The Proud Boys are getting a new look for summer. The extremist group has recently been spotted wearing the likeness of the well-known cartoon beaver mascot for the Texas-based gas station chain Buc-ee’s.
Texas Monthly first reported on the Proud Boys coopting the Buc-ee’s mascot after several members wore Bucky the Beaver neck gaiters to protest an LGBTQ Pride event in a suburb of Dallas, Texas.
A person who attended the Pride event described Proud Boys covering the lower halves of their faces with the grinning cartoon beaver as an attempt to appear “clownlike and creepy.”
“I’m not saying they couldn’t harm someone, but the Bucky masks looked really over-the-top, like these intimidation tactics were a big game to them,” they added.
Proud Boys have reportedly been spotted wearing Bucky the Beaver masks on multiple occasions in recent months.
Observers unfamiliar with Buc-ees have been initially confused by the sight of Proud Boys in these masks. “Are these macaroni dicks un-ironically wearing fucking CLOWN masks? Lolol,” wrote one redditor.
As sightings pile up, it appears that the Proud Boys may be actively attempting to coopt Bucky the Beaver the same way right-wing extremists did with Pepe the Frog, a cartoon frog that originated in a 2005 comic but has since been inextricably tied to online extremism. This is known as “hate-jacking.”
The Houston Chronicle reports that the No Fear skateboarding brand sued white supremacist David Duke two decades ago for hate-jacking its brand.
The black and yellow apparel, often adorned with laurel wreaths, that the Proud Boys wear is itself coopted from Fred Perry—much to the British streetwear apparel brand’s chagrin. Two years ago, Fred Perry published a statement disavowing the Proud Boys, which it “does not support and is no way affiliated with.” The brand further vowed to stop selling certain items in the United States and Canada.
“To be absolutely clear, if you see any Proud Boys materials or products featuring our laurel wreath or any black/yellow/yellow related items, they have absolutely nothing to do with us, and we are working with our lawyers to pursue any unlawful use of our brand,” the brand wrote.
Members of Telegram channels popular with Proud Boys have mostly reacted favorably to stories about them hate-jacking Bucky the Beaver.
“Buc-ee’s is now a symbol of hate thanks to the Proud Boys,” the Western Chauvinist channel wrote. The Proud Boys insist they are not a racist hate group, instead referring to themselves as “western chauvinists.”
“Hijacking woke shit is a badass idea. It draws the degenerates out into the light,” a Telegram user who goes by He/Himmler commented on Proud Boys-adjacent Murder the Media’s post about members wearing the Buc-ee’s logo.
Buc-ee’s has thus far declined to pursue legal action.
“We have never had contact with these people and do not know who they are,” Jeff Nadalo, Buc-ee’s general counsel, told Texas Monthly.
“No third party is going to prevent us from providing clean bathrooms equally to all people.”