Ticket Firm Eventbrite Removes Riley Gaines Speaking Event From Website, Citing Guidelines Violations

Ticket Firm Eventbrite Removes Riley Gaines Speaking Event From Website, Citing Guidelines Violations
Four times SEC champion swimmer Riley Gaines speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas, Texas, on Aug. 6, 2022. (Bobby Sanchez/The Epoch Times)
Katabella Roberts
10/26/2023
Updated:
10/29/2023
0:00

American event management and ticketing company Eventbrite has removed an upcoming appearance by former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines from its website, it has confirmed.

Ms. Gaines, who has been outspoken against biological males participating in women’s sports, was set to speak at the University of California, Davis in November, the first of many public appearances the athlete will be making as part of her “Speak Louder Campus Tour.”

While the California speaking event still appears on Ms. Gaines’s website, it has been removed from Eventbrite because it allegedly violates the company’s “community guidelines and terms of service.”

The ticketing company notified Ms. Gaines in an email that she was prohibited from promoting her speech on its website.

Ms. Gaines shared a screenshot of the email on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Oct. 25.

“We have determined that your event is not permitted on the Eventbrite marketplace as it violates our Community Guidelines and Terms of Service, with which all users agree to comply,” the email begins. “Specifically, we do not allow content or events that – through on- or off-platform activity – discriminate against, harass, disparage, threaten, incite violence against, or otherwise target individuals or groups based on their actual or perceived race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, immigration status, gender identity, sexual orientation, veteran status, age, or disability.”

“As a result, your event has been unpublished. Please be aware that severe or repeated violations of our guidelines may result in the suspension or termination of your Eventbrite account,” the email continued.

“We appreciate your understanding and thank you in advance for your cooperation,” the email concluded.

In a statement on X, Ms. Gaines called on her followers to give Eventbrite “the Bud Light treatment,” following its decision to remove her event, referencing the backlash over the beer-maker’s decision to partner with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney for a campaign earlier this year.

Advocating for Women ‘Isn’t a Hate Crime’

That decision sparked a boycott among Bud Light drinkers, and Anheuser-Busch, which also produces Budweiser, lost up to $6.5 billion in stock value within days.

“Newsflash: being a woman and advocating for such isn’t a hate crime,” Ms. Gaines wrote on X.

While Ms. Gaines’s upcoming event was removed from the Eventbrite website, multiple other events covering transgender issues are still advertised on the site.

They include an event titled “What it is to be transgender in the workplace today,” which “explores the experiences of transgender individuals in today’s workplace,” and is set to take place on Nov. 20; a “Transgender Day of Remembrance” slated to begin on Dec. 1; and another offering advice on how to to be an “ally to transgender people.”

The Epoch Times has contacted Eventbrite for further comment.

Ms. Gaines, a former University of Kentucky swimmer, has previously detailed her “traumatic” experience of being physically assaulted and held against her will at San Francisco State University (SFSU) while giving a speech on the “injustices” faced by women in sports back in May.

During that speech, the athlete claims she was left fearing for her life as protesters at the university demanded a ransom for her release.

Ms. Gaines has also been outspoken about the locker room experience she and other female athletes endured with transgender athlete Lia Thomas, formerly William Thomas.

The swimmer competed against the transgender athlete at the NCAA championships in March 2022, during which she said she and others were not informed that the swimmer would be using the female locker room.

She said that Mr. Thomas, who is 6 feet 4, walked in, disrobed, and was “fully intact with male genitalia” while she and others were simultaneously undressing, which left them feeling extremely uncomfortable.

Ms. Gaines later discovered the locker room had been made “unisex.”