The horrific shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs that left five people dead and many more injured was stopped by a couple of heroes at the venue. But as we’ve gotten used to, there were ghouls attempting to score political points before all the facts were known. Enter NBC News “dystopia beat” reporter Ben Collins, who seemingly had it all figured out:
I talked this morning about an inflection point in this country right now, specifically for reporters:
What are you more afraid of? Being on Breitbart for saying that trans people deserve to be alive?
Or are you more afraid of waking up to the news of more dead people? pic.twitter.com/1B4FqNrZSQ
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) November 22, 2022
NBC's Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__): "An all ages drag brunch..that a child might go to meet a drag queen, just to show them they're human beings & people. They go there and they read Dr. Seuss..It is not some hypersexual event, but that's what it's viewed as on the far right." pic.twitter.com/n4pZhSQYy4
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) November 21, 2022
Watch this performance from Collins & ask yourself if he cares more about the victims of this tragedy or being celebrated among his progressive friends. Such exploitative, soulless narcissism. https://t.co/VhY2QgHEw1
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) November 22, 2022
So basically the implication was that the “far-right” had something to do with this crime.
New details are being reported that might put a crimp in the left’s desired narrative:
JUST IN: Colorado club shooting suspect is non-binary, attorneys say https://t.co/1NYfn8jVel
— Axios (@axios) November 23, 2022
In new court filing, public defenders for the suspect in the mass shooting at a Colorado gay club that left 5 people dead say that their client is non-binary and that "they use they/them pronouns." The lawyers refer to their client as Mx. Anderson Aldrich. pic.twitter.com/dPaUpiFXKN
— Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs (@NickAtNews) November 23, 2022
Axios was sure to be safe and use “their” to describe the suspect just in case the attorney’s “they/them” statement is the real deal:
The public defenders for the suspect in the mass shooting at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub said in a Tuesday night court filing obtained by a New York Times reporter that their client is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns.
The big picture: The suspect, Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, is facing multiple murder and hate crime charges over the shooting at Club Q last weekend that killed five people, per Max D’Onofrio, a city spokesperson.
Aldrich was injured during the shooting but released from a local hospital and “booked into the El Paso County Jail,” earlier on Tuesday, per the Denver Post.
What we’re watching: Aldrich was due to make their first court appearance via video link from jail Wednesday, according to the Denver Post.
If true, that again makes initial assumptions age poorly.
https://twitter.com/skeletor_prime/status/1595258041590587393
If the details of this Co. Springs shooter coming out turn out to be accurate, Ben Collins needs to be fired.
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) November 23, 2022
I'm sure all the people that blamed Tucker, LibsofTikTok, and Matt Walsh are lining up to apologize now.
— ericontrarian (@eriContrarian) November 23, 2022
Wait a minute. I thought that me, Tucker, @MattWalshBlog & @libsoftiktok were responsible for this. Can any of those who blamed us explain how we’re at fault now for a mentally ill non-binary guy killing people? It was already an insane, sick, evil argument but even more so now. https://t.co/G2Coc7Zr5n
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) November 23, 2022
I have a screen that I watch that has all the networks side-by-side.
On Monday, blaming right-wingers for the shooting was ALL the media talked about.
Today, they DROPPED it. Hardly any mention of the shooting at all compared to yesterday.
They knew. https://t.co/zy0YSGpHh2
— Jordan Chamberlain (@jordylancaster) November 23, 2022
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After new reports, Collins is now reporting the story this way:
Two updates on the Colorado Springs case. The suspect Andrew Aldrich is requesting to go by them/them, according to court docs provided to the NYTimes. https://t.co/VBR8z6Q27R
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) November 23, 2022
Yeah, well that could change things a little…
The Colorado Springs suspect was 15 when they requested a name change to Nick Brink.
Brink was subject to a "particularly vicious bout of online harassment," and had one YouTube video, a profanity-laden cartoon dubbed “Asian homosexual gets molested."https://t.co/zJoX6kv4Z0
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) November 23, 2022
Brink's harassment by edgelords online was thoroughly documented on the hate site Encyclopedia Dramatica, which outlined a harassment campaign repeatedly calling Brink a pedophile. They accrued some of those posts, and mocked Brink's grandmother's GoFundMe to send Brink to Japan. pic.twitter.com/7ssCd9LoPm
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) November 23, 2022
Encyclopedia Dramatica, the hate site that compiled years of records of online bullying of the Colorado Springs' suspect, updated the page when they realized Aldrich had an entry for years, adding Aldrich "SHOT UP A GAY BAR BECAUSE HE WAS TIRED OF ALL THE 'HARRASSMENT'!" pic.twitter.com/22vUhnQyRN
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) November 23, 2022
PIVOT!
NBC disinformation reporter went from trying to baselessly tie the CO shooting to non-existent posts on Breitbart to promoting the idea that the shooter was somehow responding to being bullied as a kid. pic.twitter.com/dv0iKAXKru
— AG (@AGHamilton29) November 23, 2022
Ben has a habit of taking the title of “disinformation reporter” a little too literally.
— AG (@AGHamilton29) November 23, 2022
Ironic, isn’t it?
That's all you have to say? 😂
— Kevin D. Jones (@Kevin_D_Jones) November 23, 2022
You've had one helluva day, but I'm glad you are able to tweet through it.
— Dog guy (@Catsorange1) November 23, 2022
Hey scumbag, aren’t you the same Ben Collins who blamed Breitbart for the Colorado killing? https://t.co/9k2vbdhvrL
— Sebastian Gorka DrG (@SebGorka) November 23, 2022
Kneejerk reactions sometimes age poorly.
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Related:
Ben Collins’ take on Club Q shooting is perverse display of ‘exploitative, soulless narcissism’
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