A very small but vocal far-right contingency has long plagued the furry community. Now it appears that online hate may have turned into real-world violence.
ON TUESDAY, BENJAMIN Jeffrey Smith was identified as the suspect in Saturday’s deadly shooting at a Justice for Amir Locke rally in Portland, Oregon, and charged with murder and attempted murder. As details of his online persona began coming out — according to those who know him, he is openly antisemitic and actively engaged in hateful discourse — one stood out to some in a particular role-playing fandom: he appeared to have spent time on forums devoted to furries.
For those in the furry community — a deeply internet-entrenched subculture of people who enjoy dressing up as anthropomorphized animals — this hit hard. Though the subculture is largely a family friendly place filled with creatives who enjoy lighthearted fun, furries have long struggled to root out a small but vocal far-right contingent. With this shooting, which left one protester dead and four injured, furries apparently saw that online hostility transformed into real-world violence.
Deo, a furry who identifies as a Tasmanian Devil, describes efforts to eliminate hate from their forums. “For about a half-decade, I’ve infiltrated these alt-right furry chat groups to identify these people before they enact violence. Obviously, in the case of Polybun,” she explains — referring to the handle used by Smith — “he slipped my radar, and I’m fucked up about it.”
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