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White nationalist Nick Fuentes who dined with Trump is arrested for battery of woman

Far-right internet personality Nick Fuentes is due in court later this month after a woman accused him of pepper-spraying her at his home after he posted “your body, my choice” on X

Associated Press reporter
Sunday 08 December 2024 12:25 EST
GOP congressman criticises Trump over dinner with Nick Fuentes and Kanye West

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Far-right influencer Nick Fuentes is due in court later this month after a woman accused him of pepper-spraying her when she showed up at his suburban Chicago home following his “Your body, my choice” post on X.

According to court documents, the 57-year-old woman approached Fuentes' home in Berwyn on Nov. 10, shortly after his address was leaked following his post, the Chicago Tribune reported. Berwyn is a Chicago suburb of about 54,000 people.

The woman told the newspaper in a Nov. 15 interview that her friends encouraged her to go to Fuentes' home to see if rumors were true that he had been receiving prank deliveries after his post on X. She said she made a video of herself on the sidewalk in front of Fuentes' home. Another woman pulled up in her car and told her to ring the doorbell.

She alleged that Fuentes opened the door before she could ring the bell, pepper-sprayed her, screamed an expletive and took her phone.

Vice president-elect JD Vance dismissed concerns about about Fuentes, saying ‘just because you talk to somebody doesn’t mean you endorse their views’
Vice president-elect JD Vance dismissed concerns about about Fuentes, saying ‘just because you talk to somebody doesn’t mean you endorse their views’ (AFP via Getty Images)

Fuentes, 26, faces a battery charge in connection with the incident, the newspaper reported. He is due to appear in court on Dec. 19. He has posted mugshots of himself on his X account along with “Free me (racial slur).”

He didn't immediately respond to a message The Associated Press sent him Saturday through X. Attempts to reach his attorney, Eduardo Cervantes, were unsuccessful.

Fuentes, a Holocaust-denying white supremacist, is part of an emboldened fringe of right-wing “manosphere” influencers who have seized on Republican Donald Trump's presidential victory to amplify misogynistic derision and threats online.

Trump hosted Fuentes and Kanye West at a dinner at Mar-a-Lago in 2022, according to Politico.

Many of them have appropriated the “my body, my choice” abortion rights slogan, changing it to “your body, my choice.” The twist on the wording has been largely attributed to Fuentes' Nov. 5 X post: “Your body, my choice. Forever.”

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