Organizer of Racist Rally Flees News Conference Amidst Chants of 'Shame'

Unite the Right organizer Jason Kessler fled his own news conference, refused to take blame for any violence.

Tracy E. Gilchrist

Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP of Editorial and Special Projects at equalpride. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.

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Tracy E. Gilchrist

August 14 2017 12:18 AM EST

July 11 2018 11:59 PM EST

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The white nationalist organizer of the Charlottesville, Va. Unite the Right rally that turned into a violent melee on Friday, Jason Kessler, fled amidst shouts of "shame on you" from protesters at a news conference he organized outside Charlottesville City Hall on Sunday, according to CNN.

Kessler, 34 had barely begun his remarks at the news conference when protesters drowned him out shouting "shame" and "murderer" before two protesters appeared to rush the stage, which sent Kessler fleeing with police he would later blame for the violence that occurred on Friday.

Despite shouts and chants from the crowd calling out Kessler for creating a potboiler situation of angry protesters on Friday, Kessler, who earlier this year created the group Unity and Security for America, which seeks to "protect the West" primarily from immigrants, did not accept any responsibility. White supremacist James Fields Jr. to plowed his car into a counter protest killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring nearly 20 others, but Kessler laid the blame for the violence squarely on Charlottesville law enforcement, according to CNN.

"Instead of maintaining law and order, the police purposefully created the catastrophe that led to a melee in the streets of Charlottesville and the death of a counter-protester," he said.