Salman Rushdie ‘getting the care he needs’ says New York governor
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told members of the press that author Salman Rushdie is alive and receiving care at a local hospital after having been attacked on stage at an event in Western New York on Friday morning.
Video transcript
KATHY HOCHUL: The protection of every individual in our state, whether they're a resident or visitor, we take that very seriously. And so it is heartbreaking to learn that within the last hour, a prominent individual, Salman Rushdie, was attacked on a stage in Western New York just before he was about to give a speech.
He is alive. He has been transported, airlifted, to safety. But here's an individual who has spent decades speaking truth to power, someone who's been out there, unafraid, despite the threats that have followed him his entire adult life, it seems. And it happened at a site that is-- a place that's very familiar to me-- a very tranquil rural community known as Chautauqua-- Chautauqua Institution, where the most preeminent speakers, and thought leaders, and politicians, and justices, and everyone come together to have the free expression of thought.
So this is a place ideally suited for him to be able to speak. And that's what he was attempting to do just in the last hour before he was attacked. And I want to commend the state police. It was a state police officer who stood up and saved his life, protected him.
[APPLAUSE]
As well as the monitor-- the moderator who was attacked as well. We're monitoring the situation, but we are getting-- he's getting the care he needs at a local hospital. We'll be giving more information on the identity of the perpetrator and the case that will be brought in that part of the state. So I just wanted to share that with you because it hits right here-- it hits all of us.
But we are undeterred, then. We are undeterred in our commitment to make sure that we call it out, we condemn what happened, we condemn all violence. And we want people to feel that freedom to speak and to write truth. And I'll continue to protect that every single day as I'm your governor.
