Gavin McInnes
About
Gavin McInnes is a Canadian comedian best known for co-founding VICE Media and founding the Proud Boys movement, a right-wing organization which has been described by McInnes as promoting "Western chauvinism," or the idea that Western culture is superior to others found around the world. Additionally, the group has been accused of glorifying political violence against leftists by mocking political assassinations
History
In 1994, McInnes co-founded Vice along with Suroosh Alvi and Shane Smith, where he went on to write and contribute to various articles and books for the company. In 2008, McInnes left the company for "creative differences" following controversial news coverage regarding offensive statements and his right-wing political views. That year, McInnes launched the website StreetCarnage and co-founded the ad agency Rooster, where he left in 2014 after writing an article in Thought Catalog[4] titled "Transphobia Is Perfectly Natural."
On November 25th, 2013, McInnes released a comedy video titled "How to Fight a Baby," in which he demonstrates various fake wrestling moves while playing with a baby on a bed (shown below, left). On March 18th, 2014, McInnes released a comedy sketch titled "How to Eat Pussy," in which he demonstrates how to perform cunnilingus at a bar (shown below, right).
On October 19th, 2015, McInnes appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast (shown below).
Proud Boys
On September 15th, 2016, the right-wing website Taki's Magazine published an article by McInnes titled "Introducing: The Proud Boys," which described the group as a men's only organization with a "basic tenet" that members are "Western chauvinists who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world." According to the article, the group originally launched in the fall of that year among members of streaming platform Compound Media.
The group's name is based on the song "Proud of Your Boy" from the stage musical adaption of the 1992 Disney film Aladdin (shown below). While the group has been linked to the alt-right, McInnes claims the group does not support white supremacist views.
On February 1st, 2018, YouTuber Andrew Says uploaded footage of McInnes explaining the history of the Proud Boys movement (shown below).
Twitter Ban
In August 2018, McInnes and accounts related to the Proud Boys were permanently suspended from Twitter for promoting political violence.
FBI Classification
On November 19th, 2018, a document[3] released by Washington state law enforcement revealed that the FBI classified the Proud Boys as an "extremist group with ties to white nationalism."
McInnes Quits
On November 21st, 2018, McInnes posted a video titled "Gavin McInnes Quits the Proud Boys," in which he stated he was officially quitting the Proud Boys after lawyers advised him it could help members of the group who were facing criminal charges (shown below). In the video, McInnes defended the group, saying it was "not racist" or "far-right."
That day, Joe Rogan discussed the video on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast (shown below). The following day, a post about the video reached the front page of the /r/beholdthemasterrace[5] subreddit.
Search Interest
External References
[1] TakiMag – Introducing: The Proud Boys
[2] ProudBoysUsa – Proud Boys
[3] Property of the People – Clark County Sheriffs Memo
[4] Thought Catalog – Transphobia is Perfectly Natural
[5] Reddit – /r/beholdthemasterrace
