After Tampa’s annual pirate-themed party Gasparilla was cancelled due to coronavirus, local Trump supporters hosted their own version, and a recently surfaced video shows one of the organizers shouting “white power” during the festivities.
As first reported by Mother Jones, the video shows "Trumparilla" organizer Cliff Gephart, who owns the Largo-based MAGA-themed coffee shop called Conservative Grounds, speaking to a crowd at a VIP event at Ybor City bar Bad Monkey and praising co-organizer Dion Cini, a right wing troll from New York who's known for waving Trump flags at Disney World.
“He has struggled with venue after venue,” says Gephart in the video. Cini responds to the praise by raising his hands and yelling “white power,” while also doing the “OK” hand gesture, which is often used to mean white power in far-right circles. Meanwhile, Trump ally Roger Stone can be seen standing a few feet away.
Of course, Cini told the publication that he likes to yell “white power” at events as a “troll.”
“White power or white lives matter is just my fishhook and there’s always a taker,” said Cini to Mother Jones. “I do the White Lives Matter on multiple occasions, because as a Latino, I think that it’s only it’s fair that white people get their voices heard,” said Cini, who also confessed to the publication he’s actually Italian but tells people he’s Latino.
Cini also defended his actions by saying there was a couple Black people at the event, and provided a photo of himself with a Black person. According to Mother Jones, Cini has also been photographed with neo-Nazi event organizer Jovi Val and neo-Confederate Billy Sessions.
The Tampa “Trumparilla” event was held April 17, and was billed as a “reimagining of Gasparilla with more fun, patriotism and MAGA.” According to the website more events are planned in cities like San Diego, Cleveland and Las Vegas.
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