The CBC is increasing security at its downtown Toronto headquarters following the discovery of a post on a popular “incel” message board that encouraged the “shooting up” of the building.
“The Toronto Police just stopped by the [Toronto Broadcast Centre] and are aware of the post as it was reported to them from a person in Montreal. They are going to be filing a report and I will have the report number soon,” Jason Stokes, Security & Life Safety Manager at BGIS, wrote in a Saturday afternoon email to the building’s senior security personnel and producers. BGIS is the company contracted by the CBC to provide property management services for the broadcast centre.
“We will be increasing security, I will confirm when the extra coverage has arrived onsite.”
Earlier Saturday, a post was published on the Incels.me message board with the subject line “[Serious] our next task: shooting up CBC headquarters.”
In the since-deleted post, user “Garbage” wrote that “our next task should be shooting up their headquarters and killing as many of those evil whores and normies reporters as possible.” He then gave the CBC’s Toronto address, adding “Become the hero that the incels deserve.”
(Another user responded “Do it yourself, prick,” to which he replied: “I dont live near there or I would you fucking larping troll [get the fuck out].”)
“Incels” — a portmanteau of “involuntary celibates” — are a violently misogynist online subculture that has become subject to mainstream scrutiny over the past week, including by the CBC. Alek Minassian, the man charged with 10 counts of murder in the deaths of eight women and two men in Toronto on Monday, authored a Facebook post prior to the attack that framed it as an action on behalf of the movement. Some “incels” have since cheered him on; the Incels.me user who made the threat against the CBC used his headshot as an avatar.
“Needless to say, the safety and security of our employees is a top priority,” CBC spokesperson Chuck Thompson says in an email, “and in light of this post, we have taken appropriate precautionary measures including, most notably, contacting Toronto Police Service.”
Incels.me banned the user behind the post, who proceeded to complain about the decision. “i had no warnings before this i make one little post about getting revenge and now i am banned jfl at least tell me how long im banned for,” he wrote in a forum for “Ban Appeals.”
“We have decided to give you a permaban. This is unappealable,” an administrator responded. “The reason is you asked people to shoot up a building.”
Updated at 6:34 p.m. EDT to note the user’s avatar and that he was banned.
