Frat at ole Miss less tolerant of racism than Republican donor class

The question “how racist do you have to be to get kicked out of a frat at the University of Mississippi” has actually been answered:

Video footage of a student making racist gestures, seemingly imitating a monkey, toward a Black woman who was part of a scheduled pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Mississippi, colloquially known as Ole Miss, went viral last week, and on Sunday a fraternity announced that it had removed one member from its chapter at the school over the incident.

The Phi Delta Theta General Headquarters said in a statement that it was aware of the widely shared Ole Miss video and that “the racist actions in the video were those of an individual and are antithetical to the values of Phi Delta Theta and the Mississippi Alpha chapter. The responsible individual was removed from membership on Friday, May 3.”

The individual was not named, and the school has also announced a student conduct investigation into one unnamed student.

The university chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) identified the student making the monkey gestures as James “JP” Staples from the Phi Delta Theta fraternity in an Instagram post on Saturday that called for the expulsion of Staples as well as two other students—Connor Moore and Rouse Davis Boyce, both from the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity—that it said were “the primary perpetrators of racist remarks and actions that constitute derogatory and offensive behavior.”

Not everyone reacted to this video negatively, however:

Spiehler’s video was reposted by Richard Hanania, who has written “articles for white supremacist publications under a pseudonym” in which he “expressed support for eugenics” and opposed “race mixing.” Hanania stopped writing for those publications but now “makes explicitly racist statements and arguments” under his real name. On X, Hanania described the video with the monkey imitation as “beautiful,” praising the men for “mocking the Hamas loving fat girl.” (In another video, protesters can be heard screaming “fuck you fatass” and “fuck you bitch” at Smith.)

Remember when Richard Humminahummina was getting attention from mainstream pundits (as well as some prominent libertarian cranks) as an Important New Conservative voice? That was embarrassing.

He remains in good standing with the Freedom Caucus:

Congressman Mike Collins (R-GA) then reposted Hanania’s video. “Ole Miss taking care of business,” Collins remarked. 

Collins’ endorsement of the racist taunting of Smith quickly received national media attention. In a statement, University of Mississippi Chancellor Glenn Boyce condemned the conduct of counterprotesters, calling it “offensive, hurtful, and unacceptable, including actions that conveyed hostility and racist overtones.” Phi Delta Theta fraternity announced it kicked out the student who imitated a monkey in the video, asserting that his “racist actions” were “antithetical to the values of Phi Delta Theta.” 

Collins, meanwhile,  has not responded to requests for comment from the Associated Press — or Popular Information — even as he continues to post on X about other topics. Three days later, the video and Collins’ endorsement of the counterprotesters remain on Collins’ account. 

This is not the first time Collins has been engaged in bigoted commentary on social media. In March, Collins participated in a vehemently anti-Semitic attack against a Washington Post journalist on X. Collins endorsed a post by a racist meme account, @GarbageHuman23, who attacked journalist Maura Judkis for being Jewish. @GarbageHuman23 also frequently posts bigoted memes about Black people, LGBTQ people, and others. 

Collins, who was first elected to Congress in 2022, bills himself a pro-Trump outsider. But, in his reelection campaign, Collins has attracted the financial support of many of the country’s most prominent corporations. Now that Collins has unapologetically endorsed racism, will these corporations maintain their support for Collins?

I know how I’m betting! It’s not like this reveals anything about Collins we didn’t already know.