from Idavox
Organizers of a supposed “comedy show” hoped to have their event in New York City but as the event featured the founder of the neo-fascist Proud Boys and other like-minded persons the joke was on them as they were chased first out of the city, then out of Rutherford, New Jersey by city officials, finally landing in a Long Island space dedicated to everything MAGA.
It was part of what was called the Cognitive Dissidents Tour and it was put together by onetime Food Network host Josh Denny, who was the organizer of the event and is known for repeatedly using racist slurs toward Blacks and Asians on Twitter and on podcasts. The Food Network scrubbed his content from their platform after his tweets attacking women with more slurs in the wake of the Texas abortion law, saying it “regrets providing him a platform.” In addition to him and Gavin McInnes, it was also to feature Anthony Cumia who along with Gregg “Opie” Hughes hosted the Opie and Anthony radio show until 2014 when SiriusXM fired Cumia after posting what they considered “racially-charged and hate-filled remarks” on Twitter following an incident with a Black woman on the street. Cumia, who in the wake of the incident went on to attempt to make his case on the White supremacist radio show the Political Cesspool, currently has his own podcast on which Denny has appeared.
The event, which was held twice prior to this month, sold tickets on Eventbrite prompting many to urge the online ticket platform to shut down sales. While that did not happen the event was shut out of its original location in New York after it was besieged with calls. Scrambling for another venue, one was found at the Williams Center in Rutherford, NJ and it didn’t take long for owners to also be contacted by local officials who were monitoring online chatter about the event. “Online intelligence led the Police Department to believe that the event had the potential for confrontation,” Rutherford Mayor Frank Nunziato said in a statement. “After discussions with the owner, the event has been cancelled.”
Events featuring McInnes or is related to the Proud Boys have a history of violence that is instigated by Proud Boys and his supporters. Last month events on the college campus of Penn State and UC Davis were shut down after violence reportedly provoked by Proud Boys. McInnes was featured at the Penn State event as he was at a 2018 event at the Metropolitan Republican Club in New York City, where several Proud Boys and their supporters instigated a brawl that resulted in several of them serving prison time. McInnes reportedly resigned his membership in the Proud Boys in the wake of their arrests to help their cases and despite pronouncements by his supporters has been seen maintaining strong ties to the group to this day.
As a result, the event was moved to a venue called the America First Warehouse in Ronkonkoma, NY and there McInnes, Denny and Cumia were joined on the stage by Chrissie Mayr, a QAnon conspiracy theorist that was at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 and Geno Bisconte, who stand-up show and podcast is often criticized for his racist and anti Semitic routines, including using racial slurs.
Organizers immediately accused the Mayor and police for capitulating to antifascists but Mayor Nunziato was quick to point out that the borough has no say in the venue’s scheduling. “He’s a private owner,” he said. “We have no control over who he contracts with.”