OkCupid Bans White Supremacist Chris Cantwell From Dating Platform Following Charlottesville Riots
After the events in Charlottesville last weekend, VICE released an excellent documentary about the far right rally organised by Unite the Right.
Presented by VICE News’ Elle Reeve, the documentary prominently featured a white supremacist named Chris Cantwell, who speaks about his wish for a white “ethno-state”, run by someone “a lot more racist that Donald Trump”.
The racist activist was subsequently banned from Facebook following the release of the documentary.
And this week, after discovering that Cantwell had a profile on dating platform OkCupid, the company announced that it had banned him from the service.
In a series of tweets, OkCupid said: “We were alerted that white supremacist Chris Cantwell was on OkCupid. Within 10 minutes we banned him for life. There is no room for hate in a place where you’re looking for love.”
There is no room for hate in a place where you’re looking for love.
— OkCupid (@okcupid) August 17, 2017
OkCupid also asked users to report anyone who appears to be involved in a hate group.
In a further statement, OkCupid CEO Elie Seidman said: “OkCupid has zero tolerance for racism. We make a lot of decision(s) every day that are tough. Banning Christopher Cantwell was not one of them.”
In an email to USA Today about being banned from the site, Cantwell said: “Hahaha! Okcupid shut me down? These k—- will stop at nothing!”
Watch the excellent VICE News documentary below.