Speaking at the University of Missouri-Kansas City on Thursday night, The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles was attacked by a masked protester who used a super soaker to fire liquid at him that appeared to be glitter-colored bleach; police later said that the liquid merely smelled like bleach. Knowles’ speech was titled simply “Men Are Not Women.”
Hecklers consistently interrupted Knowles and yelled at him, prompting Knowles to respond, “I know, you’re so oppressed, my dears. I know, life is so hard for you. You have to live in the richest, most equitable, most just country in the history of the world. You have to get a college education; you have to voluntarily go to lectures; it’s so awful. I can’t imagine.”
As the protesters stood up and started leaving, Knowles continued, “People who are in war-torn nations; they must truly pity you. Goodbye. Goodbye.” The crowd started clapping; Knowles said, “Thank you gentlemen, for your support. I’m not that intimidated by these guys … There’s a course being taught right now at an American university on angry white men. When I look at who’s angry, I’m not so sure …” The hecklers started yelling again, prompting Knowles to reply, “I know. I seem so hateful. You guys seem lovely and sweet. You guys seem so compassionate and lovely.” Turning to one protester, he replied, “You hope that what? Well, it’s very difficult to use my platform when people use the hecklers veto to try to shut up any opinion that disagrees—”
Then all hell broke loose, as the protester tried to squirt what appeared to be bleach at Knowles.
Knowles told The Daily Wire, “The topic of my lecture was ‘Men Are Not Women.’ Apparently this plain fact was so offensive to some leftist thugs that one of them decided to shoot me in the face and side with a super soaker full of what appeared to be glitter-colored bleach. At first I just thought it was paint because of the color and smell. I was later told it was bleach; police now say that the substance merely smelled like bleach. This is what conservatives on campus are up against. This is the kind of violence conservatives on campus stand to face if they state plain facts and refuse to kowtow to leftist fantasy.”
Police reportedly tazed and detained two protesters.
You can see the exchange culminating in the fracas break out at roughly 19:00 here.
And here is more footage of the actual attack:
Update and correction: This article has been updated to reflect new police information stating that the substance was not bleach, but merely smelled like bleach. It has also been revised to make clear that the incident took place at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, not the University of Missouri (Mizzou).