OkCupid, a popular online dating site, has banned white supremacist Chris Cantwell after he was featured in a Vice News documentary about the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. In the documentary, Cantwell expresses his violently racist views.
Gizmodo reports that they discovered OkCupid’s decision from a now-deleted tweet by Vice News social editor Rex Santus.
OkCupid confirmed Cantwell’s ban to Gizmodo. CEO Elie Seidma said in a statement: “OkCupid has zero tolerance for racism. We make a lot of decision every day that are tough. Banning Christopher Cantwell was not one of them.”
We were alerted that white supremacist Chris Cantwell was on OkCupid. Within 10 minutes we banned him for life.
— OkCupid (@okcupid) August 17, 2017
A different OkCupid spokesperson expanded on Seidma’s statement, staying that OkCupid will absolutely ban other users who are involved in hate groups. Cantwell violated the organization’s terms of service and “Not only that, we have asked our users at OkCupid to notify us immediately if they see any individuals who are associated with hate groups.”
This decision comes a day after a video of Cantwell went viral. In it, he is talking about his possible Charlottesville arrest warrant.
Cantwell has written multiple blog posts about OkCupid, reports Gizmodo, such as one in December 2014 titled “8 Online Dating Tips, for the Ladies.”
This decision also comes a day after Cloudfare CEO Matthew Prince decided to stop protecting The Daily Stormer from DDoS attacks, writes Gizmodo. Prince’s decision was not because the neo-Nazi site violated their policies, but because as Prince told Gizmodo, the Daily Stormer operators are “assholes.”
You can watch the whole Vice documentary below.
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