Richard Spencer sought to cast his brand of clean-cut ethnic nationalism as a respectable conservative alternative to nazism, coining the term "alt-right" to refer to it and successfully attracting mainstream media interest. In this audio recording, posted Sunday by provocateur Milo Yiannopoulous and claimed to be of Spencer, a man is heard ranting about Jews and black people in a more traditionally far-right mode. The recording is NSFW and contains terms of racial abuse.

"My ancestors fucking enslaved those little pieces of fucking shit," Spencer is heard shouting on the recording. "They don't do this to fucking me. We're going to fucking ritualistically humiliate them." "Little fucking kikes," Spencer is heard screaming in a terrifying minute-long rant. "They get ruled by people like me. Little fucking octaroons.".

Yiannopoulous claims the recording was made in the immediate aftermath of counterprotestor Heather Heyer's murder at the 2017 Charlottesville "Unite the Right" rally.

Mother Jones was the first to indulge Spencer's media plan ("Meet the dapper white nationalist who wins even if Trump loses") but even those appalled by the cosy coverage were unable to avoid the term "alt-right" for long.

Spencer's fame and media sympathy peaked after he was punched on video in 2017 by a protestor, an event that led to much sanctimonious punditry at the dangerous incivility of "punching Nazis". Heyer's killing by another white nationalist sobered up the poseurs and Spencer's media star quickly fell. Now no-one can be in any doubt about how low it always should have been.