Matthew Slatzer's mugshot from a 2016 arrest
UPDATE March 17, 2023: Matthew Slatzer was sentenced to four months in prison and two additional years on federal probation for violating his parole. The member of the Aryan Brotherhood was sent back to federal prison days after he helped distribute flyers in Wadsworth ahead of a drag queen event that drew white supremacists and included some violent clashes; more here.
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Rallies across the country protesting state imposed COVID-19 stay-at-home orders have been given white supremacists an opportunity to show their ugly head and spread Jew hatred in public. One rally in particular has stood out thanks to self-proclaimed neo-Nazi Matthew Slatzer.
On Saturday April 23rd, at a Columbus, Ohio COVID-19 protest, 36 year old Matthew Slatzer from Canton, Ohio, was spotted driving a Dodge Minivan with a fellow white supremacist holding an antisemitic poster out of the car window. The poster depicted an outrageous caricature of a Jew portrayed as a rat with a Star of David, titled "The Real Plague."
Photo Courtesy of Laura Hancock, Columbus Reporter for Cleveland.com
Slatzer and his friend were later seen with the same vile poster at the demonstration in front of the Columbus State Capital Building. The pictures of him holding the antisemitic poster were quickly shared on social media by fellow attendees that were outraged with what they saw.
Photo Courtesy of Laura Hancock, Columbus Reporter for Cleveland.com
Nate Thayer, an investigative journalist, interviewed Slatzer after he was identified. In the interview Slatzer said "The Jews are responsible for the Coronavirus." According to Thayer, Slatzer stated a series of conspiracy theories blaming Jews for everything from the country's shut down and quarantine to falsely claiming that Jews are blackmailing political leaders to enforce the COVID-19 shutdown “because they were all flown out to Jeffrey Epstein’s pedophile sex island paid for by Jews.”
Slatzer also stated that all potential vaccines are a Jewish conspiracy to poison people contending that “All the vaccines are made in Israel; they were all created by Israeli scientists.”
Matthew Slatzer is not a stranger to expressing his hatred wherever he can. In 2019, he was photographed at a Detroit, Michigan Pride event holding an N.S.M. (National Socialist Movement) shield while performing a Nazi salute.
N.S.M. is one of the largest antisemitic, neo-Nazi groups in America that aims to revoke American citizenship from Jews, non-whites, and members of the LGBTQ community.
The N.S.M leads the Nationalist Front, an umbrella organization that consists of neo-Nazis, traditional white supremacists, and, to a lesser degree, racist skinheads.
Along with being a horrific antisemitic conspiracy theorist, Matthew Slatzer has a frightening history of violence. More than 40 criminal charges were filed against him including domestic battery, cruelty to animals, aggravated assault, felonious assault, and numerous charges related to drug possession. In February 2020, Slatzer was arrested and charged with illegal possession of a firearm in a liquor permit premises.
Matthew Slatzer has a Facebook page and a YouTube channel that he named 'Fourteen Eighty Eight' that features videos of a KKK cross lighting and an Italian fascist flag. White supremacists often use 1488 to express their antisemitic and racists beliefs; the first symbol '14', which is shorthand for the'14 Word' slogan: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children." The second is '88', which stands for "Heil Hitler" (H being the 8th letter of the alphabet). Together, the numbers form a general endorsement of white supremacy and its beliefs.
Slatzer's vile acts of hatred caught the attention of the State's Governor who issued a swift condemnation via Twitter, garnering public support.
