Metro Weekly

Erick Erickson says man punched for wearing a tutu deserves it

Conservative pundit balks at Enzi aplology, saying liberals who provoke others "shoulder some of the responsibility"

Erickson – Photo: Gage Skidmore.

Conservative pundit Erick Erickson is fed up with liberal America pressing other people’s buttons, and he’s not going to take it anymore.

Writing for The Resurgent, Erickson takes issue with the controversy over comments made last week by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.). While speaking to a group of high schoolers, Enzi was asked about LGBTQ rights. In the course of that discussion, he told a story about a man who wears a tutu to bars and seem surprised when he gets into fights, saying, the man “kind of asks for it.”

Enzi later apologized, saying he did not mean to imply that violence against others was acceptable. But Erickson is not going to be so nice about it, particularly when it comes to what he jokingly calls the “BLT&GQ community,” which is provoking people with socially conservative or traditional views on sexuality and gender.

“You know, I’m really damn tired of all the people running around making other people extremely uncomfortable then screaming about their rights and privileges when called out. If you want to go around making people uncomfortable, you’ve got the problem, not the rest of us,” he writes. “And spare me the tirade about Matthew Shepard.”

“I know liberals in their coastal bubbles of homogenized whiteness and skinny jeans think everyone else has to think like them — not does, but has to — but the reality is we don’t,” says Erickson. “…If a guy walks into a bar in Wyoming wearing make up and a tutu, he’s probably going to be asked to leave, if not picked on or punched. If you don’t like that, don’t go to a bar in Wyoming wearing a tutu.

“It really is that simple. This is not a justification of violence, but let’s not kid ourselves that there won’t be an expectation of violence, however unjustified,” he adds. “If you want to keep pushing boundaries and making people uncomfortable, don’t be surprised when people try desperately to revert to cultural norms.”

Erickson also compares the man who punches the one in the tutu to the political left’s protests against President Trump, saying that, in both situations, people are “lashing out to try to revert to their comfort state.” He also advises people not to provoke people by making them uncomfortable in social situations.

“If you want to wear a tutu in a bar, go to San Francisco,” he concludes. “But stop your bitching that others have to go along with your ‘rights.’ Get over yourself.”

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