BUZZ
Organizers begged protesters to leave — audience booed activists, too — but event still shut down after demonstrators refused to leave
Student protesters on Friday shut down an event featuring a top Google AI scientist, stating the tech is used to kill Palestinians and refusing to leave after being asked several times by the audience, organizers — and police, the Daily Californian reported.
The Berkeley Forum and College of Engineering event featured Google chief scientist and Gemini lead Jeff Dean, who has been described as a “legend in the world of AI,” according to Time.
But a group of about 20 activists taking part in the campus May Day demonstration decided to also crash the talk nearly 40 minutes after it had started, chanting “UC, UC, you can’t hide, you are funding genocide,” the student newspaper reported.
When Dean was asked by the protesters about how AI is “used to kill Palestinians,” the Google tech whiz reportedly responded he was just trying to deliver a “scientific lecture.”
“During a 10-minute back-and-forth between the protesters, event organizers and attendees, the audience largely expressed support for Dean, chanting his name and cheering when asked if they wanted to hear from him, and booed the protesters,” the Californian reported.
Although organizers — and UCPD officers — repeatedly asked the protesters to leave the event, they refused, the newspaper reported, adding: “At approximately 1:47 p.m., event organizers announced that they were shutting down the event, and attendees and protesters left the room.”
A post about the situation on Berkeley’s subreddit prompted scorn for the protesters. “We should start suspending students who do this,” said one. “And this is why all the good speakers go to Stanford instead of Berkeley,” said another.
The cancel culture incident with Dean came just a few days after a lawsuit was filed against UC Berkeley linked to free speech and disruption events at the school.
The Center for American Liberty lawsuit demands the public institution comply with a public records act request seeking information about a raucous protest last November at the school during which Antifa protesters aggressively targeted a Turning Point USA event.
MORE: Actor Rob Schneider brings star power to lawsuit demanding UC Berkeley comply with records request
