Nick Bougas | |
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![]() Bougas in 2008 | |
Born | Nicholas Bougas 1955 (age 69–70) Savannah, Georgia, U.S. |
Other names | A. Wyatt Mann |
Occupation(s) | Film director, illustrator, record producer, cartoonist |
Years active | 1977–present |
Nicholas Bougas (born 1955) is an American documentary film director, white supremacist, illustrator, Satanist and record producer. [1] As a cartoonist, he has used the pen name A. Wyatt Mann to produce racist, antisemitic, antifeminist and homophobic cartoons. [2] [3] [4]
Bougas directed the mondo film Death Scenes , hosted by Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey. [5] The film was followed by Death Scenes 2 in 1992, [6] and Death Scenes 3 in 1993. [7]
In 1993, he directed the documentary Speak of the Devil: The Canon of Anton LaVey , a profile of LaVey. [1] [8] [9]
Bougas has directed several other films, such as the 1994 documentary The Goddess Bunny , about disabled transgender tap dancing artist Sandie Crisp. [10] [11]
In 1998, Bougas released the album Celebrities... At Their Worst!, a collection of comedic audio blunders by such celebrities as Elvis Presley, Casey Kasem, Paul Anka, and John Wayne. [12] [13]
As an illustrator, Bougas has worked with writer and publisher Jim Goad on such publications as Answer Me! [14] [15]
According to a 2015 BuzzFeed News report, Bougas used the pseudonym "A. Wyatt Mann" (phonetically: 'a white man') to produce overtly racist and antisemitic cartoons in the late 1980s and early 1990s. [3]
Besides black people and Jews, his cartoons occasionally targeted other minorities and groups, including gay people and feminists. Many of them were published at the time by white supremacist Tom Metzger and Feral House publisher Adam Parfrey. Bougas has never publicly confirmed his authorship; however, his identity as Mann was confirmed by multiple people who worked with him at the time, and in captions of photos taken at various events. [3]
The Mann cartoons have been widely reused as hateful memes by white supremacists, various internet trolls, and later, the alt-right. One cartoon in particular, a stereotypical caricature of a Jewish person referred to as the "Happy Merchant", became one of the most popular antisemitic images on the internet. It has been reused, modified and parodied multiple times, eventually becoming part of the visual language of websites such as 4chan. [2] [3] [16] [17]
Bougas' work as Mann has frequently been combined by Internet trolls with cartoons by political cartoonist Ben Garrison, which Garrison has said generates confusion between the two artists. [2] [18]
Satanism refers to a group of religious, ideological, and/or philosophical beliefs based on Satan—particularly his worship or veneration. Satan is associated with the Devil in Christianity, a fallen angel regarded as chief of the demons who tempt humans into sin. The phenomenon of Satanism shares "historical connections and family resemblances" with the Left Hand Path milieu of other occult figures such as Beelzebub, Chaos, Hecate, Lilith, Lucifer, and Set. Self-identified Satanism is a relatively modern phenomenon, largely attributed to the 1966 founding of the Church of Satan by Anton LaVey in the United States—an atheistic group that does not believe in a supernatural Satan.
The Church of Satan (CoS) is a religious organization dedicated to the religion of Satanism as defined by Anton Szandor LaVey. Founded in San Francisco in 1966, by LaVey, it is considered the "oldest satanic religion in continual existence", and more importantly the most influential, inspiring "numerous imitator and breakaway groups". According to the Church, Satanism has been "codified" as "a religion and philosophy" by LaVey and his church. Founded in an era when there was much public interest in the occult, witchcraft and Satanism, the church enjoyed a heyday for several years after its founding. Celebrities attended LaVey's satanic parties and he was invited on talk shows. His Satanic Bible sold nearly a million copies.
The Zionist occupation government, Zionist occupational government or Zionist-occupied government (ZOG), sometimes also called the Jewish occupational government (JOG), is an antisemitic conspiracy theory claiming that Jews secretly control the governments of Western states. It is a contemporary variation on the centuries-old belief in an international Jewish conspiracy. According to believers, a secret Zionist organization actively controls international banks, and through them governments, to conspire against white, Christian, or Islamic interests.
Anton Szandor LaVey was an American author, musician, and LaVeyan Satanist. He was the founder of the Church of Satan, the philosophy of LaVeyan Satanism, and the concept of Satanism. He authored several books, including The Satanic Bible, The Satanic Rituals, The Satanic Witch, The Devil's Notebook, and Satan Speaks! In addition, he released three albums, including The Satanic Mass, Satan Takes a Holiday, and Strange Music. He played a minor on-screen role and served as technical advisor for the 1975 film The Devil's Rain and served as host and narrator for Nick Bougas' 1989 mondo film Death Scenes.
Jew Watch was an antisemitic website promoting Holocaust denial and negative claims about Jews. The claims included allegations of a conspiracy that Jews control the media and banking, as well as accusations of Jewish involvement in terrorist groups. The site contained propaganda, according to Sam Varghese of The Age, similar to that used in Nazi Germany. It was widely considered a hate site. Jew Watch received support from Stormfront, a white nationalist and neo-Nazi site. The site described itself as a "not-for-profit library for private study, scholarship, or research [that keeps] a close watch on Jewish Communities and organizations worldwide".
Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian political cartoonist. His work deals with themes such as anti-Western sentiment, anti-capitalism, and opposition to U.S. military intervention in foreign countries. He is best-known for his images depicting the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the Arab Spring.
Answer Me! was a magazine edited by Jim Goad and Debbie Goad and published between 1991 and 1994. It focused on the social pathologies of interest to the Los Angeles–based couple.
The American Free Press is a weekly newspaper published in the United States.
Antisemitic tropes, also known as antisemitic canards or antisemitic libels, are "sensational reports, misrepresentations or fabrications" about Jews as an ethnicity or Judaism as a religion.
Aktion Kinder des Holocaust is a Swiss voluntary association founded in 1991. Its principal aim is the documentation of and opposition to antisemitism in Switzerland. It is associated with the University of Basel research projects "VIOLENCE youth" and "Right-wing youths in Switzerland".
Speak of the Devil: The Canon of Anton LaVey is a documentary film about Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey, released in 1993 through Wavelength Video and directed by Nick Bougas.
The Goddess Bunny is a 1994 American documentary film directed by Nick Bougas, which is about the life of a transgender woman named Sandie Crisp, also known as the Goddess Bunny.
Death Scenes is a 1989 mondo film starring Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey and directed by Nick Bougas.
The Right Stuff is a neo-Nazi and white nationalist blog and discussion forum and the host of several podcasts, including The Daily Shoah. Founded by American neo-Nazi Mike Enoch, the website promotes Holocaust denial, and coined the use of "echoes", an antisemitic marker that uses triple parentheses around names to identify Jewish people.
Benjamin R. Garrison is an American alt-right political cartoonist and artist. Several of Garrison's cartoons have been controversial. Various critics in the media have called him sexist, racist, anti-feminist, xenophobic, anti-government, and conspiratorial. Garrison has also been accused of antisemitism by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). His cartoons often lionize American conservative figures and politicians, such as former and current President-elect Donald Trump and Rand Paul and often express favorable views of Trumpism and its political positions, and demonize liberal, moderate, and Never Trump movement figures such as President Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton. Some alt-right activists and Internet trolls have edited Garrison's comics to incorporate further offensive content, including the antisemitic "Happy Merchant" caricature.
Paul Nehlen is a white supremacist and former Congressional candidate from Wisconsin. During the 2016 and 2018 Republican Party primary elections in Wisconsin's 1st congressional district, he spouted various racist, white nationalist, nativist, protectionist, and antisemitic views. In 2016 he was defeated by incumbent Paul Ryan by 84 to 16 percent. The 2018 primary was won by Bryan Steil; Nehlen came third.
Joy of Satan Ministries, also referred to as Joy of Satan (JoS), is a western esoteric occult organization founded in 2002 by Andrea Herrington. Joy of Satan Ministries advocates "Spiritual Satanism", an ideology that presents a synthesis of theistic Satanism, Nazism, gnosticism, paganism, western esotericism, UFO conspiracy theories and extraterrestrial beliefs similar to those popularized by Zecharia Sitchin and David Icke.
The Happy Merchant is a common name for an image depicting an antisemitic caricature of a Jewish man. The image appears commonly on websites such as 4chan or X where it is frequently used in hateful or disparaging contexts.
The Goyim Defense League (GDL) is an American neo-Nazi, reactionary and antisemitic hate group and conspiracy theory network of individuals who are active on social media websites and operate an online video platform called GoyimTV. The GDL also performs banner drops, papering neighborhoods with flyers, and other stunts to harass Jews. The GDL emerged in 2018 and is led by the antisemitic provocateur Jon Minadeo II. The GDL is currently tracked by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group.
But internet anti-Semites (or at least people fishing for a reaction) started splicing Garrison's work together with the work of Nick Bougas, aka A. Wyatt Man, a director and illustrator responsible for one of the web's most enduring anti-Semitic images.
So. You could stop right there and say that Nick Bougas is the most widely disseminated anti-Semitic cartoonist of all time and not be wrong.
Under the pen name of 'A. Wyatt Mann,' artist Nick Bougas has drawn many explicitly racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic cartoons where there isn't even a pretense of humor.
Jim Goad is the former editor of Answer Me!, a magazine that ran from 1991 to 1994 and often featured the artwork of racist cartoonist Nick Bougas (Bougas published elsewhere under the pseudonym A. Wyatt Mann).