Nick Fuentes


Nicholas Joseph Fuentes is an American far-right political commentator, white nationalist activist, and live streamer. He hosts America First, a livestream that has promoted Christian nationalism, white supremacy, the incel movement, misogyny, anti-LGBTQ views and antisemitism including Holocaust denial. His supporters are known as Groypers.
Fuentes was raised in La Grange Park, Illinois, and was described as having held mainstream conservative views while attending high school. He began political activism in 2016 after graduating, voiced support for Donald Trump, and started the episodic live stream America First in 2017. In 2019, Fuentes's followers began to heckle Charlie Kirk and events at his organization Turning Point USA, referred to as the "Groyper War", to push for more extreme right-wing positions. In 2020, seeking to establish a white nationalist alternative to the Conservative Political Action Conference, Fuentes began holding an annual America First Political Action Conference.
In November 2022, Fuentes and Kanye West had a private dinner with Donald Trump. The meeting was condemned by commentators across the political spectrum due to Fuentes and West's antisemitism. In August 2024, Fuentes launched "Groyper War 2" against Trump's presidential campaign; using memes, trolling, and protests. In 2025, Fuentes said Trump was a "scam artist" for his failure to release the Epstein files, and The New York Times and The Atlantic highlighted his growing influence on the political right.
Fuentes has been involved in a number of controversial events. He attended the 2017 Unite the Right rally and spoke at events preceding the January 6 United States Capitol attack. Fuentes faced widespread deplatforming from major social media, streaming, and financial services between 2020 and 2023, primarily for violating hate speech policies and involvement with January 6.

Early life and family

Nicholas Joseph Fuentes was born on August 18, 1998, in La Grange Park, Illinois, to William and Lauren. He has a twin sister, Melissa. According to Fuentes, he is of Italian, Irish and Mexican descent. His father is half Mexican and immigrated to the United States. He grew up in La Grange Park, Illinois. He attended Lyons Township High School, where he was president of the student council. He was raised Catholic. Fuentes began commenting on politics on a local radio and TV station hosted by his high school, where he was described as holding mainstream conservative views. John Keilman wrote in the Chicago Tribune that "after his graduation in 2016, he embraced the extreme right".
He studied international relations and politics during his freshman year at Boston University, but dropped out in connection with his attendance at the Unite the Right rally, a 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. He said afterwards he neither supported Nazism nor the man who drove into the crowd, but believed the violence from counter-protesters spurred violence in return. Fuentes, though proud to have attended the event, ultimately dropped out of Boston University after receiving death threats over his media persona, statements, and attendance of the rally. A former mentor of his stated that the response to his involvement with Unite the Right helped raise his media presence.
Fuentes dropped out in 2017 after completing his freshman year. At this time, Fuentes faced pressure from his parents to pursue a more conventional path, such as getting a job or returning to college. Fuentes told Louis Theroux of the proposal he made to his parents at that time: Why don't you give me just one year to explore this. If it works out, I'll keep doing it. If it doesn't work out, I'll abandon it.'... And it worked out." Fuentes did, however, earn an associate degree at the College of DuPage in 2019.

Live streaming and interviews

Fuentes began hosting the episodic live stream America First with Nicholas J. Fuentes, in 2017 during his freshman year at Boston University. America First is characterized by Fuentes's frequent use of jokes and irony to appeal to Generation Z while providing plausible deniability for his often extreme views. He denounced multiculturalism and stated that the white identity had been marginalized. However, he said he was not racist, and supported nonviolence. During a show in April 2017, Fuentes "argued the First Amendment was not written for Muslims or immigrants". He further stated "Who runs the media? Globalists. Time to kill the globalists" and "I want people that run CNN to be arrested and deported or hanged because this is deliberate." Following these and other comments, as well as publicity over his attendance at the Unite the Right rally, he left Right Side Broadcasting Network in August 2017. At the time, Seales remarked: "RSBN prides itself in our diversity, as we are a company loaded with folks from all different backgrounds. Nick was just taking things a little too far into right field for us." One episode consisted of a monologue in which he implied he questions the death toll of six million Jews in the Holocaust. Fuentes later disputed that he had ever denied the Holocaust, calling his monologue a "lampoon". NPR cited this as an example of Fuentes's use of irony to avoid consequences for his words, citing a 2020 video where Fuentes said, "Irony is so important for giving a lot of cover and plausible deniability for our views", specifically regarding Holocaust denial.
Fuentes initially live-streamed from the basement of his parents' home, which was considered central to his public persona as a NEET or a disconnected youth. He relocated his livestreaming operations from his parents' basement to an apartment in Berwyn, Illinois, in November 2020. Despite telling viewers he was still working from his parents' home, police records and neighbor accounts suggest he operated from the Berwyn property. His father frequently oversaw renovations at the complex, particularly on the second floor, where Fuentes established a new podcasting studio.
He co-hosted the Nationalist Review podcast with another white nationalist, James Allsup, until January 2018. The Southern Poverty Law Center noted in a report, "the two had a public falling out with each host accusing the other of laziness, impropriety and a variety of petty slights". Fuentes spoke at the American Renaissance conference in April 2018. Fuentes collaborated with Alex Jones to launch his own live-streaming platform, Cozy.tv, in October 2021.
Since late 2024, Fuentes has experienced a significant increase in visibility and influence within the American right. Fuentes has appeared on several other podcasts and streams, amassing millions of views on YouTube, Rumble, and Kick. He has primarily appeared on podcast episodes with Myron Gaines, a fellow right-wing conspiracy theorist, appearing on his Fresh & Fit episodes alongside his co-host Walter Weekes, as well as on debates and discussions hosted by streamer Adin Ross. He is also a regular guest on Alex Jones' show, Infowars. As Fuentes's influence continued to rise in 2025, he also began to appear on more mainstream podcasts, such as Patrick Bet-David's PBD Podcast, Bradley Martyn's Raw Talk, and the Nelk Boys' Kick stream.
In late October 2025, Tucker Carlson interviewed Fuentes on The Tucker Carlson Show. At the beginning of the interview, Carlson stated: "Everybody's going to be like, 'You're a Nazi, you just like Fuentes. But then I'm like, 'I don't think Fuentes is going away. Ben Shapiro tried to strangle him in the crib in college, and now he's bigger than ever. The interview prompted some condemnation from Republicans, conservative commentators, and Jewish organizations, who criticized Carlson for providing Fuentes a platform. Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts stated that a "venomous coalition" would not be able to cancel Carlson. Roberts also argued that silencing Fuentes was not the solution. Roberts' remarks resulted in internal backlash at Heritage, some employees stated "Fuentes is not someone with ideas worthy of debate". On October 31, Roberts clarified that Fuentes "is fomenting Jew hatred, and his incitements are not only immoral and un-Christian, they risk violence". Heritage announced staff reassignments after the interview. Ali Breland in The Atlantic stated the interview indicated Fuentes's views had grown more mainstream among some Make America Great Again supporters. He cited the reluctance of figures like Carlson to fully distance themselves from such rhetoric. The controversy exposed a broader conflict amongst conservatives over antisemitism. On December 8, 2025, Piers Morgan interviewed Fuentes on Piers Morgan Uncensored.

Groyper War

By 2019, America First had attracted a cult following, who refer to themselves as "Groypers". The movement consists of primarily young, online activists with alt-right views. Fuentes has organized the Groypers to challenge mainstream conservative figures, notably during the 2019 "Groyper Wars", where they disrupted events hosted by TPUSA and others with provocative questions on immigration, Israel, and cultural issues. Fuentes had repeatedly criticized TPUSA and its founder, Charlie Kirk, accusing them of betraying Donald Trump by advocating in favor of mass legal immigration, support for foreign aid for Israel, and queer issues.
Throughout October and November 2019, his supporters were present at many of Kirk's public speaking events, which featured guest speakers including Donald Trump Jr., Lara Trump, and Kimberly Guilfoyle. According to Mother Jones, these campaigns frequently involved asking questions that prompted viewers to look up far-right and antisemitic conspiracy theories and hoaxes online. Fuentes characterized the campaign as a grassroots effort to expose TPUSA as ideologically inconsistent with the ideology espoused by Donald Trump and other right-wing populists. As a result of this campaign, some right-wing mainstream politicians and pundits disavowed Fuentes, characterizing his beliefs as extreme and out of touch with mainstream conservatism. At a book release event, Groypers shouted down Donald Trump Jr until he ended the event early. In December 2019, Fuentes confronted conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro outside a TPUSA event in West Palm Beach, Florida. Shapiro was walking with his wife and young children when Fuentes asked why he had delivered a speech at Stanford University criticizing him.