Matthew Colligan is an online personality who posted

neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

memes under the handle Millennial Matt alongside

white nationalist White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara. ''Hate Crimes''. Greenwoo ...

Baked Alaska Baked Alaska, also known as Bombe Alaska, ''omelette norvégienne, omelette surprise,'' or ''omelette sibérienne'' depending on the country, is a dessert consisting of ice cream and cake topped with browned meringue. The dish is made of ice cre ...

. His identity was revealed through his participation in the 2017

Unite the Right rally The Unite the Right rally was a white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, from August 11 to 12, 2017. Marchers included members of the alt-right, neo-Confederates, neo-fascists, white nationalists, neo-Nazis, ...

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...

. One of Colligan's repeated memes is the phrase "

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...

did nothing wrong", which he has said in radio, tweets, and videos.

Unite the Right rally attendance and doxing

Colligan participated in the torchlight tiki rally at the

2017 Unite the Right rally The Unite the Right rally was a white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, from August 11 to 12, 2017. Marchers included members of the alt-right, neo-Confederates, neo-fascists, white nationalists, neo-Nazis, Klan ...

in Charlottesville. Shortly following the rally, one of Colligan's former Boston neighbors and friends noticed Colligan in the evening's most infamous photograph. His identity was later verified through social network posts, including a cropped driver's license photograph that contained a photo appearing to be Colligan along with his correct birthday. Following Colligan's doxxing, Colligan initially responded with jabs, such as posting his "real" home address as what was in fact a Jewish

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

in Boston. Shortly thereafter, Colligan deleted his Twitter account. On Friday, August 11, 2017, the day of the tiki rally, Colligan and

were ejected by a black

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), package ...

driver who said they had said racist things, calling the country "white America" and making her feel unsafe. In September 2017, Colligan claimed to have moved to Japan, but later claimed to have been living in Mexico.

Social media

Colligan spent several years leading up to the

posting white nationalist advocacy and neo-Nazi slogans such as "Hitler did nothing wrong". He was friends with and often interacted online with Baked Alaska. During one 52-minute video, Colligan questioned the history of

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

, suggesting that his viewers search for " revisionist histories" instead. Following Unite the Right, Colligan joined ''

The Gateway Pundit ''The Gateway Pundit'' (TGP) is an American far-right fake news website. The website is known for publishing falsehoods, hoaxes, and conspiracy theories. Founded by Jim Hoft in 2004, ''The Gateway Pundit'' expanded from a one-person enterprise ...

Lucian Wintrich Lucian Baxter Wintrich IV (né Einhorn; born May 24, 1988) is an American artist, photographer, writer, speaker, and the former White House correspondent for Radical right (United States), far-right fake news website ''The Gateway Pundit''. Wint ...

and right-wing activist

Ali Alexander Ali Alexander (born Ali Abdul-Razaq Akbar in ) is an American far-right activist, social media personality, and conspiracy theorist. Alexander is an organizer of Stop the Steal, a campaign to promote the conspiracy theory that widespread vo ...

on the ''Pundit's'' podcast. During this podcast, the group discussed Unite the Right, Richard Spencer, and the distinction between the New Right and the alt-right. During the show, Colligan described white nationalist

Richard B. Spencer Richard Bertrand Spencer (born May 1978) is an American neo-Nazi, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, and white supremacist. A former editor, he is a public speaker and activist on behalf of the alt-right movement. He advocates for the ...

as a "good guy", showed Nazi flags and "Hitler did nothing wrong" memes, and argued that he himself was not a member of the alt-right. Akbar described Colligan as "a little bit racist" but "so funny" in a now-deleted

Periscope A periscope is an instrument for observation over, around or through an object, obstacle or condition that prevents direct line-of-sight observation from an observer's current position. In its simplest form, it consists of an outer case with ...

video promoting the dialogue.

Nick Fuentes Nicholas Joseph Fuentes (born August 18, 1998) is an American white supremacistMultiple sources: * * * * * political commentator and Online streamer, live streamer. A former YouTuber, his channel was permanently suspended in February 20 ...

, a far-right podcaster and figurehead of the

Groypers Groypers, sometimes called the Groyper Army, are a group of white nationalist and far-right activists, provocateurs and internet trolls who are notable for their attempts to introduce far-right politics into mainstream conservatism in the U ...

, listed Colligan as having a

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

account affiliated with "America First", a TikTok-based movement described as white nationalist by '' Right Wing Watch''. TikTok suspended Colligan's account in May 2020 during a crackdown on

hate speech Hate speech is defined by the ''Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation". Hate speech is "usually thoug ...

Post-Charlottesville events

In June 2020, Colligan joined two other

groypers Groypers, sometimes called the Groyper Army, are a group of white nationalist and far-right activists, provocateurs and internet trolls who are notable for their attempts to introduce far-right politics into mainstream conservatism in the U ...

, leader

and far-right student organizer

Jaden McNeil Jaden Patrick McNeil (born May 17, 1999) is an American white nationalist and far-right live-streamer. In 2021, the Anti-Defamation League described McNeil as an "America First" Groyper. He is most notable for being the former Turning Point USA c ...

, at a

George Floyd protest The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internatio ...

Queen Creek, Arizona Queen Creek is a town in Maricopa and Pinal counties in the state of Arizona. The population was 59,519 as of the 2020 census, up from 26,361 at the 2010 census. It is a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona located in the far southeast area of the Phoe ...

. After the group asked two black men to take a picture with them while holding a sign labeled 'I can't read', they escalated tensions. One demonstrator tried to take the sign away, and another removed Colligan's glasses, at which point Colligan called the police saying he had been "physically assaulted." Fuentes told one demonstrator the police would "kneel on that guy's neck for taking my friend glasses", referencing the manner in which

George Floyd George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an African-American man who was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd may have used a counterfeit twe ...

was murdered. Following the event, several protesters were harassed online, leading them to delete social media accounts. Indian-American scientist and conspiracy theorist

Shiva Ayyadurai V. A. Shiva Ayyadurai (born Vellayappa Ayyadurai Shiva, December 2, 1963) is an Indian-American engineer, politician, entrepreneur, and anti-vaccine activist. He has become known for promoting conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, and unfounded m ...

appeared with Colligan on a livestream during his 2018 Massachusetts election campaign against

Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren ( née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the senior United States senator from Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party and regarded as a ...

. Colligan requested that Ayyadurai bless a small statue of the

Kek , known as KEK, is a Japanese organization whose purpose is to operate the largest particle physics laboratory in Japan, situated in Tsukuba, Ibaraki prefecture. It was established in 1997. The term "KEK" is also used to refer to the laboratory ...

, the green frog that came to prominence as a symbol of the alt-right during the

2016 United States presidential election The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket ...

. Ayyadurai obliged and described Colligan as "one of our greatest supporters".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colligan, Matthew Alt-right activists American neo-Nazis American media personalities Living people Year of birth missing (living people)