to represent the same country by whom she is feeling attacked. But it is important to remember that Kaepernick and the other athletes are exercising their right of free speech.

"Sorry, blocking the interstate is unsafe, and trapping people in their cars and surrounding them is a threat", he wrote.

The episode highlights the tension Twitter faces as it comes under renewed scrutiny to crack down on harassment and threats while simultaneously trying to maintain a social platform that promises free speech.

Reynolds, though, says he was not the one inciting anything.

Reynolds - also a Second Amendment scholar, popular author and USA Today columnist - had retweeted a Charlotte-area news report Wednesday night about the riots that warned motorists to "AVOID" a highway where protesters were "stopping traffic and surrounding vehicles". It is threatening. It is not peaceful protest, and it should not be permitted. "I wouldn't actually aim for people blocking the road, but I wouldn't stop because I'd fear for my safety, as I think any reasonable person would".

Megan Boehnke covers Knoxville city government for the News Sentinel.

Copyright 2015 All rights reserved. This material can't be published, transferred, copied or redistributed.


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