Gavin Miles McInnes
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- 4 min read
Overview
Gavin Miles McInnes is a British-born Canadian writer, media personality, entrepreneur, and political commentator whose career moved from 1990s counterculture publishing into provocative right-wing political media. He is best known as one of the co-founders of VICE, which began as a Montreal alternative-culture magazine, and as the 2016 founder of the Proud Boys. He left VICE in 2008 and publicly stepped down from the Proud Boys in 2018.
McInnes is a highly controversial figure because of his rhetoric on race, immigration, gender, religion, political violence, and multiculturalism. His career is also notable as an example of the evolution of alternative media: from print magazines and punk-inspired counterculture to blogs, podcasts, subscription video, social media, and politically oriented independent media.
Highlights
Foundational & Cultural Elements
Born July 17, 1970, in Hitchin, England, to Scottish parents; his family later settled in Ottawa, Canada.
Studied at Carleton University and participated in Ottawa's punk scene as a teenager.
Joined Voice magazine in Montreal in 1994 with Suroosh Alvi; McInnes, Alvi, and Shane Smith later acquired it and renamed it Vice in 1996.
Developed a provocative, irreverent editorial style that became associated with VICE's early countercultural identity.
Left VICE in 2008 over what he described as creative differences; VICE states he has had no involvement with the company since.
Media & Entrepreneurship
Founded StreetCarnage.com and co-founded advertising agency Rooster after leaving VICE.
Published the memoir How to Piss in Public in 2012.
Appeared in film, television, stand-up comedy, podcasts, and online political commentary.
Began The Gavin McInnes Show on Anthony Cumia's Compound Media in 2015.
Launched the subscription video platform Censored.TV in 2019.
Political Influence & Controversy
Founded the Proud Boys in 2016. The organization became known for confrontational street politics and was subsequently characterized as extremist or a hate group by various organizations and authorities; McInnes has disputed such characterizations.
Publicly stepped down from the organization in November 2018, describing the move as a legal gesture intended to help members facing prosecution.
His continued public references to and appearances involving Proud Boys after his resignation have generated debate over the extent of his ongoing influence.
His political evolution demonstrates how the boundaries between comedy, provocation, internet culture, and ideological activism became increasingly blurred during the 2010s.
Family Connection to Technology & Defense
McInnes's father, James McInnes, later became Vice-President of Operations at Gallium Visual Systems, a Canadian technology company associated with defense applications.
Gallium was later acquired by Norway's Kongsberg organization; the larger Kongsberg group has longstanding operations in defense, aerospace, command-and-control, surveillance, and other advanced technologies.
This family connection is biographically interesting, but the supplied material does not establish that Gavin McInnes himself worked for Gallium or Kongsberg.
Timeline
1970 – Born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England.
1970s–1980s – Family settles in Ottawa; McInnes later becomes involved in its punk scene.
1994 – Joins Montreal alternative-culture publication Voice as assistant editor and cartoonist.
1996 – McInnes, Shane Smith, and Suroosh Alvi rename the publication Vice.
1990s (Late) – VICE's operations relocate to New York City.
2008 – Leaves VICE and subsequently establishes new media and advertising ventures.
2012 – Publishes How to Piss in Public.
2013 – Directs The Brotherhood of the Traveling Rants and stars in How to Be a Man.
2014 – Publishes controversial commentary on race and multiculturalism, including "America in 2034."
2015 – The Gavin McInnes Show launches on Compound Media.
2016 – Founds the Proud Boys.
2017 – Launches Get Off My Lawn after joining CRTV.
2018 – Twitter suspends McInnes and the Proud Boys account; later that year he announces that he is stepping down from the organization.
2019 – Launches Censored.TV and files a defamation lawsuit against the SPLC over its characterization of the Proud Boys.
2020s – Continues producing political commentary, comedy, interviews, and subscription-based independent media.
Notable Content
Books
How to Piss in Public: From Teenage Rebellion to the Hangover of Adulthood — Gavin McInnes
The Vice Guide to Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll — useful for understanding the culture surrounding early VICE.
Films & Television
The Vice Guide to Travel — provides a look at the early VICE style and McInnes's role within it.
The Brotherhood of the Traveling Rants (2013) — follows McInnes's comedy tour.
How to Be a Man (2013) — independent comedy starring McInnes.
Primary-Source Material
Early issues and archival material from VICE are useful for understanding his counterculture period.
The Gavin McInnes Show and Get Off My Lawn document his transition toward political commentary.
His 2014 "America in 2034" essay is useful as a primary source for studying his views during this period, but should be read critically and alongside independent reporting because it contains broad and controversial claims about race.
Sources
VICE archives — particularly useful for McInnes's role in the publication's history and for VICE's disclosure that he left in 2008.
Associated Press and Reuters — independent reporting on the Proud Boys, political extremism, and related legal developments.
FBI and U.S. Department of Justice — primary government records concerning criminal cases involving Proud Boys members.
Carleton University — educational background and institutional history.
Canadian and U.S. newspaper archives — contemporary reporting on McInnes's media career and controversies.
Kongsberg Geospatial / Kongsberg corporate materials — useful for researching Gallium Visual Systems and the company associated with his father's career.
McInnes's own interviews, books, broadcasts, and archived writings — useful as primary sources for what he himself said, rather than as independent verification of his claims.
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