Photograph by Evy Mages
Airbnb doesn’t want Proud Boys or members of the mob that stormed the Capitol to use its platform.
“Our community policies ban domestic terrorist and violent hate group members,” Airbnb spokesperson Ben Breit tells
Washingtonian. “In the days leading up to the terrible incident in Washington, we learned of reservations made by certain members of these groups and cancelled those reservations and removed them from our community, and we will continue to take appropriate action.”
This isn’t a new stance for the company: It threatened to expel any users who used the service for the 2018 “Unite the Right 2” rally in DC and as recently as November canceled a reservation made by Proud Boys member Ronald Gaudier. The company has banned 1.4 million users from its platform for refusing to accept the company’s standards, which explicitly ban “Members of dangerous organizations, including terrorist, organized criminal, and violent racist groups,
An attendee at the January 5, 2021, rally in DC. Photograph by Evy Mages
The pro-Trump group Eighty Percent Coalition has withdrawn an application to the National Park Service to hold another demonstration on January 16, the weekend before Joe Biden’s inauguration.
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The group organized a demonstration this past Tuesday at Freedom Plaza that featured appearances by Roger Stone and Alex Jones. The Eighty Percent Coalition appears to be led by Cindy Chafian, who was previously associated with Women for America First, the group that organized Wednesday’s rally at the Ellipse where President Trump encouraged his supporters to march on the Capitol. A spokesperson for the Eighty Percent Coalition has not yet returned an email asking whether the group plans any further demonstrations around Inauguration Day.
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Members of the Proud Boys amid the chaos of the December 14 rally for Trump fans in DC. Photograph by Evy Mages
The Proud Boys will not wear their trademark black-and-yellow clothing during the January 6 rallies in support of President Trump, according to their chairman, Enrique Tarrio. Tarrio wrote on the niche social media site Parler that members of the group “will be incognito and we will spread across downtown DC in smaller teams. And who knows….we might dress in all BLACK for the occasion.”
The plan appears to be to look like people in antifascist groups and other counterprotesters. “Guess what, motherfuckers, we’re gonna look just like you,” Proud Boys bigwig Joe Biggs said in a video in which he wore a mask, put up the hood of his sweatshirt, and donned plastic Groucho Marx-style glasses.