Andy Ngo, a journalist and an ally of Atheists for Liberty, experienced a brutal attack by Antifa on June 29, 2019. In response to simply recording their activities, they punched him, kicked him, threw eggs, and threw a milkshake at his face. This led to his hospitalization where he also suffered a brain hemorrhage. Ever since then, he made a name for himself by tirelessly covering the violent acts bby Antifa militants through articles on various news sites such as New York Post or Post Millennial, his Twitter page, and his YouTube channel. Topics he reported on about Antifa ranged from the source of their funding, why they didn’t stop under Biden, and their continuous acts of violence and threats on his life. These threats included graffiti painted across from the Oregon Convention Center in Portland that read “Kill Andy Ngo,” “Burn down police precincts,” and “ACAB.”
Following the 2019 attack, a few big-name politicians including then-presidential candidate Andrew Yang and Senator Ted Cruz have shown their condolences for Ngo. Yang tweeted he hoped Ngo will be okay and journalists should be safe to report on protests; Cruz called on law enforcement to bring legal action against Ted Wheeler, the Mayor of Portland. Unfortunately, despite everything he has been through and all the video evidence he has provided that proves how undeniably dangerous Antifa really is, he has received countless amounts of backlash from groups and supposed journalists for doing his job. John Brown Junior from RVA Magazine wrote a piece on Andy Ngo accusing him of being “obsessed with confederate statues,” along with other lousy excuses for criticism and other comments that border on defamation, such as a calling him a “far-right personality” and “darling of Tucker Carlson and Neo-Nazi accelerationist groups.” As if Neo-Nazis would love to work with a gay Asian atheist. On the topic of his infamous victimization from Antifa members, he goes on to accuse Ngo of exploiting the situation for media attention over what he calls a “fictitious narrative of protesters,” and later accuses him of collaborating with Proud Boys.
This is far from the only libel Andy Ngo has received. EJ Dickson from Rolling Stone called Andy Ngo a “Right Wing Troll.” Alexander Nazaryan in the LA Times called Andy Ngo’s book Unmasked, which had been removed in Powell’s Books flagship store in Portland (but remained available online for purchase) due to complaints, a “supremely dishonest book” on Antifa, and accused him of having a history of “embedding with right-wing groups.”
The reaction against Ngo did not just end there. Back in 2019, Twitter suspended Andy Ngo for “hate speech” after he claimed the U.S. is one of the safest countries for trans people, with a murder rate lower for trans victims than for the cis population. This was in response to Chelsea Clinton’s comments that 150 trans people, mostly black transgender women, have been murdered in the U.S.
Andy Ngo’s podcast, “Things You Should Ngo,” was banned from SoundCloud, which claimed it was due to violations of the community guidelines without naming the offensive content and without being offered any way to appeal the decision. Another situation Andy Ngo got involved in was getting disinvited from a Christian conference known as Qideas. They claimed it was due to their inability to find a good alternative voice matching his. Apparently, they were persuaded by Christian rapper Jason “Propaganda” Petty to remove him, who called Andy a “con artist” and “trash.”
As you can see, he is no stranger to controversy and slander. Recently, however, Andy Ngo has gone through a trial in Portland against the Antifa member who attacked him, where he thankfully ended up claiming vindication after the attackers were ordered to pay $300,000 in damages. Three of them, Katherine Belyea, Madison Allen, and Sammich Overkill Schott-Deputy, were ordered to pay $100,000 each for assault, battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. “It was a small vindication after a traumatic experience,” Ngo said. “The judge awarded me the full amount that she could, and perhaps that is telling.”
Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Chanpone Sinlapasai announced the ruling. Ngo won the case by default and was awarded the full settlement he requested after the three defendants did not respond to summons and failed to show up to court. Despite being satisfied with the settlement, Andy Ngo did say it was “extremely difficult” to get the money.
“For years now,” he added, “we’ve seen documented evidence of many Americans suffering at the hands of so-called Antifa, but really none of them pursue civil claims because these losers often don’t have any of their own assets to collect from.”
Despite this win, earlier that month, Andy Ngo was ruled against in his lawsuit after a nine-day trial against alleged Antifa members John Colin Hacker and Elizabeth Renee Richter, who were found not liable in the same civil suit by a Portland jury on August 8 for two separate attacks on him despite the witnesses, video footage, and hearings from the defendants, due to there “not being enough evidence.” The reasoning behind this, apparently, was because the group isn’t an organized legal entity.
“It’s shocking to me still,” Ngo said of the outcome. “I froze when the judge read out the verdict. I thought that maybe I had misheard her.”
He continued, “There were threats online, and there were allegedly dangerous people who attempted to get inside the courtroom, and unfortunately some of these incidents played out in front of the jurors.”
Andy Ngo’s lawyer Dorothy Yamamoto referred to the outcome as “disappointing” and said she’s sure that a lot of these Antifa members are encouraged by the jury’s outcome.
Following this trial, I just wonder, after everything he’s been through, after all the reports and video footage he’s shared, after the attacks and threats you can easily find on videos, how hasn’t his work been taken seriously on all sides by this point? Stop Asian Hate became mainstream following the increase of Anti-Asian hate crimes, but they remained silent on all the hate Andy Ngo experiences on a daily basis. Antifa showed up to his home in the middle of the night after doxing him, they chased him into a hotel where he had to hide while threatening to “beat the fuck out” of him.
Why did he have to struggle so hard to get any kind of win during a lawsuit against his attackers? Why do some of the people responsible for his attack get away with this? Where is Stop Asian Hate? Where is ADL? When was the last time LGBT groups showed support for him? What does he have to go through before people realize that Antifa is a problem?
People love to play identity politics so much, yet a gay Asian man gets constantly defamed as “far right” and has his life is constantly in danger for covering the damage caused by left-wing militants. It is disgusting how some people won’t take violence against a person seriously if the motive isn’t done by a certain ideology.
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