Laura Loomer
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
‘Alt-Right’ Provocateur Or New-Wave Jewish Journalist?
It’s hard to know how exactly to categorize Jewish “alt-right” personality Laura Loomer. Through a series of stunts, articles and social media campaigns, the proudly Jewish Loomer has embraced the anti-immigrant, anti-Islam platform of the fringe right, minus the anti-Semitism. Is she a performance artist? Or perhaps the Jewish Richard Spencer?
Loomer, 24, is the former New York correspondent for The Rebel Media, sometimes referred to as the Canadian Breitbart. Her public profile has been growing ever since she rushed the stage of Shakespeare in the Park minutes before Julius Caesar — dressed like Trump — was slated to be assassinated. “Stop the normalization of political violence against the right!” Loomer cried at the bewildered actors before police officers escorted her off the stage.
Her efforts didn’t get her much love from the “alt-right,” which has a deep anti-Semitic strain. One of its leaders, known by his pseudonym @BakedAlaska, tweeted a picture of her in a gas oven. But later, rumors circulated that Loomer and @BakedAlaska were dating — a troll move that worked precisely because of Loomer’s commitment to hobnobbing with the VIPs of #MAGA.
“You have a right to not like whoever you don’t like,” Loomer told the Forward. “I don’t like Islam, they don’t have to like the Jews.”
Did you know that only 2% of Forward readers donate to support our nonprofit newsroom? That 2% make it possible for millions to read the Forward without a paywall or subscription — removing any barriers to the full and fair Jewish story.
But while the Forward is free to read, it isn’t free to produce. Big stories — like deep dives into the antisemitism data, political scoops or reporting trips to college campuses — take months of research and fact-checking. All while we keep you informed of what you need to know each day.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Forward Publisher & CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
