Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes was back on YouTube Thursday after the video steaming giant reinstated the right wing activist’s account, but he thinks the return will be short-lived.
A YouTube spokesperson confirmed to TheWrap that the issue with McInnes’ account had never been related to hate speech or his involvement with the Proud Boys, but rather had been the result of repeated copyright infringement offenses originally brought by Vans, Inc.
“It was really unusual. Some of the videos had nothing to do with copyright claims but were listed as such,” McInnes told TheWrap later that morning. “I contacted Vans and they said they told YouTube to drop the charges and now I’m back. It won’t last.”
Vans, Inc. has now retracted their claim of copyright infringement on several of the videos which they originally asked to be removed, resulting in both the restoration of the videos and McInnes’ channel, the YouTube rep added, explaining that they did not mediate copyright claims and left resolution to the respective parties.
McInnes’ return to YouTube is a rare piece of good news for the longtime provocateur, who had already been banned from Facebook and Twitter. Last week, he was also dropped from a hosting job on CRTV after the company merged with Glenn Beck’s TheBlaze to form BlazeTV.
McInnes also stepped down as leader of the Proud Boys after members of the group were involved in a scuffle with Anti-fascist protesters outside Manhattan’s Metropolitan Club of New York in October.
In an interview with “Nightline” this week, McInnes conceded that his past remarks had played a role in the current troubles he faced online.
“I do bear … responsibility,” McInnes told ABC reporter Paula Faris. “I’m not guilt free in this. There’s culpability there. I shouldn’t have said, you know, violence solves everything or something like that without making the context clear and I regret saying things like that.”