Taki's Magazine

"Taki's" redirects here. For the snack food, see Takis (snack).

Taki's Magazine

Available in	English
Headquarters	United States
Owner	Taki Theodoracopulos
Editor	Mandolyna Theodoracopulos
URL	www.takimag.com
Launched	5 February 2007
Current status	active

Taki's Magazine, called Takimag for short, is an online magazine of politics and culture published by the Greek paleoconservative^[1] commentator and socialite Taki Theodoracopulos and edited by his daughter Mandolyna Theodoracopulos. It has published articles by far-right figures such as Gavin McInnes and the white supremacist Jared Taylor; the white supremacist Richard Spencer was an early Taki's editor.^[2][3][4]

Initially called Taki's Top Drawer, the site was redesigned and relaunched under its current title in March 2008 with a subsequent redesign in 2010.^[5] Taki's received criticism for publishing articles in support of the Greek neo-Nazi political party Golden Dawn.^[1][6][7][8]

History

Founded on 5 February 2007, the intent of the site, according to Theodoracopulos, was to "shake up the stodgy world of so-called 'conservative' opinion."^[9] Theodoracopulos said: "Takimag is a libertarian webzine. We believe the best stories are smart, cheeky, and culturally relevant. We take our politics like we take life—lightly."^[9] Theodoracopulos, a "New York society gadfly",^[10] the playboy son of a Greek shipping magnate, and co-founder of The American Conservative, had been a controversial columnist in publications like The Spectator, and noted for his use of racial and ethnic slurs.^{[11][12][13][10][14][15]} Taki's Magazine drew note for its inclusion of white nationalist and white supremacist authors.^[4][16] Vox called it "openly racist" in 2016.^[8] New York magazine in 2017 said Taki's appealed to "hepcat paleoconservatives and cosmopolitan racists".^[15]

Taki's Magazine had Richard Spencer as its editor for about two years, through 2009;^{[8][17][18][19]} Spencer's tenure played a role in marshaling and naming what would eventually become the alt-right.^[9][20][21] Using the headline "The Decline and Rise of the Alternative Right", Taki's under Spencer published a 2008 speech by Paul Gottfried to the H.L. Mencken Club, a group Gottfried had formed with Spencer's help that year.^{[22][23][24][25]} The magazine also began to use the phrase "alternative right" frequently in other articles about the development of a new, less neo-conservative, more racialist politics emerging in the conservative movement.^[26][22][17] This term was later adopted and shortened to "alt-right".^[17][27]

John Derbyshire was fired by National Review in 2012 after he wrote a derogatory column for Taki's Magazine responding to "the talk" given by American black parents to their children.^{[28][29][30][12]}

Gavin McInnes' Taki's column, which began around 2011, made casual use of racial and anti-gay slurs, as described by the Southern Poverty Law Center.^[2] In 2016, McInnes announced on the Taki's website the founding of his neo-fascist street-fighting group the Proud Boys.^[31][32]

Taki's published articles by Theodoracopulos in support of the Greek neo-Nazi political party Golden Dawn.^[1][6][7][8]

References

1. Matthews, Dylan (6 May 2016). "Paleoconservatism, the movement that explains Donald Trump, explained". Vox. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
2. Martin, Nick R. (October 19, 2018). "Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes has been using the same anti-gay slur hurled in the NYC attack for at least 15 years". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 2022-08-14.
3. Hawley, George (2017). Making sense of the alt-right. New York. ISBN 978-0-231-54600-3. OCLC 990778368.
4. "Taki's Magazine | Center on Extremism". Anti-Defamation League. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
5. Grant, Drew (9 April 2012). "Taki's Mag Founder Speaks Out on John Derbyshire Race Controversy: 'It's Nice to Be Light Sometimes'". Observer. New York. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
6. Theodoracopulos, Taki (19 July 2013). "Black Belts and Golden Dawn". Taki's Magazine. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
7. Rothschild, Mike (15 August 2018). "After Alex Jones, 4 Far-Right Voices Testing the Limits of Free Speech Online". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
8. Matthews, Dylan (18 April 2016). "The alt-right is more than warmed-over white supremacy. It's that, but way way weirder". Vox. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
9. "Taki's Magazine - Article Page". takimag.com. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
10. Matthew, Zoie (2019-10-03). "How Gavin McInnes Went from Vice to the Far Right". Los Angeles Magazine. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
11. Bell, Matthew (2010-05-15). "What's the point of Taki if he isn't offensive any more?". The Independent. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
12. "Prominent White Nationalists Fired from National Review". Southern Poverty Law Center. August 16, 2012. Retrieved 2022-08-14.
13. Gollner, Adam Leith (July–August 2021). "Original Sins". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2023-09-02.
14. Grant, Drew (2012-05-16). "To Slur, With Love: 'Ironic Racism' is More Than Just Taki". Observer. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
15. Read, Simon Van Zuylen-Wood, Noreen Malone, Max (2017-04-30). "Beyond Alt: Understanding the New Far Right". Intelligencer. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
16. "Anti-Immigrant Center for Immigration Studies Continues to Promote White Nationalists". Southern Poverty Law Center. November 7, 2016. Retrieved 2022-08-14.
17. Neiwert, David (2017). Alt-America: The Rise of the Radical Right in the Age of Trump. Brooklyn, NY: Verso Books. p. 236. ISBN 9781786634238.
18. Harkinson, Josh (October 27, 2016). "Meet the white nationalist trying to ride the Trump train to lasting power". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2022-08-17.
19. O'Connor, Meg. "Hate Goes Mainstream With the Miami Proud Boys". Miami New Times. Retrieved 2022-08-17.
20. Stahl, Jeremy (21 November 2016). "Meet the Neo-Nazi Whom Steve Bannon's Site Described as a Leading "Intellectual"". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
21. Seiger, Theresa. "Who is Richard Spencer? 5 things to know about prominent white nationalist". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
22. Hartzell, Stephanie L. (2018). "Alt-White: Conceptualizing the "Alt-Right" as a Rhetorical Bridge between White Nationalism and Mainstream Public Discourse". Journal of Contemporary Rhetoric. 8 (1/2): 17–19.
23. Marantz, Andrew (2017-07-06). "The Alt-Right Branding War Has Torn the Movement in Two". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2023-09-04.
24. Siegal, Jacob (November 29, 2016). "The Alt-Right's Jewish Godfather". Tablet.
25. "Alt Right: A Primer on the New White Supremacy | ADL". Anti-Defamation League. June 18, 2020. Retrieved 2023-09-04.
26. Moffitt, Benjamin (2023-02-02). "What Was the 'Alt' in Alt-Right, Alt-Lite, and Alt-Left? On 'Alt' as a Political Modifier". Political Studies. 72 (3): 903–923. doi:10.1177/00323217221150871. ISSN 0032-3217. S2CID 256566202.
27. "Alt-Right". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
28. Byers, Dylan (7 April 2012). "National Review fires John Derbyshire". POLITICO. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
29. Davidson Sorkin, Amy (2012-04-09). "Why the National Review Fired John Derbyshire". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
30. Fisher, Max (2012-04-08). "The Talk: What Parents Tell Their Children About John Derbyshire". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
31. Wilson, Jason; Squire, Megan (February 18, 2022). "Prolific White Nationalist Personality Identified". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 2022-08-14.
32. Kriner, Matthew; Lewis, Jon. "Pride & Prejudice: The Violent Evolution of the Proud Boys". CTC Sentinel. 14 (6). Combating Terrorism Center: 26+.