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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Graig Graziosi

White nationalist Nick Fuentes appears to admit he skirted Twitter ban

AFP via Getty Images

White nationalist Nick Fuentes has all but admitted to skirting his ban on X/Twitter, resulting in his burner account being suspended.

The far-right commenter, who has previously denied the Holocaust and said his dream wife would be a 16-year-old girl, referred to the account in question as his "friend," but in a way that appeared to offer a wink and a nod to his followers.

Before it was banned, an account named @grimaceshake01 began posting on the social media platform. It spent substantial time pushing the #BantheADL campaign and referencing the "Groyper Army," which Mr Fuentes calls his followers.

In addition to spewing racist and antisemitic talking points akin to those held by Mr Fuentes, the account also shared and replied to tweets that claimed the account was owned by the reactionary media personality, according to The Daily Beast.

Any question of the account’s true owner was put to rest last week when the account hosted a Twitter Spaces event to discuss the campaign to ban the Anti-Defamation League from X/Twitter.

The main speaker was clearly Mr Fuentes, and a recording of the event was subsequently shared to his Telegram channel.

The evidence, though ample, did not end there. Fuentes admitted on his web show on Saturday that "his friend" was on the site "having a great time."

“I’ve been back on — uh, my friend has been back on Twitter,” he said, offering a knowing grin to his audience. “This friend of mine who represents me in some ways has been back on Twitter, and he’s been having a great time.”

The Daily Beast's Confider reached out to X/Twitter to ask about Mr Fuentes’ apparent ban skipping, which resulted in the @grimaceshake01 account being suspended. The account remains suspended as of the time of this writing.

Just before the account was banned, it was pushing antisemitic conspiracy theories about 9/11. The account was responding to conservative posts remembering the terror attacks telling them to "GOOGLE DANCING ISRAELIS."

Mr Fuentes acknowledged the ban, asking "I wonder what happened" in a post to Telegram.

Thanks to Elon Musk's decision to roll back bans on right-wing extremists on X/Twitter, Mr Fuentes was allowed back on the platform before he was promptly banned again for expressing his love for Hitler and boosting Kanye West's antisemitic rants.

The Independent has reached out to both Mr Fuentes and X/Twitter for comment.

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