'Free Speech Rally' still scheduled despite some speakers backing out

BOSTON — Gov. Charlie Baker and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh have both said racism and hate are not welcome in Massachusetts, and the warnings have caused some speakers at a planned “Free Speech Rally” set for this weekend on Boston Common to cancel their appearances.

Despite their cancellations, the rally is still scheduled to be held.

Organizers of the event Boston Free Speech Rally said they have no connection to the group that planned the deadly Charlottesville, Virginia, rally.

MORE: Mayor Walsh asks 'free speech' rally to not come to Boston this weekend

Yet an invited speaker said he got a text from organizers here saying they needed to cancel him from a “PR standpoint.”

Augustus Invictus is an Orlando activist who was supposed to speak this weekend on Boston Common.
He took part in the Charlottesville rally.

Invictus attracted support from white supremacists when he ran for the U.S. Senate as a Libertarian in Florida last year.

On Monday, Walsh, Baker and Boston Police Commissioner William Evans spoke out against Saturday’s rally and voiced concerns it would attract similar violence like what took place in Virginia.

MORE: Cambridge locals rally against hate

“Boston does not welcome you here,” Walsh said. “Boston does not want you here. Boston rejects your message. We reject racism.”

A few other speakers who backed out include the founder of a far-right group called the Proud Boys and activist Cassandra Fairbanks.

She tweeted “I’m not going to speak at the Boston Free Speech Rally. The threats keep escalating and people are unhinged.”

Walsh expressed that rally organizers postpone their event because of the high emotion in the wake of Charlottesville.

Cox Media Group