Antisemitic podcaster Stew Peters barred from hotel hosting veterans’ reunion after backlash
The Holocaust denier was slated to speak to the USS Liberty Veterans Association in Norfolk
Holocaust denier Stew Peters has called for a “final solution” involving the mass deportation of American Jews. Courtesy of X
By Louis Keene May 27, 2025
A Virginia hotel barred antisemitic podcaster Stew Peters from its premises Tuesday, blocking him from speaking at a conference for veterans of the 1967 USS Liberty attack.
A backlash followed the revelation that Peters, an avowed Holocaust denier and white supremacist who called for a “final solution” involving the mass deportation of American Jews, had been invited to speak by the U.S.S. Liberty Veterans Association next month at its annual reunion.
One prominent X account focusing on antisemitism had encouraged its followers to protest Peters’ inclusion by emailing the general manager of the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel, which is hosting the conference June 6-9.
“The hotel owner Marriott-Bonvoy has banned Stew Peters from entering their property and has advised us he is not to speak,” LVA spokesperson John Dixon said in a statement to Norfolk news outlet WTKR.
It was unclear whether the LVA planned to have Peters address the group remotely, but text messages obtained by WTKR appeared to show Moe Dixon, the group’s executive director, telling Peters he was still invited to a Liberty memorial at the local Veterans of Foreign Wars office. The organization did not immediately respond to an inquiry.
It was unclear whether Peters is banned from all Marriott-Bonvoy properties or just the Norfolk Sheraton. The Forward sent inquiries to Marriott-Bonvoy’s national press office and to the hotel.
The Liberty, a Navy ship doing reconnaissance in the Mediterranean Sea, was bombed during the 1967 War by Israeli fighter jets and motor torpedo boats, killing 34 crewmembers and wounding 171 others. Israel apologized for the attack, saying it had confused the ship for an Egyptian vessel.
An investigation by the United States government also concluded that the attack was accidental. In a rare instance of revealing its methods, the National Security Agency in 2003 released recordings of Israeli attack helicopter pilots who believed they were firing on an enemy ship — and who were clearly horrified when they realized it was an American vessel.
The LVA maintains it was intentional — as has Peters, a prolific conspiracy theorist who rose to fame with an anti-vaccine film he released during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The attack on the Liberty has become a cause celebre for anti-Israel and antisemitic conspiracy theorists.
Before the hotel banned Peters, the LVA had said it invited him to speak about the incident — as it had at a previous reunion — but would not tolerate any antisemitic rhetoric at the conference.
“If he has any agenda for antisemitism or Jew-hating, that will not be allowed, and we have told him this,” LVA executive director Moe Shafer told WTKR last week. Shafer reportedly said Peters “did a great job” addressing the group a few years ago.
Flyers circulating before the cancelation claimed three other far-right figures — Angelo Gage, classified as a neo-Nazi by the Southern Poverty Law Center; Jake Shields, a former mixed martial arts fighter who hosted David Duke on his podcast; and Matt Wakulik, a militia leader from Pennsylvania — were planning to attend, but the LVA denied it.
“This DOES NOT mean we as the LVA share or condone all the views, beliefs, or behavior our supporters have,” Dixon, the LVA spokesperson, wrote in an email last week to The Virginian-Pilot.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
