Proud Boy Magazine Banned From Patreon After SPLC Smear
Luke Rohlfing
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The crowdfunding website Patreon has de-platformed Proud Boy Magazine, according to an email screenshot provided to Big League Politics.
Proud Boy Magazine is a website largely known as a communication hub for the generally conservative-leaning fraternal organizing featured in its namesake, and has hosted articles written by Proud Boy founder, and CRTV personality Gavin McInnes.
The email provided can be read here:
In the email sent to the owner of the Patreon page, the website’s Trust and Safety Team stated they removed the page because the Proud Boys have been flagged as a hate group by “diverse organisations,” presumably alluding towards the Southern Poverty Law Center labeling the group in their “General Hate” category on their site. That category seemed to be created for the sole purpose of labeling the Proud Boys, and their affiliated Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights (FOAK) group.
Patreon also stated that the affiliation with FOAK is another reason for the removal. FOAK is known as the “militant” wing of the Proud Boys, and have been seen at protests nationwide acting in a solely defensive manor against violent Antifa protesters.
The assertions made by Patreon are fervently denied by Pawl Bazile, Production Manager at Proud Boy Magazine. He called Patreon’s de-platforming the “height of absurdity,” and specifically labeled articles put out by left-wing organizations and websites like the Southern Poverty Law Center as unfair hit-pieces.
“The ‘diverse’ articles they are citing are clearly hit pieces and conjecture that we hardly ever get asked to comment on by the authors,” Bazile stated. “If having fairly mainstream and common sense opinions on culture convinced a hack admin from Patreon that we are a so called ‘hate group,’ than clearly they took action for political reasons.”
“We’re a politically incorrect men’s social club bucking the establishment and keeping the promises punk rockers failed at. The people who bash us are miserable failures who can’t handle the thought that the guys who waved off their made up authoritarian rules are having a blast.”
As for the tenants of the group, Bazile explained:
“We like free speech. We’re anti-racist. We’re pro-gun. We love the military. We’re anti-drug war. We think modern society is a good thing. We believe women and men both have important roles to play. We also don’t care if you’re gay. I don’t understand where the hate-part comes in.”
Big League Politics has previously reported on the Proud Boys, and spoken with Gavin McInnes about the “Hate Group” label concocted by the SPLC. McInnes strongly denied that the Proud Boys are hateful in any way, pointing towards articles published on Proud Boy Magazine denying affiliations with the alt-right, and disavowing last summer’s deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, VA.
Immediately after publishing that article, a leader from a pro-Trump LGBT group reached out to Big League Politics to show his support for the group, calling them “allies.”
“Every single Proud Boy I have met have been very accepting of me and our organization,” said Brian Talbert, founder of Deplorable Pride, a group of gay Trump supporters. “Not many hate groups accept gays,” Talbert added.
In the void of funding in the wake of Patreon’s de-platforming, Bazile stated that supporters can support the website by purchasing merchandise found on their online store.
Patreon could not be immediately reached for comment. This article will be updated if we receive comment.
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