World

Proud Boys Founder Gavin McInnes Blocked From Entering Australia

AND STAY OUT

Right wing provocateur judged to be of “bad character.”

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Reuters / Stephanie Keith

The founder of the far-right Proud Boys group, Gavin McInnes, has been denied a visa to tour Australia after he failed its character test to enter the country. McInnes, the co-founder of Vice Media, was reportedly informed a few weeks ago that the Australian government was likely to block his visa application because he was judged to be of bad character; the ruling was made final Friday. McInnes was due to tour the country early next year with British far-right activist Tommy Robinson. The pair had billed themselves as “The Deplorables.” No visa application has been received from Robinson, Australia’s ABC News reports. More than 80,000 Australians signed a petition urging the government to block McInnes from entering the country because of his extreme views. The Proud Boys describe themselves as a “pro-Western fraternal organization for men who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world; aka Western Chauvinists.” McInnes quit the group last week after the FBI categorized it as “an extremist group with ties to white nationalism.”

Read it at ABC