Arianna Huffington’s Tuesday-night appearance at UF was canceled following an online comment referencing a political assassin.
University Police spokesman Maj. Brad Barber said the comment, left on the Accent Speakers Bureau Facebook page, referenced Otoya Yamaguchi, a Japanese ultranationalist who assassinated a socialist politician in 1960.
Huffington, the co-founder of The Huffington Post, was scheduled to speak at 8 p.m. at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts after being invited by Accent Speakers Bureau in partnership with Student Government’s women’s affairs and career development cabinets.
Barber said he did not know exactly what the comment said, but that UPD trespassed the Facebook user from the event, although no criminal charges were filed.
The commenter, whose name was not released, told UPD and Gainesville Police officers he did not plan to hurt Huffington.
“He said he didn’t want to harm Arianna Huffington in any way,” Barber said.
UPD did not make the decision to cancel Huffington’s appearance, he said.
Mike Greenberg, the Accent chairman, said in his two years working with Accent, there had never been a cancellation.
Accent had planned to pay Huffington $80,000 for the event, but a check was never cut. If the event is not rescheduled, the money will roll over to fund events next semester, Greenberg said.
“Given the circumstances that were laid out, all parties involved thought it would be the best decision to cancel the event,” Greenberg said.
Tuesday’s event would have been Accent’s final speaking engagement of the calendar year. So far this year, the group has hosted British anthropologist Jane Goodall, retired American astronaut Scott Kelly and retired MLB baseball player Alex Rodriguez.
Greenberg said he was disappointed Huffington’s appearance was canceled but stressed that Accent will continue to host its speaking engagements.
“Sometimes circumstances are simply out of our control,” he said.
Celine Besman said she found out Tuesday morning from Accent’s Facebook post that Huffington’s event was canceled due to a threat.
The UF public relations senior said she had picked up two tickets Monday for herself and a friend to see a woman she’s admired for two years.
Huffington has been an influential member of the media, the 21-year-old said. Besman said she wanted to hear her story of running The Huffington Post and her thoughts on recent trends in the media.
Even though she was looking forward to the event, she said, she’s happy the threat was taken seriously.
“It was unfortunate, but it had to be done,” she said. “I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
