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Michael Cernovich (born November 17, 1977) is an American right-wing social media personality and political commentator. Though he initially called himself alt-right, he dissociated from the movement after Richard Spencer became its public face. Cernovich describes himself as part of the new right and some have described him as part of the alt-lite.

Cernovich became a blogger in the 2000s, focusing on anti-feminist themes. He gained notice within the manosphere, and made a number of inflammatory comments about dating and sexual assault, including the claim that date rape is "liberal fiction". He created a website, Danger and Play, in 2011; it was first known for his postings about men's rights and mindset techniques. In 2014, Cernovich became a prominent figure in the Gamergate harassment campaign against several women in the video game industry, and through this built a following among the alt-right. During the 2016 presidential campaign, he adapted his website to a political blog. He was an early supporter of Republican candidate Donald Trump, and promoted conspiracy theories about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Since 2018, he has become increasingly critical of Trump, and in 2022 voiced support for Ron DeSantis instead for the 2024 election.

Cernovich has promoted fake news, conspiracy theories, and smear campaigns. He helped spread the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which falsely claimed that John Podesta and other high-ranking Democratic Party officials were involved in a child-sex ring. Cernovich has frequently made unsubstantiated accusations about political opponents of being pedophiles.

Early life

Cernovich was born on November 17, 1977, in the farming town of Kewanee, Illinois. His family was poor, and his parents were both devout Christians.

Cernovich graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from the University of Illinois at Springfield in 2001. He graduated with a Juris Doctor from Pepperdine University School of Law in 2004.

Writings and films

Blogs

In 2004, Cernovich started a legal blog entitled Crime & Federalism, where he wrote about law from a libertarian perspective.

Shortly after his divorce in 2011, he created the blog Danger & Play, where he wrote about men's rights, fitness, and self-help topics. The title of Danger & Play came from a quote by Friedrich Nietzsche: "The true man wants two things: danger and play. For that reason he wants woman, as the most dangerous plaything."

In an October 2016 blog post, Cernovich wrote that date rape is "liberal fiction" that is "harmful ... for men and women" and leads to false rape accusations, claiming that: "Lying about being in love to sleep with someone isn't rape [...] Getting played isn't rape. Regret isn't rape. Thinking, 'I might have been date raped,' means you weren't raped." His comments received sustained criticism.

Books

In 2015, Cernovich self-published Gorilla Mindset: How to Control Your Thoughts and Emotions, Improve Your Health and Fitness, Make More Money and Live Life on Your Terms, which became a bestseller in the motivational self-help category on Amazon.

In 2016, Cernovich published Danger & Play: Essays on Embracing Masculinity. In October 2016, he published MAGA Mindset: Making YOU and America Great Again through Castalia House, a Finnish publishing house founded by Vox Day which primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy.

Films

In 2016, Cernovich was an associate producer for Cassie Jaye's documentary The Red Pill, which discusses the men's rights movement, and issues like male suicide, child custody, and educational inequality.

In 2018, Cernovich produced a documentary called Hoaxed: Everything They Told You Is a Lie, with associate producers Scooter Downey and Jon Du Toit. The Hollywood Reporter described it as "a right-wing take on corporate malfeasance and media bias". The movie interviewed a wide range of conservative figures, including Anthony Scaramucci, Jordan Peterson, Scott Adams, James O'Keefe, and Alex Jones. Hoaxed was also made into a book of the same name. The documentary was listed on the Amazon platform before being removed without comment in 2020.

Political activities

Identification with, and later disavowal of the alt-right

Cernovich's writings turned political after Trump announced his candidacy for the 2016 U.S. presidential election. He became notable for his trolling; his maxims were "conflict is attention", and "attention is influence". He identified himself as alt-right, and joined forces with provocateurs like Milo Yiannopoulos. Early on, the alt-right was a "big-tent" that included "any conservative or reactionary who was [...] too belligerently antiestablishment to feel at home in the Republican Party". In November 2016, white nationalist Richard B. Spencer, who also self-identified as alt-right, became its "indelible face" after a video of him giving a Nazi salute provoked universal outrage. This led to a rift in the alt-right movement between white nationalists and civic nationalists, with the former branding the latter "cuckservatives" and "alt-lite". Following the schism, Cernovich disassociated himself from alt-right, saying: "The first order of business is getting that Nazi shit way the fuck away from me". He adopted the label "new right", and has also described himself as an economic nationalist.

Cernovich was one of the organizers of the January 2017 DeploraBall inaugural ball to celebrate Trump's victory; the name was a reference to Hillary Clinton's earlier "basket of deplorables" comment. He banned fellow organizer Baked Alaska after the latter made an antisemitic tweet, and banned Spencer after he discovered the latter had bought a ticket. Notable attendees of the DeploraBall include Martin Shkreli, James O'Keefe, and Cassandra Fairbanks; Peter Thiel also briefly appeared. Outside the ball, there were clashes between Trump supporters and protesters.

Ideology

In 2015 and 2016, Cernovich repeatedly made false claims that white South Africans were being eliminated in a genocide, which were debunked by Genocide Watch. He later deleted the tweets.