Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- A Utah college Republican leader deleted a controversial post on immigration calling for the deportation of all children.
- The post featured an image from "Star Wars" showing a character moments before slaughtering several children.
- Riley Beesley said he was not condoning violence, but supports deporting all undocumented immigrants.
SALT LAKE CITY — A leader of a statewide college Republican group shared, then removed, a post calling for the deportation of children that featured an image from a "Star Wars" film showing a character moments before he murdered several children.
"EVERY ILLEGAL OUT. EVEN THE KIDS," Riley Beesley, vice chairman of the Utah Federation of College Republicans and a University of Utah student, posted on X Monday. It was in response to a post from the federation saying: "WE MUST DEPORT THEM ALL."
Beesley's post featured a still image from a disturbing and controversial scene from "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith." Although the scene cuts away without showing the violence, it is implied that Anakin Skywalker — played by Hayden Christensen — massacred several young children who were in training to become Jedi.
The post drew pushback and was viewed 568,000 times before it was deleted on Tuesday.
"You've taken a terrible position and used something even worse to describe your desires," state Rep. Andrew Stoddard, D-Midvale, wrote in response. In a subsequent post he added: "No words adequately describe how awful this is."
Beesley told KSL his post had been misrepresented and said he is "not seeking violence in any shape or form." He added that his posts reflect his own views, not those of any other organization.
"I'm very pro-family," he said in an interview Tuesday before he removed the post. "I adore and love children and through this tweet, what was meant was ... I'm under the belief that everyone should be deported who is here illegally. That does not mean that any violence should be done to them or anything along those lines. I don't wish that upon anybody, nor would I be an advocate for that."
He said he "might not have been the most aware" of the context of the film when he shared the image, but said he felt it fit with his stance on deporting undocumented immigrants.
"It was more so what's said in the film — 'even the kids,'" he said. "Everyone here illegally should be deported, not just criminals, even though they should be the priority and focus. ... The post, it's simple. It says 'every illegal out,' and then 'even the kids.' In the post, I'm not advocating for children to be hurt and in the graphic, no children are being hurt."
The scene from "Revenge of the Sith" doesn't include the phrase "even the kids," but Christensen's character makes similar remarks in the film's predecessor, "Attack of the Clones," when confessing to another massacre in that film.
"They're dead, every single one of them," he said. "And not just the men. But the women and the children, too. They're like animals and I slaughtered them like animals."
Beesley deleted his post on Tuesday afternoon and also removed references to the Utah Federation of College Republicans from his account bio. The federation is a group of Republican organizations on Utah campuses that has ties to the Utah Republican Party. A spokesman for the party declined to comment.
Beesley helped a recent GOP-led effort to collect signatures to overturn Utah's anti-gerrymandering law known as Proposition 4 and has posted pictures with several elected Republicans in Utah.
After Beesley shared a picture of himself holding several signature packets, state Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, posted a picture in a similar pose and calling himself "Poor mans @rileybeesley." McCay later posted: "I used to worry about Utah's future, but not anymore because of amazing young people that show up," before listing several names, including Beesley's. McCay also did not comment on Beesley's post.
Last month, Beesley said an individual threatened to "kirk" him and another conservative student while they sat at a table to debate other students, similar to debates conservative activist Charlie Kirk would hold on campuses. Kirk was shot and killed at Utah Valley University in September.
