A pair of journalists critical of modern feminism have been banned from a university event that, ironically, focuses on whether feminism is stifling modern free speech.

The University of Manchester Free Speech & Secular Society is scheduled to hold a public debate Oct. 15 titled “From Liberation to Censorship: Does Modern Feminism Have a Problem with Free Speech?” Initially, two journalists, Milo Yiannopoulos of Breitbart and Julie Bindel of the Guardian, were invited to speak at the debate. Both have since been barred from attending because their opinions are considered too offensive.

Bindel was the first to be banned, with the University of Manchester Students’ Union announcing Monday that her invitation had been blocked due to her attitude toward transgender people. While Bindel is herself a feminist and lesbian activist, she is also sharply critical of the transgendered and of gender reassignment surgery, attitudes the student union said violate their official safe space policy by undermining the “principles of liberation.”

“The Students’ Union has decided to deny this request based on Bindel’s views and comments towards trans people, which we believe could incite hatred towards and exclusion of our trans students,” the group said in a statement.

Yiannopoulos’ rejection followed Wednesday because his statements about feminism were considered too inflammatory. Yiannopoulos has appalled feminist activists by, among other things, denying the existence of “rape culture” and defending the GamerGate movement, an online movement over the past year that has bashed the influence of feminist activists on video games.

“We have been made aware of various comments lambasting rape survivors and trans* people, and as such we are concerned for the safety of our students on the topic of this event,” the Students’ Union said in a new statement Wednesday. “[Yiannopoulos] is a rape apologist and has repeatedly used derogatory and debasing ableist language when describing members of the trans* community.”

The student union’s women’s officer, Jess Lishak, made a post on Facebook (since deleted) that justified the bans in further detail, describing Bindel as a “famous transphobe” and Yiannopoulos as a “professional misogynist.”

One student at Manchester has launched a petition to allow the two to speak, which has more than 800 signatures. Meanwhile, Yiannopoulos suggested on Twitter that he is considering legal action, saying his description as a “rape apologist” was “highly actionable” (libel actions are substantially easier to bring in the U.K. than in the U.S.):

Update, 5:44 PM: Yiannopoulos has deleted his tweet, and contacted The Daily Caller News Foundation to indicate that he was not seriously considering legal action.

Follow Blake on Twitter

Some Date Labbers call for a bit more care than others when being matched. Take Blake Neff. A South Dakota native, the 27-year-old cable news writer is ambivalent about all things Washington. “I would not necessarily oppose this city’s destruction by nuclear fireball, even if I am in it at the time,” he wrote in his Date Lab profile. He dates rarely and, as an “old-fashioned” soul, is appalled by many of the sport’s modern conventions, such as dating apps and casual hook-ups.

Blake’s sense of humor is quirky (thus the D.C.-could-use-a-good-nuking joke), and he can come across as a wee bit defensive. Then there’s his ideological worldview: In this hypercharged political climate, Blake is a proud Trump voter. For some Washington gals, this would be a one-drink-and-I’m-outta-here evening ender. For others, it could serve as human catnip. To avoid having the date end in a public brawl, a matchmaker must proceed with caution.

Enter McKenzie Smith. The 24-year-old Georgia native works in client relations for a green-energy tech start-up. Big on family and faith, she identifies as a “traditional conservative” and “die-hard Southerner.” In her profile, she expressed a love of politics, history and Russian literature. She cited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the contemporary politician she’d most like to get to know and Richard Nixon as the historical one. “Ambitious” and “future-oriented,” she has a fondness for intelligent “frat boy types.”

Who am I to argue with the Date Lab gods? These two were clearly a match made in heaven, or at least in the hallowed hallways of cable news. So off we sent them to Bobby Van’s steakhouse on 15th Street NW. The evening began with a slight hiccup. Blake was running late, so McKenzie went to chill out in the bar with a cocktail. When Blake arrived, one of the first statements out of his mouth was that he regards alcohol as “poison.” McKenzie’s first thought: “Yikes!”

Did I mention that Neff listed “honest” as the adjective that best describes him? He was definitely not kidding about this — which led to a few more head-slapping moments, such as his informing the very blond McKenzie that he fancies brunettes. Still, the evening settled into a mostly comfortable groove. The two swapped tales of family, college, movies, travel, politics (prompting a few tense moments, Blake reported) and, of course, why each had given Date Lab a go. McKenzie’s Virginia-based grandparents are longtime fans of the column and had been nudging her to apply. Blake knows a guy who had suffered an epic Date Lab meltdown, and the possibility of an equally searing disaster tickled his dark sense of humor.

Blake was impressed at how “genuinely well-read” McKenzie was and that she had opted not to go to grad school after deciding it didn’t make financial sense. (Washingtonians’ constant bragging about their “B.S. master’s degrees” makes him nuts.) McKenzie was indeed fascinated by Blake’s job as well as his Dartmouth education and the fact that he showed up to their date lugging a book about Catherine the Great.

Having gotten off to a late start, Blake and McKenzie wound up shutting down the restaurant. Afterward, they decided to stroll the mostly empty streets near the White House, then, when McKenzie’s heels began to pinch, planted themselves on a park bench. The night ended with a parting hug as McKenzie grabbed a Lyft home.

Weirdly, neither McKenzie nor Blake could say for certain how the evening went. Blake feared McKenzie didn’t get his sense of humor. (She laughed some, but not a ton.) He also suspected she was sending a signal with her remark that she’s not sure she’s looking for a relationship right now. His thought: “If I were Brad Pitt, you would be.”

For her part, McKenzie expressed anxiety that Blake would feel moved to “trash” her in his post-date debriefing, and she acknowledged a lack of initial sizzle: “I’m not sure on either side there was physical chemistry.” Blake is keeping his expectations low. As he told me, “Things could totally blow up going forward.

A writer for the Fox News star Tucker Carlson resigned after he was revealed as the pseudonymous author of several years’ worth of racist, sexist and obscene posts on an online message board.

Blake Neff, who joined “Tucker Carlson Tonight” in 2017, left Fox News on Friday after the network learned of his activity on an online forum, AutoAdmit, which is popular with law students. The site has previously been the subject of at least one lawsuit for its offensive and misogynist content.

In a memo on Saturday, leaders of Fox News described Mr. Neff’s writings as “horrendous and deeply offensive” and said the network condemned his behavior.

“Neff’s abhorrent conduct on this forum was never divulged to the show or the network until Friday, at which point we swiftly accepted his resignation,” the network’s chief executive, Suzanne Scott, and its president and executive editor, Jay Wallace, wrote in the memo, which was distributed to the Fox News staff. “Make no mistake, actions such as his cannot and will not be tolerated at any time in any part of our work force.”

Mr. Carlson has not commented on the matter since Mr. Neff resigned. Ms. Scott and Mr. Wallace wrote in their memo that Mr. Carlson would address the episode on his Monday show.

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Mr. Neff did not respond to inquiries for comment.

A conservative writer who previously worked at the right-wing news and opinion site The Daily Caller, which Mr. Carlson co-founded, Mr. Neff published on AutoAdmit under a pseudonym, CharlesXII.

His posts there mocked and denigrated African-Americans, Asian-Americans and women, and he contributed to message threads in which other writers used racial slurs. He also occasionally bragged about his influence on Mr. Carlson’s show.

CNN identified Mr. Neff as the author of the posts and first reported his resignation on Friday.

Mr. Neff, in a recent interview with the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, said that when Mr. Carlson read off his teleprompter, “the first draft was written by me.” He told the magazine that he and Mr. Carlson agreed on many issues and that he enjoyed working at a show that could affect national politics.

“We’re very aware that we do have that power to sway the conversation, so we try to use it responsibly,” Mr. Neff told the magazine, which identified him as a 2013 graduate and a former editor at The Dartmouth Review, the college’s undergraduate conservative newspaper. (As of Saturday, the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine appeared to have removed the article about Mr. Neff from its website.)

Mr. Carlson is the No. 1-rated star of Fox News, and his program’s viewership has soared in recent months as he has taken a hard-line stance against national demonstrations over police brutality and racial injustice. Mr. Carlson has dismissed demonstrators as “criminal mobs” and warned that the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement could lead to anarchy and violence.

His rhetoric has prompted a backlash from major advertisers, including T-Mobile and the Walt Disney Company, many of which have instructed Fox News to prevent their spots from airing during Mr. Carlson’s show.

In recent days, Mr. Carlson faced criticism for on-air attacks against Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, a Thai-American Democrat and a veteran who lost her legs fighting in Iraq. His broadside came after Ms. Duckworth, a potential vice-presidential nominee, said that she was open to arguments for removing statues of George Washington because he owned slaves.

Mr. Carlson called Ms. Duckworth a “vandal” and a “moron” and questioned her patriotism. Ms. Duckworth responded by writing that Mr. Carlson “doesn’t know what patriotism is.”

Mr. Neff was featured in a Washington Post dating column in 2017, in which he was quoted saying his hobbies “allow me to escape women.” He also told The Post he was miffed at his date’s assertion that she was not sure about starting a relationship, saying, “If I were Brad Pitt, you would be.”

Michael M. Grynbaum is a media correspondent covering the intersection of business, culture and politics.

A version of this article appears in print on July 12, 2020, Section A, Page 24 of the New York edition with the headline: Writer for ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ Resigns Over Racist and Sexist Posts. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe