UC Berkeley Campus Assault Video

Overview

UC Berkeley Campus Assault Video refers to a viral video of a Turning Point USA activist Hayden Williams being punched in the face by another student at the University of California, Berkeley in late February 2019.

Background

On February 19th, 2019, police received reports of a battery that occurred at the Upper Sproul Plaza at the University of California, Berkeley. On February 21st, videos of the incident began circulating on social media. In the videos, Williams is accused of "fucking encouraging violence" by a man before being attacked by a second unidentified man wearing a black shirt (shown below).

Developments

Online Reaction

That day, UC Berkeley's Data Science Education Program employee Yuvi Panda posted a tweet^[3] that the assault made him "feel emotionally so much better" and thanking the assailant for "not letting it go unchallenged" (shown below). The tweet has since been removed.

Also on February 21st, an article about the video reached the front page of /r/The_Donald,^[2] gathering upwards of 8,400 points (96% upvoted) and 700 comments with 24 hours.

Sean Hannity Appearance

That evening, Williams was interviewed by Fox News host Sean Hannity about the incident (shown below).

UC Berkeley's Response

Also on February 21st, 2019, UC Berkeley^[4] released a statement condemning the attack:

"Let there be no mistake, we strongly condemn violence and harassment of any sort, for any reason."

Search Interest

External References