Gavin McInnes | |
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![]() McInnes hosting The Gavin McInnes Show in 2015 | |
Born | Gavin Miles McInnes 17 July 1970 Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England |
Nationality | Canadian |
Education | Carleton University (BA) |
Occupations |
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Known for | |
Movement | |
Spouse |
Emily Jendrisak (m. 2005) |
Children | 3 |
Website | Censored.TV |
Gavin Miles McInnes (/məˈkɪnɪs/; born 17 July 1970) is a Canadian writer, podcaster, far-right commentator and founder of the Proud Boys. He is the host of Get Off My Lawn with Gavin McInnes on his website Censored.TV.[1] He co-founded Vice magazine in 1994 at the age of 24 and relocated to the United States in 2001. In 2016 he founded the Proud Boys, an American far-right militant organization[2] which was designated a terrorist group in Canada[3][4] and New Zealand after he left the group.[5] McInnes has been described as promoting violence against political opponents[6][7][8][9][10] but has claimed that he has only supported political violence in self-defense and that he is not far-right or a supporter of fascism, instead identifying as "a fiscal conservative and libertarian".[11]
Born to Scottish parents in Hertfordshire, England, McInnes immigrated to Canada as a child. He graduated from Carleton University in Ottawa before moving to Montreal and co-founding Vice with Suroosh Alvi and Shane Smith.[12] He relocated with Vice Media to New York City in 2001.[13][14] During his time at Vice, McInnes was called a leading figure in the New York hipster subculture.[15] He holds both Canadian and British citizenship and lives in Larchmont, New York.[12]
In 2018, McInnes was fired from Blaze Media[16] and was banned from Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for violating terms of use related to promoting violent extremist groups and hate speech.[17][18] In June 2020, McInnes's account was suspended from YouTube for violating YouTube's policies concerning hate speech by posting content that was "glorifying [and] inciting violence against another person or group of people."[19]
McInnes has a well-documented and long-running record of blatantly promoting violence and making threats. "We will kill you. That's the Proud Boys in a nutshell. We will kill you," he said on his "Compound Media" show in mid-2016. His followers often repeat his calls for violence and seemed especially emboldened this past summer as they participated in a number of large-scale "free speech" rallies across the country.
It's that violence that the Proud Boys have become best known for, with the group even boasting of a "tactical defensive arm" known as the Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights (or "FOAK") reportedly with McInnes's backing. McInnes made a video praising the use of violence this June, saying, "What's the matter with fighting? Fighting solves everything. The war on fighting is the same as the war on masculinity."
'People say if someone's fighting, go get a teacher. No, if someone's f-ing up your sister, put them in the hospital.'
Far-right frontier
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Alex Pareene-2008
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Twitter suspended the accounts of Vice Magazine co-founder Gavin McInnes and his far-right Proud Boys group Friday afternoon...The accounts were shut down for violating the company's policies prohibiting violent extremist groups, Twitter said in a statement to BuzzFeed News
The company confirmed Tuesday that it has begun shutting down a variety of accounts associated with the Proud Boys and its founder, Gavin McInnes, on both Facebook and Instagram, citing its 'policies against hate organizations and figures.'