Editor’s Note: This article contains references to antisemitic and racist language.
Following a statement made by Austin Franco ’28 where he responded to a job offer with “Not interested in working for a jew. Thanks.” on Handshake, he appeared in a Piers Morgan Uncensored episode on July 28 to discuss his actions with Morgan, who called him the “most famous antisemite in America.”
In the interview with Morgan, Franco discussed his family’s response to the comments, his previous “bad experiences with Jews,” his views on U.S. global intervention and used analogies to explain that his statements were not antisemitic, in his view.
In response, Morgan continued to label Franco as an antisemite and criticized his lack of apology, calling him “genuinely antisemitic” and a “brazen antisemite” for not wanting to associate with Jewish people. In a heated exchange near the interview’s end, Franco repeatedly asked Morgan to stop cutting him off while Morgan said that Franco makes himself unemployable.
In an interview with The Sun, Franco explained it “wasn’t surprising” that Morgan cut him off, which, to him, signaled the end of the interview. During the interview, Morgan also used critical language to describe Franco, calling him “stupid,” “a massive hypocrite,” “thick” and “arrogant.”
“Usually when someone’s losing an argument, or they know they’ve lost, they divert themselves to ad hominem attacks — like calling you ‘stupid’ or ‘thick,’” Franco told The Sun.
Franco explained he had hesitancies about doing the interview with Morgan at first, but changed his mind because he wanted a chance to provide an explanation for his actions after he observed reactions to his statements “die down.”
“I figured it would be okay … to explain myself,” Franco told The Sun. “Initially, everyone was riled up over what I said, so I wanted to wait [un]til things died down, and then after that, explain myself when people were no longer up in arms.”
Alongside denying Morgan’s claims that he was an “antisemite” in their interview, Franco also criticized a larger problem he observed with the overuse of the term.
“We throw around this term ‘antisemitism’ so much that it loses its meaning,” Franco told The Sun. “You can’t distinguish between when it’s an actual case of antisemitism [or] when it’s just someone being an asshole.”
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism includes “accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews,” according to its website. The United States government also adopts this working definition.
Franco explained to Morgan how he has talked with people who are “tired of these games, going in wars abroad for foreign countries, they’re tired of it all. And they’re tired of seeing their country destroyed by third-worlders, they can’t find a job and they have nothing to lose.”
When The Sun asked Franco to elaborate on what he meant by “third-worlders,” he said that he believes a growing issue is that the “ancestral stock” of the United States — which he defined as African Americans and Europeans — are unable to find a job due to importing of what he views as “cheap labor,” from regions including India, Latin America and China, he said.
Franco also reposted an Aug. 6 post on X blaming Indians and their “incompetence” for a decline of big tech companies. The reposted message ends with the statement: “F*ck them.”
In his segment with Morgan, Franco also explained how he was kicked out of his apartment complex by his house managers while at Cornell, noting that two out of three of the managers were Jewish. He alleged that they made up “random statements” about him and “dragged [him] through” the Office of Civil Rights at Cornell.
Franco declined to comment on this during his interview with The Sun.
Franco confirmed with The Sun that he was kicked out of his home by his parents and is currently living at Cornell. He explained to Morgan that, despite disagreements, he did not want any repercussions to spread to his family.
“Our views have diverged much over the past four years,” he told Morgan, referring to his parents. “My family and [I] disagree on certain things, and they were not happy with it — I was not happy that they were collateral in what I said.”
Franco has received over $10,000 in donations after posting a GiveSendGo asking for support after being kicked out on Aug. 1, according to the fundraiser description. The GiveSendGo received its first donation, amounting to $25, on July 29, with its current largest donation totaling $1,000 from an anonymous donor.
Another GiveSendGo was posted in support of Franco, which has raised over $26,000 by Miles Routledge, a British Youtuber who goes by “Lord Miles.” On his channel, Routledge engages in “extreme” tourism, where he visits locations with dangerous conditions including Afghanistan, where he met with the Taliban.
“The person who created the fundraiser, Miles Routledge, is a fellow Catholic friend who saw his plight and decided to help a fellow Christian out,” the fundraiser description reads.
In a statement to The Sun, Routledge confirmed that he created the fundraiser, explaining he did it “because jews are the synagogue of satan and I support my race.”
Routledge also provided further comments about his fundraising in his statement.
“I donate hundreds of thousands yearly to white nationalist organizations. Heil Hitler and such,” he wrote.
Routledge has been criticized for previous statements where he made comments about sending nuclear bombs at India and called Indians the “worst thing” he’s ever smelled, according to India Today and Times of India.
When The Sun asked Franco about how he felt about returning to Cornell, which has an approximately 16% Jewish population according to Hillel International, he responded that he wants to be respected in his choices.
“That’s 20% of the school, if they don’t want to associate with me, that’s within their rights to do so,” Franco told The Sun. “I would just ask that they respect my rights as well.”
Everett Chambala is an assistant news editor for the 144th board. He is working as the primary summer reporter for The Cornell Daily Sun through The Sun’s summer fellowship program.
Everett Chambala is a member of the Class of 2027 in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He is an assistant news editor for the 144th Editorial Board and can be reached at echambala@cornellsun.com.
