The group originated in the far-right Taki's Magazine in 2016 under the leadership of the Vice Media co-founder and the former commentator Gavin McInnes,[1] taking its name from the song "Proud of Your Boy" from the Walt Disney Company’s musical Aladdin from 2011.

[17][27][28][29] The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) described the Proud Boys as "extremist conservative" and "alt lite", "overtly Islamophobic and misogynistic", "transphobic and anti-immigration", "all too willing to embrace racists, antisemites and bigots of all kinds", and cites the group's promotion and use of violence as a core tactic.

[32] In February 2021 the U.S. Department of Justice announced the indictment of members for conspiracy related to the 2021 United States Capitol attack, and the Canadian arm of the group folded after being designated a terrorist organization.

[55] In 2018, it was reported, based on an internal memo of the Sheriff's Office in Clark County, Washington, that the FBI had classified the Proud Boys as an extremist group with ties to white nationalism.

[75] Political ideologies and positions that the Proud Boys adhere to include anti-communism, anti-feminism, anti-immigration, anti-LGBT rights, antisemitism, authoritarianism, chauvinism, crypto-fascism, Islamophobia, and Trumpism.

The first stage is a loyalty oath, on the order of "I'm a proud Western chauvinist, I refuse to apologize for creating the modern world"; the second is getting punched until the person recites pop culture trivia, such as the names of five breakfast cereals; the third is getting a tattoo[30] and agreeing to not masturbate; and the fourth is getting into a major fight "for the cause".

[107] In the first 2020 presidential debate on September 29, 2020, President Donald Trump was asked by moderator Chris Wallace: "Are you willing, tonight, to condemn white supremacists and militia groups, and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities as we saw in Kenosha, and as we have seen in Portland?"

[116] During the 2020 presidential campaign in October, threatening emails claiming to be from the Proud Boys were sent to Democratic voters in Alaska, Arizona, Florida and Pennsylvania, the last three of which were swing states in the upcoming election.

[55] On April 15, 2017, an alt-right rally was organized in Berkeley by the Liberty Revival Alliance, which did not seek or receive a permit, and was attended by members of the Proud Boys, Identity Evropa (an American neo-Nazi group)[120][121][122] and Oath Keepers.

[147][148] John Miller, New York City's deputy police commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, said that "incidents like [the post-MRC fight] make it more likely" that the Proud Boys would be "higher on the radar" of authorities.

[159][160][161] Republican candidate Omar Navarro, a perennial challenger for Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters' congressional seat, withdrew from speaking at the event, tweeting that his ex-girlfriend DeAnna Lorraine, a self-described "MAGA relationship expert", had threatened him, using cocaine and having sex with members of the Proud Boys.

[168] The Proud Boys organized the August event in response to a video that went viral of masked demonstrators assaulting conservative blogger Andy Ngo at a Portland rally on June 29, 2019.

[169][170] On May 1, 2020, the Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism (CTEC) at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey compiled a report examining the influence of the Proud Boys on anti-lockdown protests and COVID-19 misinformation.

They are opposed to Black Lives Matter protests and see attempts to remove statues of Confederate leaders and other historical figures as a "left-wing plot to destroy American history".

[172] On May 30, 2020, Facebook officials reported that internal systems flagged activity from Proud Boys-related accounts encouraging "armed agitators" to attend protests following the murder of George Floyd.

"[178][179] On October 5, 2016, a jury found Swinney guilty of 11 charges stemming from BLM protests in Oregon on August 15 and 22, 2020, at which he ruined a man's eye with a paint ball gun, sprayed marchers with bear mace and pointed a loaded .357 pistol at others.

[189] In June 2023, District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Neal E. Kravitz imposed civil penalties of over $1 million on the Proud Boys and four of its members, Tarrio, Joe Biggs, Jeremy Bertino and John Turano.

The Times video investigation concludes "...the Proud Boys played critical roles, from the first moment of violence to multiple breaches of the Capitol while leaving the impression that it was just ordinary protesters leading the charge.

), the chairman of the United States House Homeland Security Committee, filed a federal lawsuit against Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, and Proud Boys International LLC.

[214] The New York Times reported in March 2021 that the incident had caused Proud Boys and other far-right groups to splinter amid disagreements on whether the attack had gone too far or was a success, and doubts about the leadership of their organizations, raising concerns of increasing numbers of lone wolf actors who would be more difficult to monitor and might pursue more extreme actions.

[220][221] In June 2021, federal judge Royce Lamberth declined to release Proud Boys member Christopher Worrell of East Naples, Florida, prior to his trial, citing Facebook posts he had made threatening retribution against those who he believed "ratted" him out to the FBI.

[255][256][257] They are: Other individuals with ties to the Proud Boys were charged with other offenses related to the Capitol attack are: The trial, originally scheduled for August 8, 2022, was postponed to wait for relevant interview transcripts from the January 6 House committee.

(The committee intended to write its own final report before sharing its witness testimony with the Justice Department, and thus neither the prosecutors nor the defendants' counsel expected to have access to the material until later in the year.)

The only exceptions were nine Oath Keepers (Rhodes, Meggs, Harrelson, Caldwell, Watkins, Minuta, Vallejo, Moerschel, and Hackett) and five Proud Boys (Nordean, Biggs, Rehl, Pezzola, and Bertino).

[286] On June 12, 2022, a group identified as Proud Boys by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office stormed a children's Drag Queen Story Time event at the San Lorenzo Library.

Members of the Drag Queen Story Hour described the group as reportedly "extremely aggressive", who "totally freaked out the kids" by shouting homophobic and transphobic slurs during the event.

[291] On January 25, 2021, the House of Commons of Canada unanimously passed a motion calling on the government "to use all available tools to address the proliferation of white supremacist and hate groups, starting with immediately designating the Proud Boys as a terrorist entity.

[300][301] In late June 2022, Police Commissioner Andrew Coster and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern designated the Proud Boys and another far right group called The Base as terrorist organizations.

[32] In 2017, Kyle Chapman, nicknamed "Based Stickman" after the 2017 Berkeley protests, formed a paramilitary wing of the Proud Boys called the Fraternal Order of the Alt-Knights (FOAK).

[317][318][319] The brand, having previously been negatively associated with skinheads and the British National Front in the 1970s,[319] issued several public statements distancing themselves from the beliefs of the Proud Boys, and calling on members to stop wearing their clothing.