Indian-American Megha Vemuri's Pro-Palestine Speech Sparks Vile Comments: ‘B*tch...Deport Her To Gaza'
Last Updated:
Following the backlash she faced for her pro-Palestine speech, Megha Vemuri deactivated her LinkedIn profile.
Megha Vemuri, an Indian-American student and president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Class of 2025, made headlines after she delivered a speech to condemn Israel's actions in Gaza. She also criticised MIT for its research ties with the Israeli military.
Wearing a red keffiyeh, a well-known symbol of Palestinian support, Megha said, 'The Israeli occupation forces are the only foreign military that MIT has research ties with." She further praised students who have been protesting on campus for months and said, 'You showed the world that MIT wants a free Palestine." Megha also claimed that protesters had faced 'threats, intimidation, and suppression" from the MIT administration.
During her speech, Megha made a comparison between the celebration in Cambridge and the harsh reality in Gaza, saying, 'Right now, while we prepare to graduate and move forward with our lives, there are no universities left in Gaza."
Soon after her speech, a flood of negative comments poured in online. The backlash was so intense that Megha decided to take down her LinkedIn profile.
One user on X (formerly Twitter), named Ouriel, posted screenshots of Megha's deactivated LinkedIn profile and wrote, 'Make that b*tch famous. May she never find any career path and be humiliated for what she just did and did before that. PS: Megha if you really want to sound cool, work on your 'rrrrrhaazzzza" accent."
Another person said, 'They should have pulled her off the stage and begun deportation proceedings on the spot."
'She should buy a one-way ticket to Gaza right away and go work on the ground!!" someone else commented.
'If MIT graduates can be so easily swayed by one-sided narratives, what hope is there for the average person? This is a failure of critical thinking at its core," read another comment.
'She is an example of how to hit your feet on an axe just to show the world how brave she is!" an individual remarked.
Another sharp comment read, 'She not only wasted his parents' money to put her through top school, she also embarrassed her whole family by pulling such a stunt. What a shame!"
Megha, who was supposed to serve as the marshal at the commencement ceremony, was informed by MIT's chancellor, Melissa Nobles, that she would not be allowed to participate.
The Boston Globe reported that Nobles sent an email to Megha stating that both she and her family were banned from campus for most of the day following her speech.
'Participation in Commencement activities is a privilege. You deliberately and repeatedly misled Commencement organisers," Nobles wrote, as per the outlet.
'While we acknowledge your right to free expression, your decision to lead a protest from the stage, disrupting an important institute ceremony, was a violation of MIT's time, place and manner rules for campus expression," she added.
According to Wbur.com, MIT's leadership released a statement saying they fully support the disciplinary action taken against Megha.
The statement read, 'MIT supports free expression but stands by its decision, which was in response to the individual deliberately and repeatedly misleading Commencement organisers and leading a protest from the stage, disrupting an important Institute ceremony."
An MIT spokesperson also mentioned that the speech Megha actually delivered was different from the version she had submitted to university officials before the event.
First Published:
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Pak Hindu refugees in Delhi discuss future as eviction looms
New Delhi: Pakistani Hindu refugees from various Delhi settlements, fearing eviction, held a large panchayat to discuss their future. These Sindhi Hindu families, who fled religious persecution in Pakistan and were granted Indian citizenship last year, now feel betrayed. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now They live in five camps across Delhi, including part of Majnu Ka Tila near the Yamuna floodplain. Though no eviction notices have been issued by DDA, the community learned through the media about a recent high court ruling allowing the clearance of the Majnu Ka Tila settlement. "Where will we go? We were running, fleeing for our lives, and India is the only nation where we, as Hindus, could find safety. Now, even if we won't find a place to live here, where are we supposed to go? We don't have much education, cannot afford a lawyer, and were living off the help of our Hindu brothers here. Somehow, we managed to earn a living here, managed to send our children to school, to give them a life that we could never dream of. Now, this decision of the court has come as a knife to our hearts," said Sukhnandan, pradhan of Majnu Ka Tila, who came to India in 2012 and settled on vacant land next to a gurdwara. At the meeting, and a heated one, held at another settlement on the Yamuna floodplain near Signature Bridge, high-pitched discussions were on. Representatives from all six settlement camps in Delhi — Majnu Ka Tila, Signature Bridge, Adarsh Nagar, Bhatti Mines, Rohini Sector 11 and Rohini Sector 25 — had gathered there to discuss future action. They plan to meet chief minister Rekha Gupta to explore resettlement options. Last year, the community secured a temporary stay from the high court when eviction notices were first served, but the court recently upheld the DDA's eviction order. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now "The new reports say that we will be evicted from the floodplain. That's two of our camps. It does not talk about our rehabilitation. We will seek time from Delhi's CM tomorrow, if required, even hold protests," said Dharamveer Bagri, another settler at Majnu Ka Tila, who hailed from Hyderabad in Sindh, Pakistan. Last July, days after some of them were granted citizenship, Delhi Development Authority issued the camp dwellers a notice, asking them to vacate their houses in 24 hours, pending a demolition drive scheduled for July 13 and 14. DDA's notice stated that the land was part of the Yamuna floodplain and all encroachments on river land adjacent to the gurudwara were ordered to be cleared by the National Green Tribunal. In an order dated May 30 by Justice Dharmesh Sharma, the court observed that it had earlier asked the Union of India, DDA, etc., to relocate and rehabilitate refugees on Yamuna floodplain. The court, however, noted that the effort bore no fruit. It also said that the court cannot undertake the exercise of framing a policy to ameliorate the plight of refugees.
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
US debt market crisis looming, JPMorgan chief warns
JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon voiced concern Sunday at the risk of a looming US debt market crisis sparked by the Trump administration's economic policies. "It's a big deal. It is a real problem," Dimon told Maria Bartiromo on FOX Business Network's "Mornings with Maria" show, according to an excerpt of the interview that will air in full Monday. "The bond market is going to have a tough time. I don't know if it's six months or six years," he said. Dimon cautioned that once investors become aware of the impact of rising debt levels, interest rates would skyrocket and markets would be disrupted a dangerous scenario for the world's biggest economy. "People vote with their feet," he stressed. Investors "are going to be looking at the country, the rule of law, the inflation rates, the central bank policies," he said, warning that "if people decide that the US dollar isn't the place to be," financing US debt will become more expensive. Historically, the United States has been able to rely on market appetite for low-interest US Treasury bonds to support its economy. Yields briefly climbed last week, amid concerns about President Donald Trump's divisive budget plan. The plan would among other things extend the gigantic tax breaks introduced during Trump's first term, spurring fears of a ballooning federal deficit. In mid-May, for the first time ever, the United States lost its triple-A credit rating from Moody's. When it announced the downgrade to Aa1, the ratings agency warned that it expects US federal deficits to widen dramatically over the next decade. The White House's back-and-forth announcements of towering tariffs slapped on countries around the world are also creating considerable uncertainty and thus market volatility. Dimon already warned in April of "considerable turbulence" facing the American economy, pointing to the impact of tariffs, trade wars, inflation and budget deficits. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday downplayed Dimon's predictions of a debt market crisis. "I've known Jamie a long time, and for his entire career he's made predictions like this," Bessent said during an interview on CBS. "Fortunately, not all of them have come true." Bessent acknowledged that he "was concerned about the level of debt." But he said "the deficit this year is going to be lower than the deficit last year, and in two years, it will be lower again." "We are going to bring the deficit down slowly," Bessent added, insisting that addressing the deficit was a "long process." "The goal is to bring it down over the next four years, leave the country in great shape in 2028." juj/nl/mlm J.P. MORGAN CHASE & CO MOODY'S CORP. ADVANCED ACCELERATOR PLICATIONS
India Today
an hour ago
- India Today
New red line for terror: Indian, Pakistani Generals share warnings at Shangri-La
India and Pakistan's top military leaders exchanged stern warnings and outlined national red lines at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore amid heightened diplomatic efforts and strategic recalibration following last month's brief but intense military clash between the two nuclear-armed simmering tensions that culminated in April's deadly terror attack in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir, which New Delhi has blamed on Pakistan-based militants, were palpable at the conference, as both countries used the global platform to justify their positions and strategic of Defence Staff, General Anil Chauhan, highlighted India's new doctrine of zero tolerance toward terrorism, citing Operation Sindoor, the military response launched on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). 'What India has done, politically, they have drawn a new red line of intolerance against terror,' said Gen Chauhan."I hope, this particular operation, it's basically lying in military domain, that should bring about some lessons for our adversary also, and hopefully they learn that this is a limit of India's tolerance," he Sindoor followed the April 22 terror attack that claimed 26 lives and sparked a four-day cross-border conflict that concluded on May 10."We have been subjected to this proxy war of terror for almost two decades and more, and we lost lot of want to put an end to it," he however, rejected the accusations and issued stern warnings about the dangers of escalating Sahir Shamshad Mirza, Chairman of Pakistan's Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, warned, 'The strategic stability with the lowering of this threshold to dangerous levels... there could be a possibility that before the international community intervenes... the damage and destruction may have already taken place.'Despite the rhetoric, both sides have shifted gears diplomatically. India sent multiple delegations globally to gather support and shape the international narrative. Congress leader and former Indian foreign minister Salman Khurshid, part of a delegation visiting Singapore, called it an unprecedented diplomatic campaign.'It is an innovation... and we've got enormous support,' Khurshid said. 'You might even put it as something that will at least ensure that our narrative is carried right through.'Pakistan is expected to launch a similar diplomatic outreach starting June Mirza maintained Pakistan's commitment to tackling terrorism, including cross-border threats originating from Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, and highlighted the steep cost terrorism has exacted from Pakistan, in both economic and human terms.'Terrorism has cost us hundreds of billions of dollars and tens of thousands of lives,' Mirza recent conflict was also seen as a test of military technology, with India employing French-made Rafale jets and Pakistan using Chinese J10-C fighters. Both generals underscored their nations' multi-sourced military doesn't depend on one nation for its defence needs,' said Chauhan.'I have military equipment from the US, Turkiye, Italy, the UK...' said Mirza, emphasiSing Pakistan's global defense both countries continue moderniSing their arsenals with AI, drones, cyber tools and precision weaponry, concerns remain high over the potential for rapid escalation. However, both nations denied that nuclear weapons were considered during the conflict.'The tools of modern conflict are artificial intelligence, electronic warfare, cyber, precision, firepower and weapons,' Mirza inputs from PTITune InMust Watch
