Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-described socialist Democrat, while speaking at a campaign event in Carson City, Nevada, had only just finished introducing his wife as "the next first lady" when a woman rushed the stage, attempting to grab the microphone.
"Bernie, I'm your biggest supporter, and I'm here to ask you to stop propping up the dairy industry and to stop propping up animal agriculture. I believe in you", the woman yelled into the microphone before it was switched off.
At that moment, a group of other women joined the first, splashing colored liquid apparently intended to resemble fake blood, and quickly disrobed.
Topless protester confronts Bernie Sanders, de Blasio at Nevada campaign rally A shirtless woman was part of a group that took the stage moments after Mayor Bill de Blasio introduced Sanders to the stage in Nevada. https://t.co/BCvAl8eRQE #USRC pic.twitter.com/SCyUQjBxP8
— Top U.S. & World News🗽 (@USRealityCheck) February 16, 2020
😮Bernie Sanders interrupted by topless protesters at Nevada rally https://t.co/P78gyFV49b pic.twitter.com/Uk4cwMqUH5
— † Crusader (@Wil_Johnson1) February 16, 2020
Before security intervened, Sanders supporters and journalists video recorded the incident. The images of the topless female activists from the briefly-interrupted rally, displaying "let dairy die" on their chests, instantly went viral.
After security expelled the naked women from the stage, Sanders reentered, joking with the crowd by noting that, "This is Nevada, there’s always a little bit of excitement".
The group alleged in a press release that candidate Sanders "has shifted to criticizing factory farming giants during the 2020 campaign", claiming that the Democratic senator "has a pro-dairy history, including personally writing an amendment into a 2009 ag appropriations bill to give dairy $350 million in corporate welfare".
Activists claim that "political influence" allegedly "undermines animal welfare", citing this issue as "a major contributor to climate change".