Ohio State University Says It Could Not Stop Holocaust Denier Myron Gaines From Speaking on Campus
Podcaster and commentator Myron Gaines. Photo: Screenshot
The Ohio State University (OSU) has said it was legally powerless to prevent online influencer Myron Gaines — who regularly promotes Nazism, Holocaust denial, and other antisemitic conspiracy theories on his podcast — from speaking on campus late last month amid widespread criticism of its having conferred legitimacy to a man who is notorious for denigrating women, African Americans, and Jews.
“Last week, an external speaker was invited to campus by a registered student organization, and during the visit, a variety of viewpoints were expressed, both by the speaker and those who chose to attend,” the university said following the event, which reportedly saw Gaines greet his audience by pantomiming the Nazi salute.
When asked at the event by a Jewish attendee how many people he believed had been killed by the Holocaust, Gaines replied, “271,000 at best.” He also denied evidence that rape occurred during Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel.
“Prior to the event, the university remind the host student organization of the expectations and guidelines within the university’s Freedom of Expression Policy … and Use of Outdoor Space policies,” the school added in its statement.
Gaines, whose real name is Amrou Fudl, has become increasingly affiliated with fellow podcaster Nicholas Fuentes’s so-called “groyper” movement, which rejects multiracial democracy, the US-Israel relationship, and liberalism as a political theory.
The “groypers,” a named derived from the evolution of the Pepe the Frog meme popularized by the far right, especially target Jews and the state of Israel most and have reprised antisemitic tropes and conspiracies to promote their agenda. A staple of their ideology is Holocaust denialism and revision, which is trafficked alongside false claims that Israel is committing a genocide of Palestinians.
Last year, Gaines was recorded on video calling a pregnant woman a “fat f**king Jew” while wearing a hoodie mocking Holocaust victims. The incident occurred outside of a Turning Point USA event in Phoenix, Arizona in December. He was wearing a hoodie depicting Sesame Street‘s Cookie Monster standing behind an oven. Above the image was text that read, “Let Em Cook.”
Gaines has been touring US college campuses to influence young minds as part of an initiative sponsored by Uncensored America, a nonprofit organization with ties to the far right.
“While the university is not legally permitted to prohibit free speech, including controversial speech, on its public grounds, appropriate steps were taken to preserve peace and ensure unrestricted travel on campus while it took place,” OSU said in its statement. “The university is also aware of the ways in which some instances of protected speech can personally impact various members of our community, and we remain committed to addressing these impacts when appropriate.”
Gaines’s appearance came amid a surge in right-wing antisemitism, especially among younger Americans.
In March, the University of Florida deactivated its College Republicans chapter following revelations that two of its leaders photographed themselves pantomiming the Nazi salute. Less than two weeks prior to that incident, The Miami Herald disclosed the existence of a virulently racist group chat in which conservative youth in Miami-Dade County, Florida exchanged antisemitic slurs while calling for the of murder African Americans.
Dariel Gonzalez, according to the Herald, was one of the chat’s most prolific contributors, bandying about comments regarding “color professors” and telling members that “You can f—k all the k—kes you want. Just don’t marry them and procreate.” Gonzalez, a former board member of Florida International University’s College Republicans, also reportedly promoted belief in “Agartha,” a Nazi utopia confected by Heinrich Himmler, while fantasizing about the possibility of engaging in onanism there. Some vile remarks drew the approbation of other chat members, many of whom are connected to Republican Party organizations across the state.
Recent polling shows that young Republicans have increasingly embraced antisemitism and conspiracy theories.
In February, for example, a survey by Irwin Mansdorf, a fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, and Charles Jacobs, president of the Jewish Leadership Project, found that 45 percent of Republicans under the age of 44 said Jews pose a threat to the “American way of life.”
In December, the Manhattan Institute, a prominent US-based think tank, released a major poll showing that younger Republican voters are much less supportive of Israel and more likely to express antisemitic views than their older cohorts.
According to the data, 25 percent of Republicans under 50 openly express antisemitic views as opposed to just 4 percent over the age of 50. Startlingly, a substantial amount, 37 percent, of GOP voters indicate belief in Holocaust denialism. These figures are more pronounced among young men under 50, with a majority, 54 percent, agreeing that the Holocaust “was greatly exaggerated or did not happen as historians describe.” Among men over 50, 41 percent agree with the sentiment.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.