Proud Boys Didn’t Change Name to “Leather Men”

Suzy Woltmann

News

9th October 2020

Proud Boys Didn’t Change Name to “Leather Men”

The article was published on a satire website (Associated Press).

The Claim

Alt-right group Proud Boys changed their name to Leather Men.

News posted on

Emerging story

On October 5, 2020, The Beaverton published an article: “As Gay Twitter reclaims #ProudBoys hashtag, Proud Boys change name to ‘Leather Men.’”

The claim soon went viral on social media.

Misbar’s Analysis

Misbar’s investigation found that The Beaverton is a satire website. Its site disclaimer says that it is a “news satire and parody publication.”

The Beaverton article followed a social media trend in which members of the LGBT community post the hashtag #ProudBoys alongside pro-LGBT images, such as this post by Queer Eye host Bobby Berk:

Proud Boys are an alt-right group classified as an “extremist group” by the FBI. The group only admits men. During the September 29, 2020 U.S. Presidential debate, President Donald Trump said: “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.”

Many Proud Boys have reacted in anger at the #ProudBoys hashtag. The Beaverton article played off of this response by alluding to the gay leather scene in its satirical claim that Proud Boys are renaming themselves Leather Men.