LGBTQ Brand Verillas Donates to Civil Rights Organization After Proud Boys Co-Opt Their Kilts
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2020 was the year of too many ridiculous things to even count. Laura Dern saw Baby Yoda at a basketball game. Ben Shapiro admitted he doesn’t know how to satisfy a woman. Sooo many celebrities decided singing “Imagine” by John Lennon would help us get over COVID. And then the Proud Boys, with their ever-present collective idiocy, wore yellow kilts and wrote “FUCK ANTIFA” on each others’ bare, pasty asses. After that stunt, the kilts, created by LGBTQ-owned Verillas, were pulled by the brand.
Here’s the thing: When you’re out there being a literal Nazi in front of millions of people, maybe you shouldn’t make an additional fool out of yourself by directly supporting one of the many groups of minorities you’ve decided to hate.
The result of the Proud Boys’ public show of baseless hatred was a direct donation to the NAACP.
Disgusted to see members of "Proud Boys" a fascist terrorist org wearing our products. We're LGBTQIA+ owned, operated, designed and lived. We're against everything they stand for. I see $750 of our gear in the picture – I just gave $1000 to the NAACP to redirect hate to love. pic.twitter.com/eMdwW8Azrj
— Verillas (@Verillas) December 12, 2020
Posted by Verillas: “Disgusted to see members of ‘Proud Boys’ a fascist terrorist org wearing our products. We’re LGBTQIA+ owned, operated, designed and lived. We’re against everything they stand for. I see $750 of our gear in the picture – I just gave $1000 to the NAACP to redirect hate to love.”
In a recent interview with Dazed, Verillas’ VP of Marketing Justin had this to say: “It felt existentially wrong to be associated with that group of people and the first thing I realised is that taking gains from them was unacceptable. … We weren’t satisfied with neutralising the situation, we had to counter it.”
Verillas proceeded to pull the kilt from sale and offer a free color exchange to anyone who doesn’t want to be associated with the Proud Boys. “I didn’t want to sell that product to folks who would unwittingly associate themselves with an awful movement,” Justin said.
Virginia clothing company @Verillas has denounced the alt-right group, donating proceeds from the kilts and more to civil rights organisation @NAACP.https://t.co/sDlcO1vVEu
— Dazed (@Dazed) December 13, 2020
If the Proud Boys really want to adopt an official uniform for their hate group, might we suggest dunce hats?
What do you think of Verillas’ decision to pull their yellow kilts after this Proud Boys stunt?
Featured image courtesy @HannahAllam on Twitter.
