Proud Boys Founder Gavin McInnes Asks Neighbors To Remove Anti-Hate Signs

Gavin McInnes, the founder of The Proud Boys, an alt-right group which has been involved in several protests, wants his neighbors in Larchmont, New York, to remove their anti-hate signs from their lawns in the upscale neighborhood.

The Daily Beast says that at the end of last month, one month after resigning from The Proud Boys, McInnes sent a letter to the neighbors with the signs to deny affiliation with the group.

“You may have heard that I am the leader of a hate group called the Proud Boys. Everything about that rumor is false.”

But by saying that everything about that is false, he’s not being honest. Before stepping down as the group’s leader in November, McInnes gave a speech celebrating the murder of a left-wing politician at a Manhattan GOP club. After the event, some of McInnes’ Proud Boys attacked protestors which resulted in criminal charges.

After that dust-up, some of McInnes’ Larchmont neighbors decided to have some lawn signs printed which read, “Hate Has No Home Here,” written in English, Spanish, Hebrew, and Arabic as a response to McInnes and his group. Within a week, the signs started appearing on lawns all over Larchmont, upsetting McInnes and his wife who claim they are victims of misinformation.

Gavin McInnes is extremely mad that some of his neighbors have put up anti-hate lawn signs. https://t.co/o4A2oMgGPS pic.twitter.com/cQIMNa713G

— ishmael daro (@iD4RO) January 4, 2019

McInnes’ wife, Emily McInnes, wrote an email after the first signs popped up to deny her husband’s association with the group he founded.

“The media has recently accused my husband of being an alt-right hate group leader. This is simply not true.”

But the signs didn’t come down in Larchmont, and in fact, there are more than ever, and so Gavin McInnes gathered the addresses of the homes with the signs and sent a letter introducing himself and asking that they take down the signs.

In the correspondence, McInnes describes himself as “a pro-gay, pro-Israel, virulently anti-racist libertarian,” and complains that the anti-hate signs are an attack on his family.

McInnes says there is nothing racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, or intolerant about him or his family.

“Hate certainly has no place here, and like you, I am committed to keeping it that way!”

But despite the tone in the letter, on a recent podcast, McInnes shared a different sentiment, saying that anyone who had the sign in their yard was “a retard.”

The Proud Boys' founder Gavin McInnes has used an anti-LGBTQ+ slur for years. That slur was hurled by the Proud Boys and skinheads who beat up counter-protesters earlier this year. https://t.co/Emn4TlIpEV

— Southern Poverty Law Center (@splcenter) December 31, 2018

The Huffington Post spoke to one of McInnes’ Larchmont neighbors who says that people are entitled to their opinions, but that through his group, Gavin McInnes chose to incite violence.

“We stand together as a community, and violence and hate are not tolerated here. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but Gavin? What he’s doing is a radical departure from discourse. He makes a conscious decision to incite violence and hate. We have our sign up because we want people to know this is a safe and friendly home.”