(Image source from: LA Weekly)

On Sunday night, police were called to the Los Angeles bar named the Griffin, when an assemblage of the hate group Proud Boys led to a confrontation with leftist activists.

Members of the group reportedly showed up at the bar, and while the gathering was not announced, many were easily identifiable by their uniform of red MAGA hats and Fred Perry polos.

Word of mouth reached Los Angeles activists, which, according to reports and those present, included members of the DSA Los Angeles, a local branch of America's largest socialist organization; Defend Northeast Los Angeles, an anti-gentrification group; and Olympics LA, which opposes L.A.’s 2028 Olympic bid.

At 9:10 p.m. PT on Saturday, DSA member, and actor Josh Androsky tweeted that he received a text about it. He later tweeted that there were "like 20" Proud Boys present and that when he asked a doorman about the gathering he responded, "The only color I see is green."

In one video, the activists can be heard chanting "no KKK, no fascist USA, no problem." In another taken outside of the bar by DNELA, one Proud Boy says, "Irish people were slaves just like the fucking black people." An LAPD officer told the website that officers were called at 10:35 p.m. and that when advised, both groups agreed to leave the scene.

On Sunday, the bar responded to the incident with an unsigned statement posted to Facebook. The author, who identified as an owner but gave no name, wrote, "Neither I nor my business partner supports any Nazi or white supremacist groups and this is not a Nazi bar." (Eastsider LA identified the owners as Jonathan Blaize Hensleigh and Aaron Mark Chepenik.) The statement goes on to say that because Proud Boys were already inside, the owner advised staff to "kill them with kindness."

The incident provoked the usual deluge of negative Yelp reviews as well as a flurry of conversation on Twitter. A tweet from Vice writer Justin Caffier advocating for a boycott has so far been retweeted 16,000 times.

The bar was shut down for the night.

By Sowmya Sangam