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Internet television personality Gavin McInnes has quit the Proud Boys, the fraternal men’s organisation celebrating ‘western chauvinism’ he founded in 2016. McInness posted a 36 minute long statement on his YouTube channel where he said he was taking this course of action reluctantly but was acting on the advice of his legal team and law enforcement as this gesture could assist the New York 9 Proud Boys. They were arrested after defending themselves against an Antifa attack outside a Gavin McInness speaking event on October 12. They are facing serious charges including felony rioting after an NYPD investigation was launched at the behest of local Democrat politicians. It is being hoped McInnes’ gesture could help alleviate their sentencing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGrPjx2V_TA

McInnes still called the Proud Boys the greatest fraternal organization in the world and spent most of the video defending the Proud Boys against the lies and bad journalism that they have been subjected to worldwide since the New York confrontation. He repeated that they are not a white nationalist hate group, they have members from all racial groups, they are not anti-Semitic and hate actual Nazis. He also denied that they seek confrontations and are violent by nature as they only react to left wing attacks and terrorism, and that their primary focus is men bettering themselves in their personal lives as well as having a good time.

Much of the media misrepresentation of the Proud Boys stemmed from a compilation video put together by left wing satirist Vic Berger which takes McInnes comedic routines about the Proud Boys being a gang and wanting kill their opponents out of context.

In response McInnes put out his own compilation video outlining his and the Proud Boys’ political philosophy about traditional family values, free markets and rejecting the alt-right and white nationalism. Featured heavily in the video is his interviews with black supports of Donald Trump and how they have been targeted with racial slurs by the left for not holding the views they expect blacks to hold.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwNnePsIdrA

McInnes also promoted a legal defence fund for the New York 9 at fundthewest.org where supporters of those Proud Boys facing charges can purchase a NYC Proud Boys support band which range in amounts from $25USD to $5000. McInnes stated he had already bought a $5,000 band and would be contributing more in the future. He mentioned that one of the accused Proud Boys John Kinsman who has a black wife and children lost his job in the aftermath of the confrontation thanks to the leftist activist and media campaign against him and his co-accused.

Another consequence of the New York confrontation was that all Proud Boys media was deleted from Facebook and Instagram along with the profiles of Proud Boys elders and admins. Amazon and PayPal have also deleted Proud Boys accounts. The Proud Boys moved their social media presence to free speech alternatives Minds.com and MeWe. Gavin McInnes’ and Proud Boys accounts had previously been deleted from Twitter in August.

Gavin McInnes is set to tour Australia in December along with British anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson which is being billed as the Deplorables Tour and hosted by Penthouse Australia. McInnes was originally going to tour solo in November this year but it has now been merged with the Deplorables Tour for unspecified reasons.

The New York confrontation and subsequent charges plus the Vig Berger compilation video has led to Australians local leftist activists attempting to have Gavin McInnes barred from entering Australia. A petition started by Sudanese-Australian lawyer Nyadol Nyuon now has over 66,000 signatures. Labor’s Immigration spokesperson Shayne Neumann and Greens leader Richard Di Natalie have written to the Immigration Minister David Coleman to ask that McInnes be denied a visa on character grounds. The Immigration Department has not confirmed if McInnes has already been granted a visa as it does not comment on individual cases.

Also seized upon by the left were reports yesterday that the FBI has now classified the Proud Boys as an extremist group with ‘ties to white nationalism’. However this is fake news as the designation of an extremist group was only made an internal affairs report by Washington State Police in regard to their firing of member due to their support for the Proud Boys. The FBI made no explicit classification of the Proud Boys as an extremist organisation.

The second most high profile member of Proud Boys was Milo Yiannopoulos who also announced his departure from the group by posting it on his Dangerous website. Yiannopoulos said he was acting on instruction from “my lawyers today to add my voice to that of Gavin McInnes… and announce that I am publicly dissociating myself with the club”. This was necessary in his opinion because of “lies about the Proud Boys have now reached federal law enforcement agencies, imperiling the lives and livelihoods of anyone the press considers associated with the group”. He also mentioned he was concerned about his ability to gain US citizenship. He lamented that “There’s no positive way to spin this. The bad guys won this round”.

McInnes’ and Yiannopoulos’ media profile and public following played a huge part in the rapid growth of the Proud Boys in just two years so it remains to be seen if the Proud Boys can continue to maintain strong chapters around the world, including here in Australia without them. The increased attention from law enforcement agencies and continued fake news about them will also be a challenge for the Proud Boys keeping and attracting members.

Author Details
Tim Wilms is the Founder and Editor in Chief of https://theunshackled.net. the Host of Tim’s News Explosion, the WilmsFront interview program and The Theorists with Andy Nolch. He based in Melbourne, Australia where he also conducts field reports.
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Tim Wilms is the Founder and Editor in Chief of https://theunshackled.net. the Host of Tim’s News Explosion, the WilmsFront interview program and The Theorists with Andy Nolch. He based in Melbourne, Australia where he also conducts field reports.