Ariel Pink Photo by Getty/Visionhaus/Contributor

By PJ Grisar January 7, 2021

Musician Ariel Pink upset fans by confirming his attendance at the pro-Trump protests on Jan. 6, the same day a mob, encouraged by the president to march to the Capitol, stormed the Capitol building

Filmmaker Alex Lee Moyer posted a photo of Pink, 42, who was born Ariel Marcus Rosenberg, alongside songwriter John Maus in a hotel room in D.C. She also posted live videos of Maus navigating the crowd, causing some on Twitter to infer what Pink’s involvement in the protests, which he later confirmed.

Replying to a Twitter user, Pink wrote “i was in dc to peacefully show my support for the president. i attended the rally on the white house lawn and went back to hotel and took a nap. case closed.”

He denied being a part of the group that stormed the Capitol building. Pink hasn’t been shy about his politics, tweeting often in recent days about his support for Trump. On Dec. 30, 2020, he posted “vote for trump” on Twitter and engaged users with people challenging his views in comments.

Maus, pictured in the photo with Pink, has faced criticism in the past owing to his collaboration with Sam Hyde, a sketch comedian who reportedly pledged $5,000 to Daily Stormer editor Andrew Anglin’s legal defense when Anglin was sued by the Southern Poverty Law Center for his antisemitic “troll storm” of a Jewish woman.

Maus has described his political alignment as “left of left of left of left,” and told Pitchfork that while working with Hyde he never had “any indication that anything other than certain instances of a sort of trolling was going on.”

Pink was born to a Jewish family. In a 2010 interview with Heeb magazine he made headlines with his assessment of Jews who take pride in their background.

“Jews just like to be called Jewish,” Pink said. “They’re f—ing stupid. The ones that are like, not in Israel, they’re just so stupid. They’re all like, beefed up with national pride and all that kind of stuff…. I’m totally against all that.”

PJ Grisar is the Forward’s culture reporter. He can be reached at Grisar@Forward.com.

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