POLICE DID LITTLE WHILE NAZI LIVESTREAMERS HARASSED WEHO, HOLLYWOOD, BEVERLY HILLS

On Saturday, May 21st an anti-Semitic hate group called the “Goyim Defense League” drove a U-Haul truck by stunned, angry and occasionally sympathetic onlookers in Hollywood, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. The entire event was live streamed on leader John Minadeo’s anti-Semitic video hosting website Goyim TV. While much of the hate speech live-streamed was directed at Jews there were also incidents of anti-LGBTQ+, anti-Black, anti-Arab, anti-Asian hate speech and sexual harassment. Though police stated they are investigating the event as a hate incident, LCRW’s interviews with several sources show some in the community doubt the investigation is being taken seriously.

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Jon Minadeo II of Petaluma, CA and Robert Frank Wilson of Chula Vista, CA began streaming alongside several members of the neo-Nazi group “Crew 562,” who followed in another U-Haul. Minadeo told his live-stream audience that “we’ve got a big group here with us today.” GDL members mockingly pretended to be Jewish. Minadeo was wearing a costume peiyes and a thick stereotypical “Jewish” accent while also wearing a Schwarze Sonne t-shirt. The rented U-Haul was wrapped with a tarp displaying the Goyim TV logo (mockingly patterned after the ADL logo) as well as banners that read “Jewish Lives Matter Most,” and “Ann Coulter was right about the Jews”.

Minadeo told viewers they were fundraising to go to Boston and that “we’re probably going to hit New York as well; should be a good one.” Minadeo and Wilson thanked donating viewers with a Sieg Heil. Though LCRW was unable to verify the amount donated to them, the two mentioned having more than one hundred viewers at multiple times and thanked them throughout the livestream.

The group began driving their U-Haul into the Los Angeles area as Minadeo stated that “this is how they’re going to kick off white man summer.” Minadeo complimented Wilson’s painting skills then mentioned the truck, to which Wilson replied “allegedly.” Echoing the Great Replacement Myth which inspired multiple acts of mass murder, Minadeo said that “they are trying to inspire everyone out there to get out and expose Jewish supremacy. These people are trying to kill off mankind. They’re going for the white man first and then it’s all gonna crumble.” Minadeo produced a bullhorn and began sexually harassing drivers by asking vehicles on the road if they wanted to see his circumcised penis.

Arriving in Hollywood and driving on Hollywood Boulevard, the U-Haul approached an unhoused Black woman lying on the ground. Wilson referred to the woman as “chocolate.” Minadeo then referenced GDL’s repeated flyering of Beverly Hills, alleging that COVID is a Jewish conspiracy by loudly asking “Pfizer or Moderna?”

Making their way to Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, the two began shouting anti-gay rhetoric as well. Several children walked into the frame of their livestream as they asked the crowd of tourists in the intersection if they were “Sodomites.” Driving past a group of Black men gathered around a Star of David (likely Black Hebrew Israelites), Minadeo yelled “white power” and promised to continue to “enslave them.”

Going south, Wilson and Minadeo briefly stopped and spoke with the riders of another U-Haul truck which tagging along with them. The three riders wore uniforms reminiscent of Nazi soldiers. One Nazi wearing a “Crew 562” hat told viewers that “Auschwitz was an amusement park.” Minadeo then began halting traffic by harassing nearby vehicles for several minutes, blocking them while shouting hateful rhetoric. Both Minadeo and Wilson then returned to their vehicles, as Wilson told Minadeo to stay on topic with more “Great Replacement” jokes.

“More Buffalos, please!” Minadeo said. He then deadpanned, saying the mass shooting in Buffalo was a hoax.

The group then began driving through a heavily Jewish area near the border between Hollywood and West Hollywood. The area is known for housing several synagogues as well as a heavily Jewish community. The group even drove past Pan Pacific Park, home to the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum. Coming upon a man in Hassidic garb, the group began yelling “do you work for the ADL?” Getting out of the vehicle, Minadeo pointed at the GDL members in Nazi uniforms and said “there’s a bunch of Nazis in there,” and then continued on and said “we know the Holocaust is fake and you did 9/11.”

As the car pulled away, Minadeo began searching the vehicle and looked worried, repeatedly saying “did I drop the phone?” About a minute later, Minadeo returned and heavily panted while saying “I found the phone.”

The GDL then entered Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Driving through, one black woman began yelling at the group. Minadeo falsely stated that Jews were solely responsible for the slave trade as Wilson began telling her to “go back to Africa.” Continuing throughout Beverly Hills, the group eventually arrived at Beverly Garden Park; home to the well-known “Beverly Hills” sign. The location also borders the Beverly Hills police station.

GDL began singing a song from Aladdin at a man they deemed to be of Arab descent. They then loudly debated whether the man was of Arab or Jewish ancestry using epithets. One woman pulled in front of the U-Haul blocking the GDL’s vehicles. As several people approached the U-haul Minadeo began threatening “I’ve got pepper spray in the car. If you get close to me, I’m going to spray you.” The crowd began expanding to about ten people and Wilson re-entered into the U-Haul. After several minutes the crowd grew to about 20 and the U-Haul drove away from Beverly Garden Park.

Minadeo again worriedly searched for his phone. He searched the U-Haul, muttering breathlessly and animatedly for several minutes, seeming extremely relieved when he finally found it.

The group then pulled into the Beverly Hilton valet entrance. They told an employee that “they have reservations for Mr. Shekelberg,” referencing an antisemitic meme. The employee told them that the Hilton “could not accommodate their vehicle.” Asking if “they should just turn it,” Wilson accelerated the U-Haul forward quickly as the employee said “yes.” After parking in the entrance Minadeo and Wilson exited their U-Haul and gave a Nazi salute on camera. The GDL members dressed as Nazi soldiers then left their vehicle and seconds later Minadeo yells “Cops! We’re getting out of here!”

Two Beverly Hills Police officers then approached the GDL members and began telling them that they must have a permit for amplified sound. BHPD told the group that they were trespassing on private property. Minadeo asked if he could get a “Jewish power,” from a BHPD officer. The officer then said “I’m not Jewish so I don’t think I could even say that, right? I support people of all religions and all races. Everyone’s lives matter.” They started driving again, briefly following a Black employee of the Hilton and telling him that “you share more genetic likeness with apes.”

The group then began harassing a COVID testing center. Continuing to insinuate that Jewish people were responsible for 9/11 as well as COVID-19, Wilson and Minadeo began calling one of the employees a demeaning Yiddish slang for a Black people. After being told they could not continue through the testing site, GDL began backing up and seemingly intentionally destroying traffic cones. Minadeo got out of the vehicle, excitedly saying “let me get this footage!” repeatedly.

As Minadeo guided Wilson’s driving away from the COVID testing facility through a difficult corner, he excitedly jumped onto the driver’s side step. The BHPD Officer who earlier told Minadeo that he must leave the Beverly Hilton pulled the U-Haul over. The officer then asked for Wilson’s driver’s license. BHPD then told them that they had been walking in the roadway and that Minadeo had jumped onto the vehicle while it was moving. Wilson produced a paper ID card after initially providing the officer with a plastic one asking if he “could trade.” Minadeo argued with the officer about whether he had to produce his identification for several minutes. The officer took Wilson’s identification and went back to the police cruiser for several minutes.

The officer then returned and told Minadeo that he had to produce identification as he was being detained. Minadeo then asked officer “if he would say pretty please.” The officer said “please,” with a smile on his face. Minadeo then cut the audio and appeared to give the officer his ID number. Once the officer went back to his vehicle, the audio returned to the live-stream and Minadeo and Wilson continued to harass onlookers. Minadeo yelled at someone pulling into the COVID testing center that they shouldn’t “take the Jew poison.”

A BHPD Officer then returned and after a brief discussion about whether they should mute the livestream, the officer spoke to them.

“So look: 100% support the 1st amendment. Obviously this is some sort of stage thing you guys are all in tandem whatever,” the officer said.

Minadeo and Wilson then began interrupting the officer with anti-Semitic hate speech. The officer eventually replied:

“I appreciate that you know the facts. I’m not even here to talk about your message. I’m just here to say that be careful, for sure. Don’t get hit in the street. I was able to talk them into allowing me to…use discretion and give you a warning. I appreciate you being cooperative.”

The officer then shook Minadeo’s hand.

Minadeo and Wilson then began lecturing the officers about the COVID center’s signs making it difficult to turn out of.

“I believe in spirit of the law, not letter of the law. So I believe in safety and all of that. So, can I ask a favor of you guys? So, all for freedom of speech, right? You guys doing your protest or whatever you want to call this?” the officer replied.

“That’s only because you’re probably of European ancestry. If you were of different ancestry—” Wilson said.

“Dude I’m a mutt, I’m from everywhere. I literally have everything in me. Small part of European, small part of African,” the officer said.

Wilson asked the officer if he was Jewish, and the officer replied with “probably.” Wilson then replied animatedly “not with that Hitler mustache,” and began Sieg Hieling him. The officer then told GDL that next time they should “notify the department so that they can assist you.” GDL then continued to yell hate speech as the officer began a speech about co-operation. When finished, the officer told Minadeo his racist accent was “great. How long have you been working on that?” Both officers were smiling and laughing by the end of the exchange.

Afterwards, Wilson continued to drive through Beverly Hills with a small camera in his hand and shout hate speech at passersby. They arrived in West Hollywood about three hours into the stream. Taking Santa Monica Boulevard east from Beverly Hills they passed the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station on their way to a gas station.

Once at the gas station, the two began refueling and continued to harass people filling up their vehicles. Minadeo and Wilson then began yelling at several of the people in the heavily Jewish and gay neighborhood and calling them “sodomites.” They tried to get in shouting matches about the “Great Replacement” with just about anyone in earshot.

After about 20 minutes of harassing people at the gas station, seven West Hollywood Sheriffs arrived on scene. A deputy began asking whether they “yelled at anyone.” Minadeo asked the deputy “if everyone here Mexican?” Sheriffs then asked “if there was some exchange?” Minadeo told them that “some Jewish guy cut them off. Do you guys got that Jewish guy on camera?” Sheriffs then appeared to become far more interested in whether any Jewish men had cut the neo-Nazis off in traffic, repeatedly asking who and if they had video. The Sheriffs then asked if there was footage to which GDL replied they couldn’t show the deputies because “they were live.”

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Minadeo then continued to yell hate speech at two men who had walked nearby. Sheriffs entered their cruisers. As two men began yelling and walking away, Sheriffs asked them “please don’t stand in the road, sir.” Sheriffs then drove away. Five people then began assembling across the street and appeared to be counter-protesting. One of those five is a member of WeHo Social Justice Coalition who declined to give their name to LCRW.

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The member of WeHo SJC described two nearby Jewish onlookers who were “rightly outraged, and helped me understand what the message actually was. Which is anti-Semitic, that they were Nazis.”

The member of WeHo SJC later agreed with the two nearby Jewish men that “we can’t just let this go, it can’t be allowed to continue.” They told LCRW that “a lot of different people called the police.”

“West Hollywood has a lot of police. A heavy police presence. So there were already lots of police around. Even though they had called, the cops were just sitting there.” He said the two Jewish men “demanded something be done.”

“By the time [police] did actually do that the men from the truck were harassing people in the parking lot.”

When LCRW asked how they felt after watching deputies’ response, the WeHo SJC member told us that “the police and state actors are not on our side.”

Wilson then began yelling at a Black woman who appeared to be fueling up her vehicle. Two women approached Minadeo and told him that they were “on their side.” The counter-protestors quickly crossed the street again, telling Minadeo and Wilson to get away from the Black woman.

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Minadeo and Wilson continued to argue with the group for more than thirty minutes after deputies left. Even The neo-Nazis seemed confused later on the livestream, with Minadeo asking, “the cops come and then they bounce?”

Wilson agreed.

“There was more yelling after, why didn’t the return?” he asked.

Minadeo and Wilson then drove to the Hollywood area and continued yelling at people on Hollywood Boulevard. When the livestream hit close to the five hour mark, Wilson told his audience that “these Jews already have this morality that they’ve already run.” They then make plans for an unknown dinner place and turn the livestream off.

Responses from West Hollywood officials to LCRW seem to show that community members’ concerns were ignored. Detective Duron of the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Department told LCRW that it was being investigated as a “hate incident,” rather than “hate crime,” and clarifying that LASD is unaware of any crimes committed.

Though Duron told LCRW that he’d seen “several videos,” he told LCRW that he was unaware of the live stream.

“I don’t know if they have any [livestream]. We were gonna look at basically everything that’s involved at this point.” Duron told LCRW.

The website hosting GDL’s stream was painted on the truck prominently.

The streaming platform is owned by Minadeo. The site’s registration with TuCows, which also hosted 8Chan, was recently suspended for posting what they called “illegal content.” Additionally, GoyimTV LLC is registered with the California Secretary of State to Minadeo.

West Hollywood Councilmembers who replied to LCRW all condemned the action in brief statements. Councilmember Lindsey Horvath shared proposed city legislation which “address community safety concerns stemming from recent anti-Semitic incidents in the region.” It will “[d]irect staff to share the Jewish Community Safety Plan with relevant organizations including the “Israeli-American Civic Action Network, Jewish Federation Los Angeles, American Jewish Committee Los Angeles, Anti-Defamation League Los Angeles, Israeli American Council Los Angeles, and Combat Anti-Semitism,” as well as the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles.

West Hollywood Mayor Lauren Meister replied to a long chain of concerning tweets from a West Hollywood community member witnessing the GDL at the gas station with “did you call 911?” Meister’s tweet received a bevy of critical replies. The resident then followed up on the thread, stating that they’d called the non-emergency number and were met with a “can’t be bothered attitude,” then said that “I don’t like what they were doing and how they were but drew the line when they chased people & scream in faces.” The community member, who declined to give their name, then told LCRW via Twitter that they are “tired of watching people who are clearly escalating their rhetoric to violence while people who can and should be doing something idly watch.”

Mayor Meister later weighed in again, saying that “I can tell you that the video of the incident was disturbing to watch, and as a person of the Jewish faith, I feel saddened and angered by this display of hate. I also want to emphasize that if any member of our community feels threatened, they should call 911 immediately.”

Beverly Hills Police Department did not respond to requests for comment on this article.