NAMBLA Protest Sign
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Overview
NAMBLA Protest Sign refers to a sign at a protest of a talk by right-wing media personality Mike Cernovich at New York City's Columbia University that claims "No Pedo Bashing." The sign has been reported on as planted by the alt-right in order to make the protestors appear to have sympathies for pedophiles, though Cernovich and noted Infowars writer Paul Joseph Watson have claimed that the reports of a plant are "fake news".
Background
On October 30th, 2017, Gothamist reporter Jake Offenhartz[1] tweeted an image of a group of protestors holding a sign branded by North American Man/boy Love Association (NAMBLA) that reads "NO WHITE SUPREMACY. NO PEDO BASHING. NO MIKE CERNOVICH." Offenhartz attributed the sign to the Alt-right, figuring it was a plant attempting to make the protestors look like they sympathized with pedophiles.
Developments
After Offenhartz posted the photo, Cernovich and other prominent alt-right figures such as Paul Joseph Watson, Gavin McInnes, and Jack Posobeic began tweeting the photo as though NAMBLA were part of the protest against Cernovich.[2] The image in Cernovich's tweet was removed by Twitter (shown below, left), leading Watson to claim Twitter was trying to censor it (shown below, right).
The story of Columbia protestors marching with pedophiles went viral on the right, to the point where Donald Trump Jr. notably liked many of Paul Joseph Watson's tweets about the event on Twitter.[3]
Writing about the ordeal the day after the protest,[2] Offenhartz quotes Mistee Denson, a Columbia student and protest organizer, as saying, "Someone said 'hold this real quick' and then they proceeded to snap pics. Someone quickly realized what it said and ran them off. Unfortunately, they got what they wanted." Offenhartz also notes that Cernovich contemporary Jack Posobeic, who attended Cernovich's speaking event, was behind planting the "Rape Melania" sign which went viral during the protests after the 2016 United States Presidential Election. [4] Select All[5] and The Daily Beast[6] were among the sites to cover the sign as a hoax orchestrated by the alt-right.
Search Interest
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External References
[1] Twitter – @jangelooff
[2] Gothamist – Mike Cernovich Stole My Photo, Lied About It On Twitter, And Sold Trump Jr. On Yet Another Fake Conspiracy
[3] Twitter – @ashleyfeinberg
[4] Buzzfeed – Inside The Alt-Right’s Campaign To Smear Trump Protesters As Anarchists
[5] Select All – This Might Be the Most Insane and Depressing Fake-News Story Yet
[6] Daily Beast – Alt-Right Frames Protesters as Pedophiles With Fake NAMBLA Sign
