The Proud Boys is a far-right neo-fascist organization that admits only men as members and promotes political violence. It is based in the United States and has a presence in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. The group was started in 2016 by Vice Media co-founder and former commentator Gavin McInnes, taking its name from the song "Proud of Your Boy" from the Disney film Aladdin. Proud Boys emerged as part of the alt-right, but in early 2017, McInnes began distancing himself from the alt-right, saying the alt-right's focus is race while his focus is what he defines as "Western values". This re-branding effort intensified after the Unite the Right Rally.
The group sees men — especially white men — and Western culture as under siege; their views have elements of white genocide conspiracy theory. While the group claims it does not support white supremacist views, its members often participate in racist rallies, events, and organizations. The organization glorifies violence, and members engage in violence at events it attends; the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has called it an "alt-right fight club".
In late November 2018, a news story which attracted national attention reported that the FBI classified the Proud Boys as an extremist group with ties to white nationalism; however, two weeks later, an FBI official denied that it was their intent to classify the entire group in this manner, and ascribed the mistake to a misunderstanding. The official said that their intent was to characterize the possible threat from certain members of the group.
The organization has been described as a hate group by NPR's The Takeawayand the Southern Poverty Law Center. In February 2019, despite having claimed to have broken ties with the group in November 2018, McInnes filed a federal defamation suit against the SPLC over their "hate group" designation,