The racist Proud Boys militia group has lost control of its trademarked name following a federal judge’s decision, resulting in the group being prohibited from selling merchandise with its name or logo without consent from Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, a Black church.
The humiliating decision is a result of a default judgement from a 2020 attack against the church following a pro-Trump rally, during which Proud Boys members destroyed a “Black Lives Matter” sign posted in front of the church.
The group declined to turn over the $2.8 million that they owed the church following that attack, so the confiscation of the Proud Boys trademark was ordered by Judge Tanya M. Jones Bosier, who described the group as “hateful and overtly racist” in her decision.
Proud Boys leader, Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, whined about the court’s decision, calling it a “betrayal of justice.”
“I hold in contempt any motions, judgments, and orders issued against me,” he told The New York Times.
Rioters, including Proud Boys members, during the Jan. 6, 2020, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Tarrio was recently released from prison following President Donald Trump’s blanket pardon for everyone who attacked the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Tarrio was the most high-profile offender and had been convicted of seditious conspiracy against the United States as part of his plot to overturn the 2020 election results in Trump’s favor.
Trump has long been tied to the racist group through their shared right-wing extremist ideology, and he infamously directed the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” during his 2020 presidential debate with former President Joe Biden, who condemned the group and other forms of extremism.
Along with the group’s connections to Trump and the Republican Party, its bigoted cause has been championed by conservative media outlets. Most notably, key figures in the Proud Boys have been welcomed numerous times on Fox News.
Following his release from prison, Tarrio said he wants revenge against those who are responsible for his conviction.
“The people who did this, they need to feel the heat, they need to be put behind bars, and they need to be prosecuted,” he told conspiracy theorist and fellow Trump ally Alex Jones.
While the threat is ominous, the Proud Boys have to move forward with the knowledge that a Black church is now in control of the group’s brand—empowering the same people it has fought to repress for years.
)
)
English (US) ·