Childhood & Early Life
Gavin McInnes was born on July 17, 1970, in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England, into the middle-class family of James and Loraine McInnes. While living in England, his parents faced extreme poverty.
Soon after he was born, the family moved to Canada, where his father took up a job in the Canadian defense company called ‘Kongsberg Geospatial Ltd.,’ which was earlier known as ‘Gallium Visual Systems Inc.’ His mother worked as a teacher. Gavin grew up with his brother.
As a child, he was a troublemaker in his classrooms. While attending schools in Ottawa, Gavin was known as a “class clown.” That did not sit well with his father. Being a blue-collar British, he wanted his son to focus on his education. Gavin was thus transferred to special classes. Gavin later compared that treatment to “living in a jail.” He somehow managed to graduate from the ‘Earl of March Secondary School.’
By the time he stepped into his teenage years, he had developed a love for music and played in a band called ‘Anal Chinook.’ However, the punk band was not successful, and Gavin took his writing aspirations seriously. He joined ‘Carleton University’ and obtained a bachelor’s degree in English.
Following his college graduation, he struggled to find a job. He later joined a government publication called ‘Voice of Montreal.’ He worked with Suroosh Alvi there. In the mid-1990s, the two of them joined hands and took over the publication. They re-launched it as ‘Vice’ in 1994. The government tried to sue them, but Gavin and Suroosh paid the government and took charge of what is now known as ‘Vice Media.’
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Career
Gavin McInnes served as an occasional writer for ‘Vice’ magazine, which was founded to help the community and offer jobs to like-minded people. Gavin adopted the hipster culture and wrote culturally and socially provocative articles such as ‘The Vice Guide to Picking Up Chicks’ and ‘The Vice Guide to Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll.’ While Gavin was working there, he was described as the godfather of the hipster culture in Canada.
The operations of the magazine were shifted to New York City in the late 1990s, after it was acquired by Richard Szalwinski.
Gavin McInnes has been known for his controversial comments on the political scenario of the U.S. and Canada and is known to be unapologetic about his stand. In a 2002 interview, he mentioned that Williamsburg, New York City, had only white hipsters and that he was pleased about it. However, he later said that the interview had been a “prank” directed toward media houses such as ‘The Times.’
‘Vice’ later issued a public apology for Gavin’s comments. He has always been a far-right wing conservative and has been quite vocal about his political leanings.
In 2008, Gavin McInnes made his issues with ‘Vice’ public and left the organization. When asked about the reason of his exit, he commented that ‘Vice’ was accepting advertisements from corporate houses and that was against the ideology of the organization. Hence, he left ‘Vice’ citing “creative differences” and went on to launch a website called ‘Streetcarnage.com.’
In the next few years, he was seen making a mockery of himself on multiple occasions. In 2009, he told a reporter at ‘The Village Voice’ that he had fought an MMA fighter and had lost the fight after getting knocked out, also showing the journalist some footage. In another interview, he said that he had once eaten corn flakes soaked in urine. It was later revealed that the two videos were from a failed TV pilot and a comedy-sketch, respectively.
He has appeared on the Canadian reality TV show called ‘Kenny vs. Spenny.’ He was also approached to play a role in the ‘Adult Swim’ program called ‘Soul Quest Overdrive.’ The show turned out to be a colossal failure, and only four episodes were aired. Gavin later said that the show had failed because the other cast members were not as funny as him. He has also done a few shows as a part-time stand-up comedian.
He turned director in 2013, with the documentary film titled ‘The Brotherhood of the Travelling Rants.’ He was dragged into a controversy after he faked a car accident for the film. The movie was about his antiques as a stand-up comedian.
In 2013, he made his full-fledged acting debut with the independent comedy film titled ‘How to Be a Man.’ He played the leading role of ‘Mark McCarthy’ in the film. The movie was criticized for its problematic “male-dominated” premise but received praises for its writing.
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He appeared in the 2015 film titled ‘Creative Control,’ playing the supporting role of ‘Scott.’ The film received mixed reviews. He later appeared in films such as ‘One More Time’ and ‘Long Nights Short Mornings.’
In the late 2000s, he had founded an advertising agency called ‘Rooster.’ He served as the creative director of the company, but he faced issues when he approved an essay titled ‘Transphobia is Perfectly Natural.’ Following a backlash, the board asked Gavin McInnes to take a leave of absence while they determined how to deal with the situation.
In 2015, he started his own show, ‘The Gavin McInnes Show,’ which premiered on ‘Compound Media.’ It was a far-right news program that allowed Gavin to showcase his unfiltered political and social views.
He has also served as a writer for many far-right publications such as ‘The Rebel Media.’ He has written for publications such as ‘The Federalist,’ ‘Death and Taxes,’ ‘American Renaissance,’ and ‘VDARE.’ He was also a regular guest on the American right-wing portal ‘Fox News.’ However, in a ‘YouTube’ video that he released in 2017 on his digital show ‘The Rebel,’ he announced that he would be quitting ‘Fox News,’ without disclosing any reason.
In 2017, he joined ‘CRTV,’ another conservative news portal, and appeared as a host in the program titled ‘Get Off My Lawn.’
Over the years, he has established his image as a male-chauvinist hipster and violence monger who describes himself as a follower of the “New Right” ideology. He does not prefer the “alt-right” tag attached to him. He is anti-Muslim in his thoughts and once compared them with the ‘Nazis.’
He is also known for promoting the white-supremacist rhetoric on many occasions and has also claimed that about 95% of all women just want to be at home doing household chores. He is also a supporter of the theory of the white genocide and has stated that white population is in danger in many parts of the world.
In 2018, he was banned from ‘Twitter,’ ‘Facebook,’ and ‘Instagram’ for constantly posting hate speeches. His ‘YouTube’ account was also suspended for the same reason.
