Fuck Fred Durst!

Anti-war Activists Crash TRL
NYU protesters use MTV as anti-war soapbox


PHOTO: Liz Shryock/WSN The NYU students who protested on MTV’s TRL.

by Lisa Fleisher
News Editor
Washington Square News – 10.16.02

Eight NYU students crashed the stage of Total Request Live yesterday, disrupting the show with an anti-war demonstration and angering Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst.

The students, clad in white T-shirts with the words “No war on Iraq” stenciled in green and orange spraypaint, hit the stage two separate times, interrupting the broadcast.

A number of us wanted to do an anti-war protest in this critical period of time,” said Jason Rowe, who planned the event along with Dan Ingala, a Steinhardt School of Education sophomore. “We found that the way the media works, there’s not really a space to voice disent.”

The students had secured tickets to the show and entered posing as two separate groups, pretending not to know each other, and wore the shirts under their normal clothes.

While the new Eminem video, “Cleanin’ Out My Closet,” was being introduced, four of the students stormed the stage.

“Can we have your attention, we have an urgent announcement,” Rowe said.

Corey Eastwood continued: “We have to tell Congress to stop the war.”

“We’re standing with people around the world against the war,” Tisch School of the Arts Luis Manriquez said.

As the group was being ushered off the stage, Gallatin School of Individualized Study sophomore Agatha Koprowski said, “Not in our name will you kill more people in an unjust war.”

“At first it was weird because they seemed as if they were going to let us speak,” Koprowski said afterward. “The DJ sort of looked at us, and the camera sort of looked at us. They were like, ‘Yeah, what’s up?’ and then they realized what we were talking about.”

Security guards immediately escorted the students off the stage and out into the hall, where Rowe said he saw Durst giving them dirty looks.

“We caught some scoff from Fred Durst,” Rowe said. “He gave us a little attitude. He was pissed off.”

Meanwhile, the show continued with some hesitation.

“Everyone was really confused,” said Ingala, who was in the second wave of students to hit the stage. “They didn’t know what was going on. Some people thought it was part of the show. Some people were booing.”

Soon after, the four remaining students bolted for the stage in the same manner, but were blocked.

Ingala said he was grabbed by the shoulders and thrown from one security guard to another.

“While I was screaming ‘We’re peaceful. We’re going to cooperate,’ they handed me to an even bigger guy,” Ingala said. “My feet weren’t even touching the ground. That’s how much force they used.

“They handed me to a bigger guy who grabbed me by the throat,” he said. “I couldn’t breathe for a few seconds.”

After the head of security admonished the officers, the students were ordered to lie on the floor before they were kicked off the premises and banned from Viacom property.

The students planned their actions in advance and consulted with a member of People’s Law Collective, a legal group, to determine the possible ramifications of their actions.

“We were very confident that we would not put ourselves in any legal peril,” Rowe said. The group chose TRL because it provided easy access to national airwaves, he said.

MTV considered calling the police, the students said, but could not charge them with anything since they were invited guests on the program and did not cause any damage.

Ingala said he thought MTV was worried about a possible lawsuit, as well, because of the way he was treated.

“It was really fun,” Ingala said. “It was exhilarating, but more importantly we got what we wanted to be accomplished accomplished, which was getting our message on the corporately-owned airwaves for one second and bringing democracy to the airwaves for once.”

MTV could not be reached for comment at press time.

Story courtesy of:

http://www.lyingmediabastards.com

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http://www.nyunews.com/getstory.php?id=20003549