Dalton Earthley, aka Chud the Builder, faces attempted murder charges after a Tennessee courthouse shooting where he allegedly used racial slurs and brandished a firearm. While Earthley claims self-defense against victim Joshua Fox, the host argues his prior provocation negates legal defenses, predicting a conviction due to the current cultural climate's intolerance for white racial epithets. Despite fundraising efforts and claims of activist targeting, Earthley likely faces a plea deal to avoid prison, highlighting how double standards in speech policing drive severe legal consequences for confrontational free speech advocates. [Automatically generated summary]
Chud the Builder, charged with attempted murder, among other things like negligent discharge of a firearm.
There's a lot to break down in this story.
And the first, a bit of the context for those that don't know who this guy is, is he is a streamer online.
He walks around, says he's engaging in his free speech rights to say what he wants.
And often the videos you end up seeing going viral are him walking around live streaming, dropping racial slurs and accusing black men of chimping out.
Now, of course, for a variety of reasons, these videos have gone viral.
It's shock content.
Some of it is admittedly humorous, not the more extreme stuff.
I'm not a big fan of intentionally antagonizing people, but there are clips that end up going viral.
And it's not about the overt racial slurs, it's about just a guy walking down the street live streaming.
That does get him some fans.
But I think for a lot of it, people genuinely enjoy his racist content.
I'm not saying old people everywhere, I'm saying he has found an audience of people who agree with him, who like watching him go out and.
Push back on these social justice narratives, although this is a particularly contentious issue.
And there's a lot to break down in the morality of it and the law of it.
And the big question is should he have been charged with attempted murder?
Last night on Tim Cass Diarrell, I predicted this guy's going to prison, he will have the book thrown at him, and there's not going to be a jury who will find him not guilty.
And I know a lot of people are going to get mad.
They're saying, dude, let me give you the story real quick.
We'll go through everything.
Because I don't want to drop the lead on this one.
He was walking out of a courtroom.
He says things.
He insults people.
Apparently, some guy told him, Don't you dare say this thing to me, to which he said the guy attacked him.
Then he's getting wailed on.
Apparently, he then draws a weapon and shoots the guy, and in the scuffle, shoots himself as well.
They have charged him.
And I'm going to break down exactly why.
And the first and most important thing you need to understand about why I say he's going to get locked up is social justice is the law of the land.
And a lot of people.
Are upset by that.
They want to push back on it.
They're mad that we don't see the inverse.
In fact, we just had the mural of Arena Zarutska torn down.
I think this was in Ohio.
So, this is why people are mad.
So, I want to do a couple things in breaking down the story the current standing of social justice in this country and the individual merits of this case for which they're clashing.
Because, on the surface, I think most people are going to say this dude, and I want to make sure you understand what I'm saying.
When I say this dude's going to jail, Again, it's because the machine will say, you are a racist, and racists go to jail.
That is going to be the bias of basically everybody.
Then there's the individual merits of the case, which pertains to the ideas of provocation, past behaviors, and ultimately what it would lead to.
I think, in an individual sense, he would likely be charged with something.
I don't think he'd get off on self defense, but attempted murder seems to go a bit beyond.
A bit beyond.
So I'll put it like this as we get started because it's a very contentious issue.
I'm trying to be careful.
You know, I want to make sure I get through everything before everybody starts exploding.
Attempted murder seems pretty crazy for a case like this.
That's because of the social justice nature of our legal system and our society.
There likely would still be charges because self defense probably would not apply.
But let me explain why as we go through the story, breaking down who this guy is, what happened.
And what it ultimately means in the bigger picture with how social media is developing.
And again, the reason why I want to talk about this is the element of social justice in our society and how it forces misapplied law, benefiting minorities in most cases.
And I, as a mixed race person, don't see any of that.
I don't apparently get the white privilege, but I also don't get the minority privileges.
I think the whole thing is whack.
And there are some questions to be made, to be asked.
So let's start here.
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Let's jump to the news.
Excuse me.
Chud the Builder, charged with attempted murder after a courthouse shooting.
TMZ reporting Chud the Builder's problems are stacking up.
The controversial streamer has now been charged in connection with Wednesday's wild shooting outside a Tennessee courthouse.
The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office announced that Chud, whose real name is Dalton Earthley, was charged and booked for criminal attempts.
Murder, employing a firearm during a dangerous felony, aggravated assault, and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon.
Wow, I thought there was a negligence thing in there.
I guess not.
I want to stress this attempted murder, committing a felony.
This is where I think it's going too far, and for obvious reasons, that I think Dalton, I think this was the driver of who he is and what he does.
So the story goes that this guy apparently was driving a work truck.
I don't know if you guys remember this.
It was like a big viral moment.
And apparently, he got into an altercation with some black people.
He threw down a racial slur.
He said, N word chill, or something like that.
They attacked him.
He gets fired and loses his job.
I remember we talked about this like, bro, come on.
Like, this is stupid.
Like, don't, don't, like, you get fired over an altercation.
You know what I mean?
Like, this is the nature of our society right now.
But Homeboy apparently raised some money for this, created a social media platform, got defended by a lot of people who were upset.
That it's a one way street in social justice.
You are not allowed as a white person to use slurs, but black people, Latinos, Asians, they can use slurs against you.
So naturally, a lot of people get pissed at the double standard.
So then, kicks off his streaming career where he walks around and he goes up to people and he throws down racial slurs because he's just like, let's roll.
Now, I don't want to get into the bigger picture just yet.
I just want to give you a bit of the background before we get into this, but committing a felony.
He was leaving a courthouse.
Let me read, let me read, let me read.
I'm going to rant on this one like crazy.
On Wednesday afternoon, officers responded to a call of shots fired outside the Montgomery County Courthouse and detained two men who got into a fight that escalated into gunfire.
The men suffered bullet wounds, with one being transported to a local hospital and the other treated at the scene.
Both were listed in stable condition.
The Montgomery County District Attorney's General Office identified Earthley as a suspect who was taken into custody before he was formally charged.
Earthley live streamed the entire incident.
Claiming he was jumped outside the courthouse and fired shots in self defense.
He also said he accidentally shot himself in all the confusion.
Last week, Earth laid another run in with the law in Nashville where he was arrested for disorderly conduct and theft of services.
Police say he got into a spat with customers who asked him to stop filming them at a restaurant before he skipped out on a $371 bill.
So apparently, in that story, what had happened is that he was inside a restaurant.
And this is the official reporting.
I do have Chud's comment on this one.
Apparently, people were like, don't film.
He said, mind your own business.
I'm not saying he literally said that.
He was saying something to the effect of, like, leave me alone, not going to film what I want.
This restaurant then said, we're going to kick you.
You have to leave.
And he says, if you're kicking me out, I ain't paying.
They kicked him out.
He left.
Apparently, the next day, the cops were like, Theft of Services, you're under arrest.
Here's the story Colin Rugg says, Streamer Chud the Builder has been charged with attempted murder.
They say Earthly accidentally shot himself.
So apparently, this is what happened.
He was confronted for his racist content.
Quote, He said, You start saying all that chimp out ish to me, and I'm going to hit you.
And he hit me and started wailing on me.
According to officials, the victim who was shot by Earthly was medically evacuated and is in stable condition.
Earthly appeared to accidentally shoot himself in the arm.
Earthly was also charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, and employing a firearm during a dangerous felony.
Now, the question I said, we do have video of it.
I think we can play some of this.
So you can see there's the police running in and grabbing him.
So, as it turns out, this guy who was shot, his name is Joshua Fox.
I believe that's the name that's being reported.
And he is a disabled military veteran.
So, oh boy, here we go.
The story gets crazier.
Now, a lot of people are accusing this guy, Joshua Fox, of being a known criminal with a long ramp sheet.
However,.
This is not verified.
And many people are pushing back, saying that's a different guy.
These are different people.
So we've got this right here.
This guy, Robbie Harvey, says, I spoke with Joshua's family.
He's awake and talking after surgery last night.
The long term health complications for the military veteran is unknown at this time.
And you can see here he's on a stretcher.
We do have the GoFundMe.
I'll pull that up in a second.
This guy, Eno Lalling, says, No thanks and lists Montgomery County rap sheet.
And this person says, Thanks for the engagement.
He responds with this story that says, Clarksville, Tennessee, On April 18th, 31 year old Joshua Fox was involved in a domestic incident with his wife.
However, the response to this is that that's a different person.
That's not the same guy, you illiterate moron.
On top of the pending cases, they say Chud Bomber is just a criminal, blah, blah, blah, blah.
So I don't know if that's the same guy and people are pushing this.
I also want to stress that people were also putting out fake news about who this guy is as well, showing a different guy.
This woman, Taylor Day, says the black guy shot by Chud was hunting him.
Showing tweets from a guy saying, He's near my city.
Should I go in?
The issue, however, and this guy also tweeted, I'm about to chimp out.
This is not the guy.
This guy was posting this stuff on X, still posting.
It is not him.
So we have this from GoFundMe where the guy who got shot, I don't like, I'm not going to say victim.
We don't know what happened.
Okay.
I'm going to break down a bit of what we think happened and talk about self defense and stuff.
This GoFundMe standing with Josh and family after shooting.
Let's see.
And he's got $22,000 raised.
And it looks like his wife, I believe.
So, Knee Fox writes Hello, everyone.
It saddens me to come and ask for help.
But today, at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Clarksville, my husband was involved in an altercation that led to him being shot by a man known as Chud the Builder, who was widely known for making racial slurs towards people of color.
My husband, Josh, was shot in the stomach and shoulder.
As of the latest update, he's in stable condition, but the emotional and financial impact this will have on our family is unimaginable.
There's no telling how long I may be out of work to help care for my husband, who is already a disabled veteran and suffers from other medical conditions.
Our children are also struggling through this difficult time.
I'm not asking for a lot, but if you feel it in your heart's eye, please consider donating to support our family during this time of need.
If you're unable to help financially, we completely understand and simply ask that you keep us in your prayers.
Thank you for your love.
Now, Chud also has his own fundraiser, which has been around a bit longer.
And this was back when he lost his job, for which, in this period of time, which I believe is going back six or seven months, he's raised $92,000.
Help Chud and his family.
Dear friends and supporters and champions of free speech, my name is Dalton Earthley.
And I'm reaching out with a heavy heart, fighting to protect my family and my business.
Just over one year ago, I started DLE contracting in Clarksville out of sheer necessity.
I was fired from my previous contracting job after BLM activists targeted me over words I shared online, jokes and opinions they twisted to end my career.
With no other way to support my family and my precious two-year-old son, I poured everything into the small business, working tirelessly to provide for my family and build a future.
Which brings us to where we are right now.
I do want to highlight this real quick on the previous arrest that happened, I believe this was last week.
Chud the Builder tweeted, I was wrongly arrested after a restaurant who had Chud the Builder written down at the host stand before I ever walked in the door conspired to have me charged.
Then I was held until noon on Mother's Day, had to cancel breakfast plans for my family.
I was interviewed by the feds and bank account frozen, all electronic devices seized, as well as my firearm.
The police cleared my multi factor authentication keys after they took all my items, so now I can't send it to any of my iCloud or other accounts.
I could not care less about some hat.
I am simply weary after six months of being attacked by our government.
For expressing the constitutional freedoms our ancestors fought and died for.
It is not illegal for white people to say the same word they say to each other.
So let's talk about the bigger picture here.
And there are three big things Was he overcharged?
Does he have self defense?
And what is going on in the grand scheme of social media where people are going around and just engaging in the most extreme of behaviors?
Guys, I ain't playing any games.
I think this was an overcharge.
I will say I predicted this.
And I'm also gonna cite Mike Tyson, who said, People have got real comfortable with talking smack without getting punched in the face.
There's a reality to you walking around and insulting people in increasingly aggressive ways.
I've seen these videos.
I don't know if you guys ever have seen these videos where YouTubers will walk around and intentionally use racial slurs against black people to get attention.
Many of these videos are fake.
There was one video, there's a ton of these videos, guys, but there's one instance, an example.
A guy pretends like he's trying to break into a car.
Then the owner, who's black, runs up and pushes him down and punches him.
Probably a fake video.
There's a bunch of videos where white dudes walk in a black neighborhood and a guy goes, What's up, my neighbor?
My neighbor.
And then the black guys go, What did you just say to me?
You can't say that word.
Probably staged.
Probably staged.
Because everybody knows what my neighbor is.
And the idea is it sounds enough like they might mishear you.
There's a bunch of these videos where a white dude walks up and he goes, Oh man, a nickel.
And he picks a nickel off the ground and they go, Hey man, what did you just say?
As if anything with nah.
Tony Hinchcliffe had a joke where he said something like, What did he say?
They're acting like ninjas.
And then everyone chuckled or whatever because it was a Kevin Hartbrust.
So the point of this content is fake racist shock.
It's meant to be like, Oh, look, it's just crazy.
People love watching this stuff.
With Chud the Builder, I think.
We've seen a handful of these personalities.
There was that woman, I can't remember her name, was Shiloh something, where she called a kid the N word because she claims he was rifling through her purse.
I don't know if that was adjudicated and we know what actually happened, but that was the claim.
And then everyone got mad at her, tried getting her fired.
And then a bunch of white people were like, you know what?
We don't care anymore.
And they gave her a bunch of money.
Let me tell you something.
I think the double standard is miserably bad.
The idea that, like, only white people can't insult other people based on race.
Now, don't get me wrong.
Nobody should be insulting anybody based on race.
But I don't think you should get criminal charges for it.
Hate crime laws are BS.
And y'all want to play games?
This is what you get.
So, in the event there is a black person insulting a white person or an Asian person or a Mexican person or anybody based on race, don't be surprised when it's thrown back in your face.
You can't be the aggressor and pretend to be the victim at the same time.
You can't be like, but look at the history of this country, therefore I'm allowed and you're not.
Nah, I'm not doing that.
If we want to stop racism, then people should stop attacking each other based on race.
So that means this idea that black people can go out and call people cracker or whatever they want to call them, and I don't even get in trouble for saying cracker on social media.
I can't speak for this individual circumstance, which we'll get to in a second, but prior behavior is going to play a role in these charges and what the juries see.
I do not believe there is a jury in this country, I swear, I don't care where you are, you could be deep south, that is going to find him not guilty.
First, let's talk about the overcharge attempted murder.
Bro, even if it was that he would, like, imagine a scenario.
Chud walks out of the building and he sees a random black guy and then just walks out to him and starts screaming the N word at him.
The dude then punches him and starts beating him.
If that were the case, I don't know, you get attempted murder on that one.
Like starting a fight, shooting him, attempted murder?
I mean, that's pretty wild.
There's a heavy charge of that.
Don't get me wrong.
Like, you go up to someone and do that, there's going to be charges.
Now, as the story goes, an altercation started.
Having seen Chud's videos, He does walk up to groups of black guys and then start when things get he's like, Why are you filming me?
He'll be like, You know, I'm allowed to film.
And then when people get angry, he starts calling them racial slurs.
That is going to be found by most juries, but this one's different, not all, as provocation.
Provocation is any action or word that can reasonably be assumed that a reasonable person would believe could lead to a violent altercation.
Provocation is not illegal, but it does reduce your ability to defend.
Which plays a role in Chud the Builder's case.
Now, again, I don't know about this individual case, but big picture.
First, I called this last night when we were talking about IRIs that this dude's going to get charged with the book.
Wokeness is being crushed and defeated, but take a look at Derek Chauvin.
They ran that guy through the coals.
The jurors were brought into the courthouse under armed guard with rifles from far left extremists threatening to.
Kill them.
In the Kyle Rittenhouse case, I think it was a Rittenhouse case, a journalist stalked the jurors in their bus.
They're supposed to be kept secret who they are so they can't be interfered with.
That's how insane it is.
So, this guy, if Chud goes to trial, bro, I'm telling you, you're going to have a jury and they're going to be like, I'm not going to be the dude that votes not guilty.
That's what I'm saying.
So, double standard in effect.
Now, self defense.
He ain't got a self defense claim.
I'm sorry, guys.
I know people are going to get mad to hear.
They're going to be mad to hear that.
There's going to be a lot of people claiming it was clearly self defense.
I think if we're doing a bell curve here, like what is the most, like the Occam's Razor situation?
We know he live streams.
We know that he accuses black people of chimping out and calls him the N word and things like this.
That is viewed largely in most instances as a provocation.
It is.
You might not like it.
I'm not saying it should be that way.
I'm saying that's how it's perceived by most people and by the courts.
In which case, you can defend yourself, but it's going to reduce what is considered to be proportional or reasonable in these circumstances.
Let's say that Chud the Builder walks out of the courtroom live streaming.
This guy recognizes him and says, Don't you dare say it.
I'm not going to let you speak out.
Then we get to that Mike Tyson situation where, as he said, people feel comfortable talking smack without getting punched in the face.
So let's say he does say he's chimping out and calls him the N word.
So the guy hits him.
Let's say that Chud hits him back.
Nothing happens.
That's it.
Probably nobody gets charged.
They're going to say, Listen, if somebody's insulting you and throwing slurs around, they have a free speech, a First Amendment right to do that.
That is correct.
He's allowed to say these things in public.
You can't attack him for it.
However, a reasonable person would conclude if you walk up to a black guy or just generally in the presence of a black person, accuse them of chimping out and call them a racial slur, there is a decent probability that will antagonize to the point where they will attack you.
Now, again, let's go through levels.
Chud walks out, he's filming, he stands there and says, you know, don't chimp out, you know, and whatever.
The guy then hits him.
Chud does nothing.
The police would arrest the black guy and say, listen, you can't attack people because they insult you.
That's correct in law.
Let's say Chud punches the guy back and shoves him off.
Probably nobody gets arrested, but they still might arrest the guy who started the fight.
When you pull out a gun at that point and shoot the person, my expectation under the law and what is considered reasonable is that at that point, you have a circumstance to consider.
A reasonable person would conclude accusing a black man of chimping out and calling him a slur is.
Could potentially, not always, potentially result in violence.
You have brought a gun into this circumstance where you created a conflict.
You cannot use lethal force against a person when you create the conflict.
Now, I know a lot of people are going to say, how is that fair?
He didn't throw the punch.
It's proportionality.
The argument in court is going to be that a reasonable person would conclude you will make someone angry enough to attack you to have a gun on your person and use it.
They will then imply, not in every case, but it's reasonable again to conclude this could escalate to a lethal confrontation.
Thus, you entered into a circumstance where a reasonable person would conclude your actions would result in violence, but you were armed with lethal force and prepared to use it.
That doesn't mean attempted murder, which is why I think attempted murder is an overcharge, but they'll probably get them on it because we live in social justice territory, right?
But my point is.
If they charged him with like aggravated assault or something, I'd be like, well, again, guys, you may not like this how the law plays out, but it's basically an A plus B equals C. Do you think walking up to somebody insulting them will get you punched in the face?
Mike Tyson said it and everybody agreed.
It used to be that you walk up to a guy, you insult them, you got hit, and the cops didn't do anything about it.
You bring a gun with you up to a guy where you insult him in such a way that is considered to be particularly offensive, and then when he swings on you, you shoot him.
You cannot create the circumstances by which you must then defend yourself.
Stressing again, you're allowed to insult people and you are allowed to call them whatever you want and they are not allowed to hit you for it.
But if you know it can result in you getting hit and that you'd have to then use a gun, they're not going to let you claim self defense.
So there are certain circumstances where this could play out.
Now, I think what may help or hurt could go either way is that he live streamed this.
And I think actually I have, I might have the, do I not have the live stream pulled up?
I thought I did have it pulled up.
Uh, Oh, no, I didn't.
There's actually a recording, and this is the quote that I read already when he's like, The guy said, You start saying all that chimp out ish to me, and I'm going to hit you.
And then he hit me.
Well, he live streamed it all.
And for anybody who's looked at Chud's content, watched his videos, I'm sorry.
I'm going to tell you this.
I think it is extremely likely that what happens is any jury is going to be dealing with a handful of things.
One, nobody wants to be the guy to defend Chud.
Sorry.
If it were me, I don't care.
I'd assess the facts as the facts are.
I don't think attempted murder makes sense.
Chud was not trying to kill this guy.
I just don't think that makes sense.
I think Chud was defending himself, but I don't think he has a total self defense claim.
But I also don't think it warrants attempted murder.
I think there is some criminal culpability here.
I do not respect.
Listen, I'm going to say it like this.
If Chud is minding his own business walking down the street, And he gets called a cracker and he responds with the N word.
You see, this is how social media works.
You can't even say the two, right?
Then I'm going to be like, yeah, well, you know, I ain't playing these games.
It's not 1950, dude.
It's 2026.
The world is different.
You don't need to be insulting people based on race.
I don't care what your race is.
If he's responding to someone and he's minding his own business, well, then cry more.
If Chud is going up to people who are black and creating these circumstances which become antagonistic, Not a fan of that.
I'm generally not a fan of Chud walking up and just throwing racial slurs at people.
But I'll say it again nobody should be doing that.
So that's why I make the point.
If they throw a slur at him first and he throws it back, you know, you reap what you sow, right?
I think what's going to play out is the court.
I wonder what happens.
Actually, typically, in most cases, a plea deal.
Maybe the prosecution says, we're going to, like, bro, let me just stress this, okay?
Dude, if you go to trial on this one, For attempted murder.
They're locking you up for 10 years.
10 years, bro.
But do you really think any jury is going to be like, not guilty?
I'm sorry.
The prosecution's going to pull up all of his past live streams.
They're going to make the argument that Chud creates these circumstances knowing full well.
First question Mr. Chud, Mr. Earthly, have you ever been attacked while live streaming before?
I'd like you to turn to our piece of evidence, you know, 113 here, a video clip from his live stream showing him being physically attacked.
What would you say the reason is for you being attacked?
And then, you know, maybe he gives an answer.
Maybe he doesn't testify, but they'll show the evidence.
In this video, you referred to a man with a racial slur and he responded by hitting your hat or taking a swing at you.
Is it reasonable to believe that doing this could result in someone getting violent towards you with respect to the fact that you can't hit someone for insulting you?
We all agree you can't, but people probably would.