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By James Bickerton
News Reporter
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White nationalist political commentator Nick Fuentes shared an X post on Tuesday that said he’d been “banned from Spotify” shortly after his podcast, America First With Nicholas J. Fuentes, was “the #1 trending podcast in America” on the platform.
Newsweek contacted Spotify and Fuentes for comment on Wednesday—via press inquiry form and X direct message, respectively—outside regular office hours.
Why It Matters
Fuentes, the unofficial leader of the “Groypers” movement, has become an influential figure on the right despite a history of making incendiary political statements.
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In recent years, controversial figures have returned to mainstream social media platforms following changes such as Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter and Facebook’s updated position on free speech and censorship after the 2024 presidential election. If it is confirmed that Spotify has banned Fuentes, the move could revive debates around major tech companies’ content moderation policies.
What To Know
On Tuesday, user @ImperiumFirst, a self-described “political extremist” whose X bio—like Fuentes’—says “America First” and “Christ is King,” wrote on X: “America First with Nicholas J. Fuentes was banned from Spotify today. Just before, it was the #1 trending podcast in America, beating out Joe Rogan. Candace and Tucker are declining at 4th and 5th.”
The post included a screenshot showing Fuentes’ show as the top-performing trending podcast in the United States, with Good Hang With Amy Poehler in second place and The Joe Rogan Experience in third.
Fuentes shared the user’s post on his own X account, which has over 980,000 followers, but he did not comment directly on the subject.
When Newsweek attempted to access Fuentes’ podcast on Spotify on Wednesday, an error message said, “Couldn’t find that page.”
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The X account @remarks, which shares U.S. breaking news, wrote: “JUST IN [U.S. flag] Spotify bans Nick Fuentes podcast after it hits #1 on the charts just days after being allowed on the platform.”
Anti-Defamation League, a group created to combat antisemitism and racism, described Fuentes as a “white supremacist leader, organizer and podcaster who seeks to forge a white nationalist alternative to the mainstream GOP.”
Fuentes has a history of making racist and antisemitic comments. Earlier this year, according to the Media Matters monitoring service, he said on his podcast: “Jews are running society, women need to shut the f*** up, Blacks need to be imprisoned for the most part, and we would live in paradise.”
Fuentes has also criticized President Donald Trump, whom he views as insufficiently radical, partly over the president’s support for Israel.
On Monday, after Trump addressed the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, Fuentes wrote on X, “Trump’s celebratory speech in Israel is disgusting.”
Speaking in July about the president, Fuentes said, “When we look back in history, we will see Trump as a scam artist who served as a vehicle for this rather than the other way around.”
Fuentes first came to public attention during the 2019 “Groyper Wars,” when his supporters disrupted events hosted by Turning Point USA, which conservative activist Charlie Kirk led until his assassination in September.
Fuentes previously endorsed Trump and took part in the “Rally to Save America” in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021, prior to the storming of Congress.
What People Are Saying
Brian Allen, the editor-in-chief of the media platform Allen Analysis, wrote on X: “BREAKING: Spotify has removed Nick Fuentes’ podcast after it surged to #1—exposing how quickly hate can climb when platforms give it a stage.”
Open Source Intel, a real time news monitoring X account, shared a screenshot showing Fuentes’ podcast had been the most popular Spotify trending podcast in the U.S., writing: “A sad reflection of the times, the top five podcasts on Spotify. Fuentes had just reached number one before being removed from the platform.”
The Combat Antisemitism Now X account, which says it is dedicated to “righting antisemitism online,” wrote: “Nick Fuentes has been BANNED from Spotify, within a few episodes of creating a channel for his antisemitic podcast. Thank you to everyone who reported it!”
What Happens Next
Fuentes is likely to continue distributing his podcast via alternative platforms, while his anti-Israeli position may put him further at odds with Trump and the mainstream MAGA movement.
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