Myron Gaines, from Uncensored America, spoke at the Browning Amphitheater on Wednesday. Credit: Faith Schneider | Arts & Life Photo Editor
Anti-semitism, controversial statements about women and debates on the Israel-Gaza conflict filled the Browning Amphitheater during an Uncensored America event on Wednesday.
Over 200 people, mostly men, gathered to hear Myron Gaines, a co-host of the controversial “Fresh & Fit” podcast and a speaker on Uncensored America, a nonprofit that is self-described as fighting for free speech, as he visits colleges on his Toxic Masculinity Tour.
Gaines sat under a tent with a table that had a sign reading “Transgenderism is a mental illness. Prove me wrong.”
Over the course of four hours, Gaines’ described women as “value-extractors,” repeated anti-semitic rhetoric, did the Nazi salute to a Jewish student and debated the Israel-Gaza conflict.
The event began at 5:30 p.m. and ended before 9:30 p.m., as the crowd dwindled throughout some of the discussions. Gaines’ supporters, and those who disagreed, had the chance to go up to a microphone on stage to state their opinion about his discussion, or to ask him questions.
Jared Gardner, a Joseph V Denney designated professor of English and secretary of the University Senate, said that Gaines is among a group of individuals who, these days, prey on college students.
“He of course is just one of many such noxious grifters who see campuses as fertile ground on which to gain cheap publicity, potentially recruit new followers, and extend the ‘brand,’” Gardner said. “After all, despite what critics like to say about universities, campuses are a safe place for cowardly bigots who want to pretend to be tough guys.”
Gardner said that though he disagrees with most of Gaines’ beliefs, he will continue to defend his right to say them, “resting easy” in the knowledge that his own community won’t be pulled in by Gaines’ claims.
“Let the vile words of the hate-filled speaker do the work of condemning the man,” Gardner said.
“The behavior you described is abhorrent,” Chris Booker, university spokesperson, said in a statement. “Ohio State strongly condemns antisemitism and all forms of discrimination.”
Ohio State policy protects free speech on campus and encourages “everyone to participate in public discourse and exercise their democratic rights by voting, advocacy and civic engagement,” according to the university’s Freedom of Expression website.
Here are some of the discussions from Wednesdays’ event.
Discussion on women
Throughout the event, Gaines emphasized that “modern women” do not have the best interest in men in mind, and should not expect to find their dream man. He also said that we are living in a time of “hoe-flation,” where women lie about how pure they are.
A man, who identified as Christian and said he agreed with most of Gaines’ opinions, said he felt that Gaines’ statements encouraging men to have sex with a lot of women is damaging and does not make men “high value.”
“So the reason why is because, unfortunately, it’s not 1955, it’s 2025,” Gaines said. “Women are more promiscuous now than ever before. And not only are they more promiscuous, but we have a marriage institution that’s set up for them to exploit and destroy you and extract value while you get nothing in return.”
Close to the end of the event, a female student took to the stage to debate Gaines on his opinions about women. She started the conversation asking him why he believes women have changed throughout the years.
“The problem is women tend to take, take, take and then almost never give,” Gaines said. “Women, by definition, are value extractors.”
Gaines argued that when women have ambitions, including getting an education and starting a career, that they make themselves less appealing to men. She pushed back, arguing that women do not want to only be givers, and have aspirations outside of pursuing a man.
Religion
Gaines emphasized anti-semitic rhetoric throughout his event by doing the Nazi salute and questioning the legitimacy of the Holocaust.
After a debate on women, a man walked off the stage and said “F*** the Jews,” to which Gaines replied, “You know what time it is, we’re taking America back.”
He also criticized Muslims praying in public, specifically referencing an incident in Times Square, despite being Muslim himself.
“As Muslims, we’re the minority, and we’re guests here, and I think praying in culturally significant locations in the United States with cameras and loudspeakers can be looked at in a negative fashion by others,” Gaines said.
He went on to say Jewish people push out anti-Muslim propaganda.
“Are we going to exacerbate the problem and confirm the stereotypes?” Gaines said. “Or, are we going to go ahead and worship in a manner that is respectful to the host nation, the host people?”
During the middle of the event, a Jewish man, who said he was from Israel, took the stage and asked what the purpose of Gaines doing a Nazi salute was, and asked if he wouldn’t do it during the event.
Gaines replied by calling it a “Roman salute” and repeating the gesture to the Jewish student at the microphone. He justified it by protecting free speech.
Gaines also told the man that he doesn’t believe what historians have said about the Holocaust, as they have a goal to push a specific narrative.
“I don’t think that [World War II] occurred the way that a lot of these historians and Holocaust experts are saying, because they have obviously a financial incentive to maintain a certain narrative,” Gaines said.
Discussion on Israel-Gaza conflict
The Israel-Gaza conflict took center stage at the event, with some debates going close to 30 minutes.
The Jewish man who said he was from Israel also asked more about the conflict.
Gaines went on to say the conflict is the first time people are able to criticize Jewish power. Before, people would have been cancelled.
“I think us having this conversation is very important, and sometimes you have to push the barrier of it, which means even doing taboo things and saying taboo things to ensure that freedom of speech stays for everybody,” Gaines said.
They went on to talk about the Israel-Gaza conflict, debating on how many civilians have been killed.
After debating which statistics to talk about — the Gaza Health Ministry’s numbers or leaked internal Israeli documents — Gaines and the man agreed there were about 60,000 casualties, 40,000 were civilians.
They continued to talk back and forth on the justifications of the actions of both the Israel Defense Forces and Hamas. Gaines argued that the forces unjustly killed too many civilians and the man countered, claiming Israel is defending themselves.
They talked about various issues surrounding the conflict for the next 20 minutes before moving on.
As the event winded down, seven male students in attendance declined interviews. Three students, who used fake names of past celebrities, including Andrew Jackson and Mohammad Ali, gave an interview trolling The Lantern.
When one of Gaines’ staff members was asked to be interviewed, he declined, arguing that “he would get [The Lantern] canceled.”
Updated Nov. 13 at 12:49 p.m. to add a statement from University Spokesperson, Chris Booker.
