If you’re one of the unfortunate people who relied on mainstream media reports from outlets like CityNews and the Globe & Mail – or the intentionally unbalanced reports by the campus Varsity newspaper – it’s likely you have a complete misunderstanding of what happened that day.
One of the most memorable moments of the protest was when Rebel Media’s Lauren Southern was assaulted by a trans woman who tried to grab away her microphone. Moments later, a protester who the Internet named “Smugglypuff” blatantly lied to police officers claiming that nothing happened. But Smugglys story doesn’t end there, turns out he/she/xe/ve/thon/hu/ge/zee is now facing criminal charges- but not for the reason you might think.
Smugglypuff Assaults Peterson Supporter:
Barbara E. and her partner Bryan T. (last names withheld for safety) heard about Peterson’s protest over social media. Bryan was aware of Peterson’s work and watched the professor’s videos long before he kicked-off his campaign against political correctness. The two live fairly close and walked to the protest with their dogs.
An article published in the Varsity quoted an anonymous source who claimed that the couple “seemed to be identifying themselves as white supremacists.” When I asked Barbara to respond to this accusation during our first conversation, she responded saying “For the record, I despise white supremacists. I stand up against all hate groups”. Bryan confirmed he shared the same world view.
Having spoken with Barbara and Bryan it’s bleeding obvious this accusation was complete nonsense. As we’ll discuss in more depth in my upcoming article on journalistic malpractice, Peterson’s opponents had no problems telling boldfaced lies to support their position- and the media put little-to-no effort into determining the truth.
Barbara explained that her assault occurred shortly after someone pulled the fire alarm in the Sid Smith building (this wasn’t the first time I’ve seen one pulled at a UofT protest). Black Lives Matter black supremacist Yursa Khogali was screaming at and advancing on one of Peterson’s supporters and Barbara decided to film it with her mobile phone. Smugglypuff’s girlfriend started taunting and getting aggressive towards Barbara after that. Then, out of nowhere, Smuggly attacked Barbara from behind and eventually grabbed and ran away with her phone.
As Barbara ran towards her alleged assailant to recover her phone, Peterson opponents Wesley Williams (a.k.a. Qaiser Ali) and his sibling Cassandra Williams started chasing her down. Lauren Southern started calling out for the police, yelling out “yellow hat!” as they ran into the building. Smugglypuff eventually threw down Barbara’s phone- smashing it on the floor.
The assault resulted in an abrasion and some bruises on Barbara’s elbow, and more on her jaw as a result of being hit by her own phone. She originally made her complaint to campus police. But as assault charges are outside their paygrade (their performance during the protest was poor), the case was eventually handed over to the Toronto Police Service. Smuggly was later arrested and charged with assault.
The circumstances of Smuggly’s release are unclear, but it’s assumed he/she/xe/ve/thon/hu/ge/zee was released with a promise to appear in court.
Smugglypuff Unmasked:
Smugglypuff became an Internet meme after he/she/xe/ve/thon/hu/ge/zee/etc was caught lying to the police and flipping a bird at Rebel Media’s camera. There was a lot of speculation about what Smuggly’s name was, but it can now be confirmed. Her birth name was Valerie Williamson, but as a female-to-male trans person he (I’m assuming the pronoun, please don’t charge me with a hate crime) now goes by the name of Theo Williamson.
As with almost all of the counterprotest’s organizers are or have been in the past (as with one of the mainstream journalists who misreported on the event), Williamson is an elected student representative. It was announced on October 1st that she’s assumed the role of Equity officer with the UofT’s New College Student Council. Coincidentally (or not), Yusra Khogali held the same position with the UTSU.
Like Khogali (the anti-racism activist who called a black man a “coon” during the protest), Williamson is also a bit of a hypocrite. A week after he assaulted Barbara and smashed her phone, Williamson explained to the campus newspaper The Strand how Peterson’s words made her feel unsafe on campus:
“The biggest impact was that it made me feel unsafe and anxious on campus, as it gives other people with the same dehumanizing opinions an opportunity to speak out and cause more violence towards the trans community. I used to feel safe walking around UofT, but now I’m finding myself checking over my shoulder more often in case someone feels compelled to cause me harm. I am ashamed and disappointed that UofT would not realize the violence that Peterson’s actions have caused.”
Says the person who lied to the police about an on-campus attack and is facing criminal charges for assault…
High School Hate Crime?
Prior to enrolling at the UofT, Williamson was a student at the St. Anne Catholic High School in Belle River Ontario. Interestingly, Bryan told me yesterday that he had a relative who used to work at the same school.
In December 2015 there was an incident at the school where an unknown person(s) spray painted offensive messages that “targeted the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.” Williamson was a member of the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance and, along with other classmates was featured in a story by CTV News Windsor.
Curiously, the graffiti was discovered on the first day of exams.
The Ontario Provincial Police were called in, but it’s uncertain if they had any results. That said, considering how Williamson was filmed by Rebel Media making a false report to campus police, it raises the question whether or not she was telling the whole story back in 2015. Could it have been a lie or a hoax? It’s not out of the question, particularly after seeing all of the lies and misinformation spread at the UofT protest.
The students definitely benefited from the incident. In 2016 the Gay-Straight Alliance was presented with the Premier’s Award for Accepting Schools for their role in “reducing negativity and discrimination and in raising awareness of LGBTQ issues in the school environment.”
Stay Tuned For More…
Stay tuned for ongoing coverage of the UofT battle for free speech. I’ll be publishing a hard-hitting analysis of the media’s malpractice covering the protests in the next few days. I’ll also be following Williamson’s progress through the (dismal for both victim and accused) legal system, and will do my best to be in court for the trial.
On Thursday student activists are planning to hold a rally on behalf of Jordan Peterson’s fight for free speech at the UofT. I plan to be on-site for the event and will be live-tweeting from my account @Grenouf, follow me there for live updates as it happens. If the likes of Williamson, the Williams siblings, and Yusra Khogali show up- it’s bound to be an exciting day.
[Do you like my work and want to see more (and help me pay my phone bill so I can tweet on Thursday)? Then consider making a donation towards my work on my Paypal account– any help you can give, no matter how small, would be greatly appreciated!]
17 comments
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Michael Brandow
October 23, 2016 at 14:49 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Throw the book at this smug cow.
undercoverkity
October 23, 2016 at 17:32 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Great story Greg . I was wondering what the name of this pompous ass was and low and behold, now I do . :-) I am wondering, Do you have, or know the name of the creepy humanoid who was wearing the black lipstick who carried out the assault as posted on your video ?
Greg Renouf
October 23, 2016 at 17:46 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Thanks! And nope, sorry, don’t know the name of the protester with the lipstick who assaulted Lauren. :(
John
October 24, 2016 at 22:37 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The protester’s name is Meera Ulysses IIRC
Greg Renouf
October 24, 2016 at 23:31 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Thanks!
Michael
October 23, 2016 at 22:47 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Just disgusting!
Dave
October 23, 2016 at 23:42 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Go to the CTV report (linked above) on the anti-transgender vandalism that occurred at Smuggly’s high school last year. Watch the video, which includes a few clips of Smuggly denouncing the hate crime. Now, tell me if she isn’t wearing the very same smirk on her face as she did in the “I didn’t see anything” video from 2 weeks ago. She is smiling the entire time, which is bizarre considering that she is discussing a supposed anti-trans hate crime.
Greg Renouf
October 24, 2016 at 06:31 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Yep, that’s exactly what I thought the first time I saw the video…
Barry
October 24, 2016 at 02:33 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Criminal, assaultative behaviour NEEDS to be addressed! But sounds like there may be some mental health issues at play here too!
Patrick
October 24, 2016 at 13:05 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Great work Greg, as always. You were the one that woke me up to the travesty that was the Gregory Allan Elliott trail.
Greg Renouf
October 24, 2016 at 13:06 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Thank you! :)
Signal 20
October 24, 2016 at 13:07 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Hey Greg, good piece. I just want to address an issue of invalid logic, I found with the article. In no way defending the actions of the individual or condoning it. But it should be noted that the actions of said individual are only relevent to this incident. Her dishonesty here doesn’t not implicate her moral value on a different incident. I think this is covered under “Tu Quoque”. She may indeed have a track record of dishonesty but we can not make that claim, from this one event. I think it’s misleading to draw conclusions on her character by virtue of the one incident, no matter how likely it is. I’m sure we’ll have more examples from Smugglypuff in the future to talk about.
Greg Renouf
October 24, 2016 at 14:36 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Fair comment. I never meant to imply it was a lie, but it does raise the question- as does the fact it happened on the first day of exams. I’m going to be digging into this, will issue some freedom of information requests to the school and district.
Jamie Copeland
October 24, 2016 at 17:22 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
so this is where ACTUAL journalistic opinion and discussion has gone lol been looking for it everywhere since the mid 90s
Greg Renouf
October 24, 2016 at 18:01 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
LOL
Sage
October 25, 2016 at 09:47 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
wth. I went to St. Anne. Glad to know we churned out some quality humans. -_-
Greg Renouf
October 25, 2016 at 16:29 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
LOL