Last month New York's Comedy Cellar canceled a debate on slavery reparations in response to a puny protest.
Owner Noam Dworman and his pal Stephen Calabria have been organizing debates at the club since 2015, discussing hot topics from the Iran nuclear deal to America's decline.
About a week after tickets for the July 22 reparations debate went on sale, they started "Receiving ominous, threatening phone calls and emails that we should not go forward with the debate," Mr. Calabria said.
"If there had been a disturbance there, even if a security guy properly intervenes, it could be ugly. You could have someone hurt, you could have unfair viral videos. Who knows what the hell could happen?" Mr. Calabria disputes the suggestion that they chickened out: "It's very easy for people on the sidelines to make that sort of judgment call when it's not their livelihood on the line, not their business on the line, not their debate series on the line."
Lionorder19, whose real name is Larry Boone, said the topic of reparations "As a whole is definitely not up for debate. It's not." Don't call it debating, but Mr. Boone spent nearly an hour on the phone thoughtfully responding to my skeptical questions.
Mr. Boone said canceling the debate was the right thing to do, but "We live in a free society. So do what you've got to do. And we'll do what we have to do." But he disclaimed any violent or disruptive intent.
It "Touched on our core business, which is presenting comedians.... I was ready to take a stronger stand because if I didn't, I'd be jeopardizing the whole way I do business. With this debate thing, I had to remind myself I'm just doing this for fun."
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-minuscule-mob-shuts-down-a-debate-on-reparations-11565301660?mod=hp_opin_pos_1
Owner Noam Dworman and his pal Stephen Calabria have been organizing debates at the club since 2015, discussing hot topics from the Iran nuclear deal to America's decline.
About a week after tickets for the July 22 reparations debate went on sale, they started "Receiving ominous, threatening phone calls and emails that we should not go forward with the debate," Mr. Calabria said.
"If there had been a disturbance there, even if a security guy properly intervenes, it could be ugly. You could have someone hurt, you could have unfair viral videos. Who knows what the hell could happen?" Mr. Calabria disputes the suggestion that they chickened out: "It's very easy for people on the sidelines to make that sort of judgment call when it's not their livelihood on the line, not their business on the line, not their debate series on the line."
Lionorder19, whose real name is Larry Boone, said the topic of reparations "As a whole is definitely not up for debate. It's not." Don't call it debating, but Mr. Boone spent nearly an hour on the phone thoughtfully responding to my skeptical questions.
Mr. Boone said canceling the debate was the right thing to do, but "We live in a free society. So do what you've got to do. And we'll do what we have to do." But he disclaimed any violent or disruptive intent.
It "Touched on our core business, which is presenting comedians.... I was ready to take a stronger stand because if I didn't, I'd be jeopardizing the whole way I do business. With this debate thing, I had to remind myself I'm just doing this for fun."
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-minuscule-mob-shuts-down-a-debate-on-reparations-11565301660?mod=hp_opin_pos_1
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