Watson is among the first pro-Trump figures to adopt the banner of “New Right,” which is the latest phrase racist, hard-right political actors in the West have coined in an attempt to rebrand themselves. Implications for the self-described 'New Right' The audio helps illustrate that Watson’s hard-right ideology is undergirded by overtly racist and antisemitic sentiment and serves as a reminder that YouTube continues to profit from hatred. But Watson often avoids blaming Jewish people directly for what he bemoans about liberalism, which puts him in contrast to neo-Nazi commentary on the Daily Stormer.
He also has used the overtly antisemitic “echoes” meme, wherein a person puts triple parentheses around a name or word to single it out as being Jewish. But he does not typically delve into the sort of vulgarisms and slurs that the tape showcases him using in private. Watson applies a consistently negative focus on immigrants on YouTube and Twitter, particularly Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern Muslims. Watson has typically been careful while appearing on YouTube, which is what makes the leaked audio of his rant noteworthy. Paul Joseph Watson speaks on his YouTube channel, which boasts nearly 2 million followers. Watson has also steadfastly promoted former President Donald Trump, going back to the time before the hard-right, anti-immigrant politician secured the GOP nomination in 2016. politics as a commentator despite living in the U.K. He repeatedly derides “modernity” in his videos, a word that serves as a stand-in for liberalism, mainstream culture and anyone arguing for LGBTQ rights.
Known for posting heavily edited clips to YouTube where he mugs to the camera while ranting, Watson has for years promoted hard-right causes online. The move to separate himself from Jones may have helped Watson hold onto his YouTube account while his peers at Infowars lost theirs. He left Infowars in 2019 to form the junk news blog Summit News. Watson reached the heights of celebrity in pro-Trump circles while serving as a complementary personality to Jones on the conspiracy website Infowars. Hatewatch also reached out to YouTube and Twitter about Watson, and neither responded. Hatewatch reached out to Watson and his legal team for a comment, but they did not respond. Of the major social media websites, only Facebook suspended his account, doing so as part of a push that included his former collaborator Alex Jones and fellow bigot Laura Loomer in 2019. He has racked up 1.2 million followers on Twitter, where the site awarded him with a verified account. Watson’s YouTube channel boasts nearly 2 million subscribers as of the publication of this analysis. The voice says in the leaked clip, “I care about white people and not sand Paki Jew f****t c****s, yeah?” It continues, “I really think that you should press the button to wipe Jews off the face of the Earth.” According to the Byline Times investigation, Watson made the comments recently at a party in the U.K. YouTube has taken steps to remove some high-profile extremists from their site in recent years, but allowed most others to stay, including Watson. Researchers have also consistently linked that subculture to the radicalization of far-right extremists.
The recording helps illustrate the darker side of a right-wing YouTube subculture that boasts a massive viewership worldwide. The Byline Times reports that they verified the voice on the recording as Watson's via identifications from three of his associates, and though Hatewatch has not done any independent reporting on its authenticity, staff reviewed the audio and confirmed the voice sounds like Watson.
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