Members of the Democratic Socialists of America and an anti-gentrification coalition ran the pro-Trump “Proud Boys” out of a Los Angeles bar this weekend — and made sure to take plenty of videos.
“No Proud Boys, no KKK, no fascist USA!” the leftist activists were heard chanting at a bar called The Griffin. The LA Taco blog reported that the confrontation occurred after the bar willingly accommodated the group of self-described “Western chauvinists” and countered patron concerns about the group’s history of violence.
“The only color I see is green,” one Griffin staffer reportedly said after one of the patrons identified the Proud Boys — a group started by Vice Media co-founder Gavin McInnes — by their “Make America Great Again” hats and Fred Perry polo shirts.
Police were called to the bar during the Saturday night incident and are visible in the video as the DSA and Defend North East Los Angeles activists yelled at them.
Last night our members and allies in @defendnela ran a proud boy meet up out of the Griffin in Atwater Village. The bar knew about it and the manager defended them, but we shut it down anyway. Don’t let nazis convene in your city! pic.twitter.com/96GzdwHG18
— DSA Los Angeles 🌹 (@DSA_LosAngeles) July 15, 2018
“The only color I see is green,” said one Griffin staffer when we pressed him on allowing white supremacists in their bar. That’s why DSA-LA and @NOlympicsLA are proud to partner with @defendnela to fight not just the racists in our communities but the gentrifiers who enable them pic.twitter.com/QVgaGtQ3CZ
— DSA Los Angeles 🌹 (@DSA_LosAngeles) July 15, 2018
In another video, taken outside of the bar by a DNELA member and posted by popular DSA member Josh Androsky, a MAGA hat-clad Proud Boy is heard saying “Irish people were slaves just like the f-cking black people” as a woman attempts to usher him away from The Griffin.
this footage, which sure looks like a proud boy’s mom telling him it’s time to go home, was taken by Defend North East Los Angeles after this dude’s friends shoved a woman at their management-approved hate meetup at The Griffin. please enjoy. pic.twitter.com/7lsxvuXGF9
— josh androsky 🍋 (@ShutUpAndrosky) July 15, 2018
On their verified Twitter account, the Proud Boys accused Androsky and other DSA members of coming to the bar “looking to start a problem” and then “crying online” about it later.
We were hanging out having beers. Josh and his friends showed up looking to start a problem. They did. Then they cried online. The end. pic.twitter.com/NZPEnBwriV
— The Proud Boys (@ProudBoysUSA) July 15, 2018
In a statement posted to Instagram, the owners of The Griffin asserted that it is “not a Nazi bar” and that they attempted to kill the Proud Boys “with kindness” after learning that they were inside the bar.
