June 20, 2023 By Michael Dorgan
A last-ditch attempt by a group of progressive Queens lawmakers to have a conservative event canceled in Long Island City on June 17 failed, with the gathering going ahead as planned.
Six western Queens lawmakers released a joint statement late on Friday, June 16, calling on Motif Studios, a company that provides spaces for multimedia productions, to pull its hosting of the event called the Blexit Liberation Tour NYC.
The live-streamed show was organized by Turning Point USA — a nonprofit organization that advocates for conservative politics on high school, college, and university campuses — and the Blexit (black exit) Foundation that calls on Black Americans to leave the Democratic Party for the Republican Party. The two organizations merged earlier this year.
The lawmakers — state Senators Michael Gianaris and Kristen Gonzalez, Assembly members Zohran Mamdani and Jessica González-Rojas, as well as City Council members Julie Won and Tiffany Cabán — said that the studio was providing a platform for transphobic and bigoted views held by right-wing invited speakers such as Charlie Kirk and Candace Owens.
Kirk co-founded Turning Point USA and is also a radio host, while Owens is an outspoken critic of the Democratic Party and the Black Lives Matter movement, often calling it a Marxist organization that, in part, seeks to enrich its leaders at the expense of Black causes. Owens, who is Black, co-founded Blexit and has also claimed that George Floyd died of a drug overdose.
Kirk and Owens appeared virtually at the show, which took place at Triplex LIC/Tammany House, located at 38-62 11th St. The venue is across the street from the Queensbridge Houses NYCHA complex. In-person speakers included Brandon Tatum, who co-founded Blexit, and Pastor John Amanchukwu.
“As elected officials representing western Queens, we are deeply disappointed by the decision by Motif Studios to host an event by the far-right…
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