Gavin McInnes Announces He's Reluctantly Leaving "Proud Boys" He Founded

“I am officially disassociating myself from the Proud Boys. In all capacities, forever, I quit,” McInnes announced in a video statement posted to his official YouTube channel. McInnes claims to have been told by his legal team that him leaving the group he had founded would alleviate the sentencing of nine of his Proud Boy colleagues charged over an October attack that occurred during a clash with an anti-fascist organization following one of McInnes’ fiery speeches. “Fine. At the very least, this will show jurors they are not dealing with a gang and there’s no head of operations,” he said.

McInnes also added that he has never actually been the leader of the far-right group, The Daily Beast notes, arguing that it has thousands of members around the world, and that the Proud Boys “certainly don’t” need him to survive.

According to Rolling Stone, video footage and eyewitness account demonstrate that around 30 members of McInnes’ group participated in the assault, shouting homophobic and similar slurs while physically harming counter-protesters. One of the videos, the same publication notes, shows an NYPD officer arriving at the scene, seemingly reluctant to break up the fight.