Enrique Tarrio has been the chairman of the Proud Boys since late 2018. The re-branding effort intensified following the white supremacist Unite the Right rally. Although the Proud Boys initially emerged as part of the alt-right, McInnes distanced himself from this movement in early 2017, saying the Proud Boys were alt-lite while the alt-right's focus was on race.
The group originated in the far-right Taki's Magazine in 2016 under the leadership of Vice Media co-founder and former commentator Gavin McInnes, taking its name from the song ' Proud of Your Boy' from the 2011 Disney musical Aladdin. The Proud Boys is an American far-right, neo-fascist, and exclusively male organization that promotes and engages in political violence in the United States.
