Right-wing influencer hurls threats after 'embarrassing' debate gaffe: 'I could body you!'
Right-wing and anti-feminist influencer Hannah Pearl Davis told her more than 2 million followers Monday night that she “thought about” assaulting progressive journalist Ana Kasparian Saturday during their weekend debate, an event that saw Davis ridiculed after having “completely froze” in an “embarrassing” showing.
Davis took part in the event organized by the debate league World War Debate, held in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during which she stood in near-complete silence for an entire minute as Kasparian – who previously wrote for Raw Story – continued lobbing questions.
A clip of the gaffe shared by political commentator Micah Erfan went viral on social media, drawing more than a million views.
“Pearl Davis had a debate with Ana Kasparian and, despite days of prep, completely froze under even mild pressure,” Erfan wrote. “It’s wild to be a professional political commentator without being able to defend any of your views.”
On Monday, Davis uploaded a video to social media to speak on the incident, admitting that she “took an L,” which is slang for acknowledging one’s own failure. However, she also admitted that she actively thought of physically assaulting Kasparian during the debate as well.
“I thought about it,” Davis said in the video uploaded to YouTube Monday night. “You could talk like this to men, but I’m bigger than you, I could body you! But I have this fear in me of the police, I never want to get in trouble in that way.”
The official social media account for World War Debate reacted to Davis' admission of having taken "an L," thanking her Monday for participating in the event.
"Don’t beat yourself up on the L," reads World War Debate's social media post on X. "It takes an unbelievable amount of courage to jump in the arena and throw down with other titans! There are no safety nets and the pressure is real!"
Her admission of having had violent thoughts, however, only drew Davis more ridicule from critics, such as from content creator “PlayerEssence,” who argued David “got cooked in a debate so bad [she] wanted to fight the person.”
Another content creator, X user “Repzion,” who’s amassed nearly 40,000 followers, also took a sharp dig at Davis over her remarks.
“So tuff,” they wrote in a social media post on X. “Imagine wanting to assault somebody just because they’re more intelligent than you.”