From RationalWiki

[1] McInnes at a Proud Boys rally

“ ” How do you feel, you fucking useless fag? I'm so glad you're too scared to make babies. You represent the worst parts of evolution. —Gavin McInnes[2]

Gavin McInnes (1970–) is a white nationalist activist, actor and professional troll.[3][4] McInnes was a cofounder of Vice Media in 1994, which he left in 2008. (You can blame him for the hipster "look".) He was also the founder of Proud Boys, a "Western chauvinist" alt-lite nofap group noted for violence. Despite appearances, there is no evidence that he is an evil Bizarro clone of Travis McElroy.

McInnes regularly appears on The Alex Jones Show, The Rebel Media, and Fox News (from which he resigned in 2017). He has written for Taki's Magazine,[5] TruthRevolt,[6] American Renaissance,[7] VDARE,[8] and The Federalist.[9]

White nationalism [ edit ]

“ ” Well, at least they're not fucking Well, at least they're not fucking niggers or Puerto Ricans. At least they're white. —Gavin McInnes on hipsters, 2002[10][11]

McInnes later called this " an antiracist joke from several years ago that becomes reversed when taken out of context (in The NY Press [that did the interview] we were all dressed as skinheads except for Suroosh who was wearing a suit. We were all covered with fake blood and bruises to imply a fight had just finished of course without the photo the quote becomes venomous)."[12]

In 2003, McInnes expressed his white pride:[11]

I love being white and I think it's something to be very proud of. I don't want our culture diluted. We need to close the borders now and let everyone assimilate to a Western, white, English-speaking way of life.

In 2016, trying to change his image, McInnes claimed that the Proud Boys were just "Western Chauvinists who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world" and nothing more.[13] On his blog, "Street Carnage", he claimed that he had been described as a white nationalist because "demand for racists doesn't meet the supply so" the media has "to fabricate them out of thin air". McInnes continued:[14]

If you're in a group that promotes traditional values and is anti-shame, well you must be white pride. This is because, to the media, everything is racial. If you wave an American flag, you must be a racist because racists do that too. This chick Nicole Disser asked me if we are a white power organization. I said no. She asked me how I feel about being white and I said we have nothing to be ashamed of. In today's age, that means you're "white pride".

In 2017, McInnes repeatedly espoused the white genocide conspiracy theory.[15] In particular, he claimed that white abortions and immigration are leading to "white genocide in the West",[16] that South African whites are being genocided,[17] and that the media is pushing genocide on whites.[18]

Proud Boys [ edit ]

Behold the master race

“ ” Still not sure why they named their fascist organisation the Rough & Tumble Society For Frisky Lads —pixelated boat[19]

Proud Boys is a far right extremist group with ties to white nationalism and a history of misogyny and glorifying violence.[20][21] McInnes announced the Proud Boys on Taki's Magazine,[22] an alt-right publication. Numerous members of the Proud Boys are alt-right.[23] McInnes hosts alt-right guests on his shows, like Holocaust-denying Baked Alaska.[24] And Neo-Nazi podcaster The Right Stuff lauds McInnes for recruiting people to the far right.[25][26] However, McInnes fiercely asserts that the Proud Boys are not alt-right[27] — and they were willing to sue the Baltimore City Paper to prevent them from using the term.[28]

Some high-profile Proud Boys include Roger Stone (a Second Degree member[29]) and Lucian Wintrich of Gateway Pundit.

Violence [ edit ]

McInnes frequently asserts that the Proud Boys are nonviolent. For example, McInnes wrote that "We don’t start fights but we will finish them. The violence you see in the media is us defending ourselves from lunatics who want us dead for no discernible reason."[27] However, as Rewire News notes, McInnes has a preoccupation with violence and often justifies it:[30]

The other striking thing one learns from watching hours of McInnes on his show is that he has a fascination with violence that permeates much of his material. [....] "Violence solves everything," he said on a recent episode. [....] He tells stories about his own violent fights and recently interviewed a New York Proud Boy named Jovi Val who was left with a slashed cheek and a broken nose after a scuffle over his "Make America Great Again" hat turned into a bar brawl, and who, during the show, removed the bandages from his face, revealing a gash above the lip still oozing with blood. On many episodes of his show, he congratulated Proud Boys for being involved in street violence. Earlier this year, he added a "fourth degree" of Proud Boy membership, reserved for those men who "had an extreme conflict based on the cause", as McInnes explained on a recent episode of his show.

In practice, the Proud Boys have gained infamy mostly from their violent stunts. For example, Proud Boy Kyle Chapman became infamous as "Based Stickman" for a video of him breaking a wooden stick over the head of an antifascist activist.[26] McInnes himself proudly announced that Chapman had founded the "Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights", which he described as the "military division of [the] Proud[ ]Boys".[31] The Proud Boys gained headlines when they acted as the "security" force for white nationalist Lauren Southern in the "Battle of Berkeley".[30] Afterwards, the official Proud Boys Twitter account wrote that Southern had been "protected by TheProud Boys today" and that "hearing her say 'they (antifa) can’t get to me, I’m with the guys' felt great".

On August 10, 2018, McInnes' Twitter account and the Proud Boys' Twitter account were suspended by Twitter per their rules on violent extremist groups.[32][33]

On August 19, 2019, Proud Boys Maxwell Hare and John Kinsman were convicted of "attempted gang assault, attempted assault and riot" outside a speech by McInnes at the Metropolitan Republican Club in New York City.[34][35] During the trial, McInnes was referred to by prosecutors as a hatemonger.[35] A total of 10 Proud Boys had been arrested who were at the event, 7 of pleaded guilty to charges of "riot, disorderly conduct and attempted assault", and one other is awaiting trial.[35]

Proud hazing [ edit ]

Second Degree: You must get the crap beaten out of you by at least five guys until you can name five breakfast cereals. If you hammer out, “Chex, Cheerios, Rice Krispies, Corn Flakes, and Special K” in a matter of seconds, you’re free to go. If you get flummoxed by the punches and cannot think straight, well, sorry, you’re going to get pounded.[22]

Anti-trans bigotry [ edit ]

See the main article on this topic: Transphobia

In a 2014 article titled "Transphobia Is Perfectly Natural", McInnes wrote what can only be called a screed about trans people. A sampling of the screed reads:[36]

We’re all transphobic. We aren’t blind. We see there are no old trannies. They die of drug overdoses and suicide way before they're 40 and nobody notices because nobody knows them. They are mentally ill gays who need help, and that help doesn't include being maimed by physicians. These aren't women trapped in a man's body. They are nuts trapped in a crazy person's body. I see them on the streets of New York. They are guys with tits and a sweatshirt. They wear jeans and New Balance. "What's the matter with simply being a fag who wears makeup?" I think when I see them. You're not a woman. You're a tomboy at best. Get fucked in the ass. And ladies, if you're a butch lesbian, you’re a lady with a lot of testosterone. Put a dick on a belt and fuck your girlfriend. You don't need to turn your vagina inside out. You're not a man. You don't even know what Turf Builder is.

Was it him who changed... or was it Vice? [ edit ]

One thing must be noted: he has always said crap like he says today, even back when he wrote for Vice, probably starting the (by now unconvincing) trend on the far-right that his more obscene statements were made "ironically". And he may have written entire early issues of Vice single-handedly, while definitely setting up the magazine's iconoclastic tone. For example, a noted back in this article, way back in a 2003 profile in The New York Times he said: "I love being white and I think it’s something to be very proud of. I don’t want our culture diluted. We need to close the borders now and let everyone assimilate to a Western, white, English-speaking way of life". It's just that back then the magazine "was either bi-partisan or politically apathetic". It was when it started growing and getting more publicity money that McInnes got the purge, as many ad buyers wouldn't put money alongside "controversial" content, which was mostly written by McInnes. TL;DR: Vice was the one who changed; McInnes probably did not.[3]

In a nutshell [ edit ]

See the Wikipedia article on Gavin McInnes.

See the Wikipedia article on Proud Boys.