Curley deplores protestors harassing elderly during UW’s Riley Gaines rally: ‘They’re taught to hate’

In the second protest the University of Washington (UW) had on its campus this week, protestors joined together to denounce Riley Gaines and her speech, dubbed “The Fight is Far From Over.”

Gaines frequents college campuses around the country on speaking tours to share her story as a college athlete who had to “unfairly” swim against a transgender student-athlete while she was attending the University of Kentucky. Gaines believes it’s unfair to allow trans athletes to compete in college women’s sports competitions.

“A whole bunch of people that really hate her, and they just seem to have a lot of hate for a whole bunch of people, they were down there protesting,” John Curley, host of “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “They were blocking the parking lot and following people around.”

A heavy police presence was required for multiple reasons. UW had to deal with an incident Monday where masked activists took over a recently constructed building on campus, causing approximately $1 million in damage. Thirty-one people were arrested for their involvement in the takeover.

That same day, Gaines spoke at Portland State University. With her appearance, several dozen protestors in support of transgender rights and their ability to compete in college sports rallied with signs. Five people, including one student, who spoke out against Gaines and her messaging were arrested for damaging property.

Gaines’ speech at UW far from peaceful

While violence was avoided Tuesday during Gaines’ speech at UW, tensions boiled over. According to videos captured by Jason Rantz, host of “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH, and Cam Higby, an independent political commentator and opinionist, elderly people who either attended Gaines’ speech or tried to see her were harassed by the protestors.

Here, Antifa cowards are telling an elderly couple to kill themselves. They don’t hide the fact that they’re garbage human beings. https://t.co/J1W6u3HXcU

— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) May 7, 2025

One elderly couple required a police escort as protestors allegedly exclaimed that they should “kill themselves” while also loudly shouting the couple’s license plate, saying they hoped they would get into an accident.

“Have you thought about killing yourself today? Now they can’t say, ‘I’m going to kill you.’ That would be a threat,” Curley said. “Have you thought about killing yourself? Hey, old, elderly people walking back to the car. Have you thought about killing yourself today? The same protesters then followed an elderly, disabled woman to her car. Same sort of thing, she’s walking to her car. Does she have a walker or a cane? Yes.”

Antifa thugs harass an elderly woman with a cane as she leaves the @Riley_Gaines_ event at @UW. They needed a police escort. This is Seattle activism. Media and lawmakers pretend this is okay. https://t.co/0lU2mseWns pic.twitter.com/0gXs9hoFCs

— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) May 7, 2025

“If you were unfortunate to be born in Gaza, where at a very early age, from the very beginning, as soon as the kids could understand something, they’re taught to hate,” Curley said. “In school, they have puppets that teach them to hate. They have five elementary schools that are named after martyrs. They’re taught to hate. The hate is part of the culture. Hate jews, hate. It’s all about hate. Someone has taught these people to hate, and for some reason, they’ve decided that they’re going to take all of this hatred wherever they’ve learned it, wonder where, and now they’re going to scream and yell at people that they don’t know, who just wanted to come here to hear Gaines for whatever reason.”

According to John Curley, bags of poop were thrown at volunteers at the vent by the protestors.

“For people who are screaming at other human beings that they should die and kill themselves, obviously there’s something very, very sad and very demented and broken in these individuals that feel the need to do that,” Curley said. “So you try to think, ‘OK, do I find some place in my heart for sympathy or empathy for someone who is so completely destroyed by their own hatred and anger, that they will project all of that on somebody else?'”

Listen to the full conversation here.

Listen to John Curley every weekday afternoon from 3 – 7 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.