Far-right activist and white supremacist Nick Fuentes was removed from the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday when he tried to attend, CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp confirmed on Friday.
Schlapp said in a statement on his Twitter account that Fuentes was prevented from attending because his “hateful racist rhetoric and actions” are not consistent with CPAC’s mission.
“We are pleased that our conference welcomes a wide array of conservative perspectives from people of different backgrounds, but we are concerned about the rise in antisemitic rhetoric (or Jew hatred) in our country and around the globe, whether it be in the corridors of power and academia or through the online rantings of bigots like Fuentes,” Schlapp said.
Fuentes has repeatedly made antisemitic and racist comments online on social media and livestreaming platforms and denied that the Holocaust happened.
He received national attention recently after he and rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, had dinner with former President Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in November. Trump defended himself after receiving widespread backlash from across the political spectrum for the dinner, saying that he did not know Fuentes and only intended to meet with Ye to offer him advice.
Ye has also made a wide range of antisemitic comments, including false claims that Jewish people control financial institutions and the media.
Fuentes was suspended from Twitter in July 2021 and had his platform restored in January as part of Twitter CEO Elon Musk’s push to restore banned accounts. But Fuentes’ account was banned again less than 24 hours after being reactivated after he tweeted a video with a reference to an antisemitic tweet that Ye made.