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this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2024
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chapotraphouse
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Wait he did that? Lmao what a dweeb
Yeah, it was during his 2019 run for UKIP MEP.
OK, there's a fair bit of backstory to this. CW: mentions of SA
Some time before he joined UKIP he made comments about whether or not he'd rape labour MP Jess Philips. Backlash about it caused him to double down and discuss it further (and encourage his followers to her harass her over it).During the 2019 European Parliament elections (Theresa May was trying to put off Brexit for as long as possible so in 2019 the UK was still had to elect MEPs) the UKIP leader at the time decided that his failing party could claw back relevance by fielding far-right social media personalities as candidates. He asked a whole bunch of them and Carl Benjamin, Paul Joseph Watson, and the Nazi pug guy all agreed to stand.
Mainstream media caught wind of the rape comments and after an interview about them on the BBC involved him passionately defending his right to appraise women on whether or not he'd rape them, Carl Benjamin became the low hanging fruit for media ridicule for the election. Worsened because Carl would double down on it every time he was asked, refusing to budge an inch in his stalwart defence of his own deep-seated misogyny.
Carl's views on rape spread to becoming the main thing any journalist would ask any UKIP member in interviews at the time, and it was causing conflict within the party and losing them support in the polls.
Desperate to escape this controversy, a press conference was held with Carl, PJW, and Nazi pug guy all present to answer questions.
Except Carl didn't want to answer any questions, especially not the one you can obviously see coming by now.
He fumed at the journalists present for coming here and questioning him, at first for asking about what he viewed as irrelevant subjects, but soon all questions were off the table. All the while PJW looked on in confusion and Nazi pug guy looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there.
Carl called off the press conference early, red in the face.