Jon Minadeo II

Last updated

Jon Minadeo
Born
Jon Eugene Minadeo II

(1982-12-15) December 15, 1982 (age 42)
Other namesShoobie Da Wop (rapper name), Handsome Truth (social media name)
EducationNovato High School
Known for Goyim Defense League
PartnerKelly Johnson

Jon Eugene Minadeo II (pronounced mih-NAH-dee-o) (born December 15, 1982) [1] [2] also known as Handsome Truth, is an American antisemitic conspiracy theorist, neo-Nazi, white supremacist, and former rapper. He is the leader of the antisemitic hate group and conspiracy theory network Goyim Defense League (GDL). He is known for his video platform GoyimTV, banner drops, and his distribution of neo-Nazi propaganda. [3] [4] [5]

Contents

Personal life

Minadeo grew up in Novato, California, where he lived with his mother in various apartments. [6] He dropped out of Novato High School in the early 2000s and later received a GED. He worked at his grandmother's restaurant, Dinucci’s Italian Dinners, in Valley Ford. His family has a Mexican-American background. [7] Sources claim that there was a rupture in his family and that he has rarely held a steady job since leaving the restaurant. In a March 2022 interview with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat , Minadeo claimed that he does some construction work and that he'd "probably have to leave Petaluma because things are growing so uncomfortable for him." [4] [8] In late December 2022, Minadeo and his girlfriend Kelly Johnson moved to Florida. [6] [9] [10] [11] Johnson, a yoga instructor, had been fired from two yoga studios in the Bay Area in March 2022 for her connections with Minadeo and for increasingly bigoted comments. [12] [13] In December 2024, Minadeo relocated to Arkansas. [14] [15]

Minadeo has three neo-Nazi tattoos: a Totenkopf on his arm, SS Bolts on his torso, and a Celtic cross on his left hand. [3] [16]

Acting and rap stints

Minadeo produced two rap albums, "American Man Whore" in 2013 and "Whore Moans" in 2015, under the rapper name Shoobie Da Wop where he rapped about sexual escapades, alcohol and drug use. Prior to that, he appeared in a few independent and short films. [7]

Antisemitism activities

Goyim Defense League

Minadeo is the leader of the Goyim Defense League white supremacist network [17] and the owner-operator [18] of the antisemitic online video platform GoyimTV. [19] The name uses the term goyim, a Hebrew word for non-Jews. He has produced and distributed antisemitic flyers and instructs followers on how to spread antisemitic messages so that they can't be accused of targeting. [20] [19] [21] He is also known for being affiliated with other white supremacists such as GypsyCrusader and Robert Wilson (also known as "Aryan Bacon"). [22]

Minadeo uses the social media moniker "Handsome Truth" and wears a chain with a swastika. [23] In 2019, he filed a fictitious business name statement in California to operate business under the name "Handsome Truth Enterprises". [24]

Banners and flyers

In August 2020, Minadeo did a banner drop over a Los Angeles highway that read "Honk if you know the Jews want a race war." [25] [26] In 2022, he shared online a photograph of himself holding a sign reading "Greenblatt suck 6 million dicks", referring to Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League. [23]

In October 2022, he hung a banner above a Los Angeles highway that read "KANYE IS RIGHT ABOUT THE JEWS", referring to Kanye West's antisemitism, prompting criticism from California Governor Gavin Newsom. [19]

On January 28, 2023, Minadeo and three others were cited for littering in Palm Beach, Florida for distributing their flyers to private residences. [10] Law enforcement have said Minadeo's hate speech is protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution so there is not much they can do to stop his practices. [27] [19]

In February 2023, Vice reported that Minadeo hung signs reading "Henry Ford was right about the Jews" and projected the text "Hitler was right" onto the Daytona International Speedway. [28]

Jewish congregation

In late February 2023, Minadeo, holding a microphone, was captured flashing Hitler salutes and shouting anti-Semitic language at people leaving a Chabad congregation in South Orlando, including yelling "Heil Hitler" and telling people to "go back to Israel" and asking one person "Sir, do you think you should be put in an oven?"

The congregation's Rabbi, Yosef Konikov, said of the group "What they're accomplishing is actually the opposite of what they think they’re accomplishing." and that "It only strengthens us, strengthens the Jewish resolve, and the Jewish people around the world get more support from the goyim. So if they're listening: Thanks." [29]

Arrests

In September 2022, Minadeo was arrested in Poland under hate speech laws after he and Robert Wilson demonstrated in front of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp; his swastika necklace and computer were confiscated. [30] [31] [23] While in Poland, Minadeo filmed himself accosting a South Asian tourist on the sidewalk for four minutes, using racial stereotypes, accusing him of invading Europe, and telling him to return to India. [32] Minadeo was arrested on June 26, 2023 for disorderly conduct and public disturbance at Temple Beth Israel in downtown Macon, Georgia during an antisemitic protest he organized. [33]

In November 2023, Minadeo was sentenced to 30 days in jail after being convicted of throwing anti-Semitic pamphlets from his truck. He was tried on a charge of littering, which carried a maximum sentence of 30 days. [34] [35] Later that month, Minadeo was set to be tried again for another incidence of littering, but the charges were dropped after video evidence showed that said littering was done by someone else. [36]

Omegle

Minadeo regularly runs shock-jock live-streams on Goyimtv where according to KQED.org he baits young people on the live online video chat website Omegle and shouts racist insults at them. Minadeo also reads comments of viewers who donate, raising hundreds of dollars during streams. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Further reading