Charlottesville Rally Organizer Attacks Slain Activist, Blames ‘Crushing Stress’ Before Twitter is Deactivated
Jason Kessler Also Blamed Cocktail of Drugs and Alcohol
“Unite the Right†rally organizer and white supremacist Jason Kessler’s Twitter account has been deactivated following a repugnant attack on slain activist Heather Heyer.
Kessler was last seen fleeing from Charlottesville’s City Hall after his attempt to hold a press conference in the city just after Heyer’s death. Late Friday, however, he weighed in on the tragedy.
“Heather Heyer was a fat, disgusting Communist,†Kessler wrote. “Communists have killed 94 million. Looks like it was payback time.†A screenshot can be seen below:
The tweet drew criticism from even white supremacist Richard Spencer, who advised he will “no longer associate†with Kessler, noting “‘payback’ is a morally reprehensible idea.â€
I will no longer associate w/ Jason Kessler; no one should. Heyer’s death was deeply saddening. “Payback” is a morally reprehensible idea. pic.twitter.com/MTVDL9Av3s
— Richard â˜ðŸ»Spencer (@RichardBSpencer) August 19, 2017
Of note, most of Spencer’s ideas are also morally reprehensible.
Kessler’s tweet was deleted, and Gizmodo was able to obtain screenshots of subsequent tweets, in which Kessler claimed he was hacked:
As the outlet pointed out:
We have yet to see any evidence to confirm or deny whether Kessler was hacked, but he has previous used the term “payback time†in tweets from June 16, 2017 where he said, “And platforming militantly anti-white academics from UVA. Now its payback time. The altright & right wing will have its day to speak.â€
The tweet claiming he was hacked was also deleted prior to the deactivation of Kessler’s account, and replaced with the following explanation, in which the white supremacist repudiated “the heinous tweet that was sent from [his] account last night.”Â
He noted that he has been “under a crushing amount of stress & death threats,†continuing that he had been “taking ambien, xanax and [had] been drinking last night.â€
It is unclear if Kessler or the social media platform permanently deactivated his Twitter account.
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