On Monday, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 155 days in jail for burning a church’s Black Lives Matter banner and bringing high-capacity magazines to Washington, D.C. in December. Two days later, Newsmax host Greg Kelly gave Tarrio a platform to downplay the Proud Boys’ history of extremism.

The day Tarrio’s sentence was handed down, Kelly angrily tweeted that Tarrio was “about to go to jail for FIVE MONTHS for burning a BLM Flag” and added that “If he burned an American flag there would be No Penalty!” Kelly neglected to mention that the flag was stolen from a historically Black church.

Then, on Aug. 25, Kelly devoted an entire segment of Greg Kelly Reports to Tarrio and the Proud Boys, whom he defended against allegations of white supremacy. He also neglected to mention the group’s open promotion of neo-fascist politics and violence.

Kelly began the segment by cautioning his audience that they’ve probably heard “a lot of bad information and wrong information” about the far-right organization. “They’re not white supremacists,” Kelly asserted. “How can they be? Enrique Tarrio I believe is Afro-Cuban.”

After introducing the Proud Boys leader, Kelly immediately began doing damage control for his guest.

“Look, I hate white supremacy. I know you do as well,” Kelly told Tarrio. “White supremacy is stupid and bad and wrong. Do you agree with me? And I hate to give you a litmus test like this, but you know where we are and you know what’s happening in the society. So, take it away.”

Tarrio told Kelly that “any form of the -isms — racism, antisemitism, all those -isms that pretty much are prejudice against people because of either their skin tone, their religious beliefs, their cultural background, to us, you’re not welcome in the Proud Boys.”

This is blatantly untrue.

Proud Boys have been present at “straight pride” rallies and both anti-Muslim and anti-trans protests. Enrique Tarrio himself was in attendance at the 2017 white supremacist “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, VA. Proud Boys have been photographed in shirts with antisemitic slogans.

At a recent protest in Florida held by a group of Proud Boys, protesters held signs that said “White Lives Matter” and promoted a Neo-Nazi propaganda flick. Early this year a pair of photographs began circulating which depicted Proud Boys holding white nationalist and Nazi flags.

Another -ism that Kelly and Tarrio failed to address was fascism.

Proud Boys openly support Augusto Pinochet, the late fascist Chilean dictator who tortured and murdered thousands. Members wear shirts that read “Pinochet Did Nothing Wrong” and “Make Communists Afraid of Rotary Aircraft Again” — in reference to executing dissidents by throwing them from helicopters.

When Kelly asked Tarrio who the Proud Boys are and what they’re about, Tarrio responded by calling his group a “drinking club with a patriot problem.” He also told Kelly that “99% of what we do is just go out and drink with the boys.”

As for the remaining 1%, Tarrio said that represents “what you see on left-wing media sites, where they say that we’re like some violent crew and we’re not.” He claimed that the Proud Boys have “provided security” for “patriotic events,” but didn’t discuss their violent street brawls in New York City and Portland.

In fact, leaked chat logs reveal that Proud Boys actively plot violence at political rallies.

Kelly revisited the moment at the Sept. 2020 presidential debate when then-President Trump failed to denounce white supremacists and instead told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.” At the time the Proud Boys interpreted Trump’s remarks as an endorsement.

“Well that night was a night that changed my life and the life of the Proud Boys forever,” Tarrio told Kelly.

When asked what he thought Trump meant by the comment, Tarrio said, “To us we didn’t take it as like a rally call or anything. To us it meant ‘Stand by me.’ Stand by the president of the United States. Stand by Trump. Which we have and I have.”

Kelly then brought the conversation back to Tarrio’s legal troubles. Tarrio alleged that his prosecution was an example of a double standard, falsely claiming that arsonists who set fires during 2020’s racial justice protests were never prosecuted while he was for burning a stolen banner.

“But I wasn’t persecuted because of the destruction of property, because it was somebody else. I got persecuted — prosecuted — because of the message that was on the banner,” Tarrio said. “So that’s a violation of my First Amendment rights.”

After the segment ended Kelly once again addressed the Newsmax audience, telling them that it was his belief that “only a very small number of idiots are involved” with white supremacy — and that Enrique Tarrio is not one of them. “By the way, that individual is in trouble financially,” he added, plugging a fundraising website set up by Tarrio.