The Proud Boys are barred from promoting merchandise utilizing the right-wing extremist group’s identify or symbols with out permission from a Black church as soon as vandalized by its members after a Washington choose on Monday revoked their management over the trademark.
Choose Tanya Jones Bosier of the Superior Court docket of the District of Columbia turned management of the trademark “Proud Boys” over to the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, which was attacked by members of the group, together with former chief Enrique Tarrio, after a December 2020 rally supporting President Trump.
The church beforehand gained a $2.8 million default judgment towards the Proud Boys in 2023 however sought management of the group’s trademarked identify when it didn’t pay up.
Now, the church can try to seize any cash the Proud Boys make through “any sale, transfer, disposition, or license” of the group’s identify or signature logos, together with a black and yellow laurel wreath, in line with the order.
In a prolonged assertion printed to the social platform X, Tarrio referred to as for the choose’s impeachment and advised the church ought to be audited, asserting “retribution is inevitable.”
“Their actions are a betrayal of justice, reminiscent of Judas’s treachery,” Tarrio mentioned, referencing the biblical determine who betrayed Jesus. “I hold in contempt any motions, judgments, and orders issued against me.”
The vandalization of the church — particularly the destruction of a Black Lives Matter banner it had on show — proved pivotal. Tarrio was arrested for burning the banner days earlier than Jan. 6, 2021, and was ordered out of town, stopping him from becoming a member of different Proud Boys on the Capitol that day.
The violence between Proud Boys and anti-Trump protesters on Dec. 12, 2020, the night time the church was attacked, additionally marked a turning level within the right-wing group’s relationship with police. Prosecutors described that night time as a vital precursor to the Capitol assault.
Tarrio, who was convicted of sedition and sentenced to 22 years in jail over Jan. 6, acquired a full and unconditional pardon from Trump as a part of the sweeping clemency he granted to these charged in reference to the riot. Different leaders within the group noticed their sentences for sedition or completely different critical felonies commuted to time served.
