neo-nazis
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Actor Chet Hanks has publically come out against hate groups using his “White Boy Summer” song and catchphrase for ill intent and recruitment.
On Wednesday (July 3), Chet Hanks, the son of the renowned actor, Tom Hanks, denounced the usage of his trending song and catchphrase “White Boy Summer” by white nationalist groups. In a post on Instagram, the actor posted a quick video with the caption: “White boy summer was created to be fun, playful, and a celebration of fly white boys who love beautiful queens of every race,” he wrote. “Anything else that it has been twisted into to support any kind of hate or bigotry against any group of people is deplorable and I condemn it. I hope that we all can spread love to each other and treat each other with kindness and dignity.”
The post comes after a report issued by the Global Project Against Hate & Extremism (GPAHE), which explicitly named Hanks’ song and phrase, coined in 2021, as a rallying slogan for white nationalist groups in their communications on the private social media platform Telegram and other outreach efforts online in addition to promoting acts of violence. The report names the Proud Boys extremist group as one of the first adopters in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, along with other domestic groups and those based in European nations like France and Finland. “This is the story of how an influential person with a large social media audience can inspire a viral and dangerous narrative and motivate white supremacist groups worldwide,” the report stated.
Hanks has tried to distance himself from these groups using “White Boy Summer” in the past. “Take it how you want, I’m not talking about Trump, Nascar-type white. I’m talking about me, (rappers) Jon B. Jack Harlow-type white boys. Let me know if you guys can vibe with that, and get ready. ‘Cause I am,” he wrote back in 2021. But the Your Honor actor came under intense scrutiny on his initial attempt to sell merchandise with the phrase that bore a font that was strikingly similar to that used by white extremist groups, as well as the typeface used on Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.”
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Ye aka Kanye West is stoking more outrage as a new photo of him and JPEGMAFIA shows the rapper sporting a t-shirt with the image of a notorious neo-Nazi and murderer.
Last Friday (January 19), photos of the rapper and producer JPEGMAFIA and Kanye West caught the web by surprise. Posted to his Instagram account with the caption “can’t talk right now, doing hot girl s—t,” the pictures showed the duo posing together with West sporting a new set of titanium dental grills presumably at work on new music. But West’s t-shirt caught the attention of metal fans who immediately identified the artist as Burzum, a Norwegian black metal band fronted by Varg Vikernes, a notorious pagan neo-Nazi.
The revelation got worse as fans saw that the proposed artwork for his upcoming Vultures album had similarities to the artwork on Burzum’s self-titled album from 1992. The photos caused dismay to fans of JPEGMAFIA, who had lyrics calling Burzum out for his racism on his “ALL CAPS NO SPACES” track from his album Black Ben Carson. He also had called West out on X, formerly Twitter in a since-deleted rant earlier that week. “[You] got 27 n**gas tweaking hi-hats just to make some mid [music]. Talk to a real scientist, brother,” he wrote.
Vikernes openly supported Nazism from the 1990s and would be convicted and imprisoned for murdering the guitarist of another band, Mayhem in August 1993 as well as for burning down three churches. Vikernes would serve 21 years before gaining parole in 2009, after which he and his wife moved to France. The couple would be arrested on suspicion of plotting a massacre in 2013 and a year later, Vikernes was found guilty of inciting racial hatred online against Jews and Muslims.
The photos come after Kanye West started the year out by posting an apology to Jewish people in Hebrew on his Instagram page, which was met with skepticism considering that he had been performing songs from Vultures with antisemitic lyrics. ‘There will never be a redemption arc for Kanye West, period. What will he try next? Another apology in Hebrew?’,” said Liora Rez, executive director of the StopAntisemitism organization.
As for Vikernes, when alerted to West’s attire on social media, he responded: “I know very little about him or what he says or does, and I kind of have very little incentive to ‘find out.’ it is better to spend time on something more fruitful.”
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Doja Cat is no stranger to attracting attention as almost everything she does is under the microscope due to her massive fame and past controversies. Now, the Scarlet artist is facing criticism on X, formerly Twitter, for wearing a t-shirt featuring the image of an alleged neo-Nazi.
Via an Instagram post that she has since deleted and reposted, Doja Cat is seen in a car selfie wearing a t-shirt with Sam Hyde, a comedian, and social media figure who got his first break in 2016 via the Million Dollar Extreme Presents: World Peace show on Adult Swim. Hyde, 38, has previously shown support for Donald Trump and contributed to the legal defense fund of Andre Anglin, the founder and editor of the neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer.
As usual, the eagle eyes of social media fans caught the image of Hyde, who is seen holding a semiautomatic rifle, but Doja eventually deleted and reposted the selfie with the t-shirt cropped out. Comments on the post are pointing out that the other image from the previous post is circulating online but Doja has yet to address the criticism.
Doja has been linked with the alt-Right world in the past after fans uncovered that she was participating in alleged racist chat rooms on the platform Tinychat, an issue that seemingly got buried as her fame and artistry grew. With the release of her latest studio album Doja Cat is still very much a huge star despite wanting to shed her connection to the fame she’s gained as a musician.
On X, we’ve gathered some reactions to Doja Cat and the Sam Hyde t-shirt below.
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