The No Jumper podcast is mainstreaming neo-Nazis and hate figures to its audience of millions
No Jumper, which built a following by covering hip-hop and Black culture, is now embracing racists and bigots
Written by Justin Horowitz
Published
“Did I just do my part to sort of like make being racist seem chill to people?” No Jumper podcast host Adam Grandmaison asked after interviewing white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
“Yeah, probably,” his co-host responded.
Grandmaison, who goes by Adam22, is the creator of No Jumper, a popular hip-hop and pop culture podcast and YouTube channel that has historically interviewed rappers, musicians, and tastemakers.
Over the past year, No Jumper has delved into platforming viral hate figures, including white nationalists, neo-Nazis, misogynists, and notorious antisemites. The show has a massive reach on social media, with over 4.5 million YouTube subscribers, 1.2 million Twitter followers, 3 million Instagram followers, and 2.1 million TikTok followers. Clips from the podcast are also available on Snapchat and the show has a large Discord following. Additionally, clips of viral hate figures’ appearances on the show have been posted on TikTok by various users.
Grandmaison, who is white, now invites white supremacists and racists onto a show that has many Black staff members and was born out of covering hip-hop and Black culture. This transitional period for the podcast comes at a time when Grandmaison faces criticism for reports of past predatory behavior.
The show lately appears to be going through a sort of reshaping, and Grandmaison’s decision to platform far-right provocateurs has confused and angered both viewers and his own staff. Some fans have given Grandmaison the nickname “Adolf22.”
Is it all for clicks? Does Grandmaison want to burn his empire to the ground? Is he trying to garner an audience of far-right trolls? It’s not entirely clear.
What is clear, though, is that platforming these bigoted and extremist figures on a show with over 4.5 million YouTube subscribers provides an opportunity to get their hateful messages across to new audiences.
Grandmaison has admitted that he is unprepared to push back against the extremist guests on the show, yet he continues to invite them on — allowing neo-Nazis and antisemites to whitewash their past, push dangerous conspiracy theories, and promote their projects on a huge platform.
Here is a breakdown of bigotry and extremism that have appeared on the No Jumper podcast:
Antisemitism
In multiple interviews, guests on No Jumper have made antisemitic comments and pushed dangerous conspiracy theories about Jewish people.
During the October 19, 2022, edition of No Jumper, Grandmaison hosted white nationalist, mega racist, and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes and misogynistic influencer Sneako (real name Nico Kenn De Balinthazy) for a “race debate” which included little pushback or argument from the hosts against their guests’ extremist rhetoric.
Fuentes and De Balinthazy worked for Ye (formerly Kanye West) on his unofficial campaign for president following the rapper’s pro-Nazi comments.
“Jews have the ultimate power,” De Balinthazy said during the interview. “That’s just true, they have ultimate control and power and they will abuse it if they need to protect their agenda.”
“Yeah, I mean, there’s no use arguing that one since we just saw it happen in front of our eyes with the Kanye-bank situation,” Grandmaison responded.
De Balinthazy and Fuentes then continued to push antisemitism.
“In every single industry, if you look at the end of the rabbit hole, it’s always a Jew who controls it,” De Balinthazy said.
“The label owners, the real estate owners, like, all the people with the most amount of money behind the scene is a Jewish guy,” he continued. “Why are we out here slaving away for Jews who are profiting off of us killing each other?”
“It’s obviously true that Jews have connections everywhere, in finance, Hollywood, media, universities,” Fuentes added.
Rather than calling out his guests for their openly antisemitic conspiracy theories, Grandmaison concluded the conversation about Jews by claiming that “it is interesting how we’ve been sort of trained to understand that certain things are off limits.”
Following the episode, Grandmaison admitted that his team would “edit out” Fuentes’ “Holocaust minimalism” in their interview.
The No Jumper crew has also repeatedly interviewed Nation of Islam member and conspiracy theorist Rizza Islam in recent months. The Nation of Islam is designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an extremist group and it has a history of promoting antisemitism and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.
During his October 2022 appearance, Islam downplayed the Nation of Islam’s antisemitism and described Jewish people as members of the “synagogue of Satan” who “have control over modern media and banking.”
While the term “synagogue of Satan” does come from the Bible, comparing Jewish people to the devil is a common antisemitic trope, especially among Nation of Islam leadership.
In January, Islam was interviewed by No Jumper crew member Poetik Flakko, who has praised Fuentes and said that he chats with him via text. (Other No Jumper co-hosts have joked that Flakko is a “Black white supremacist.”)
During their interview, Islam suggested that Jewish people “destroy” Black people’s “ability to have a livelihood, to take care of their family,” and pushed a debunked antisemitic conspiracy theory about Jewish people having had a substantial role in the trans-atlantic slave trade.
Flakko egged Islam on to go deeper into his antisemitic theory.
These antisemitic conspiracy theories likely violate YouTube’s policy against “content that targets an individual or group with conspiracy theories that have been used to justify real-world violence.”
Anti-Black comments and white nationalism
During his time on No Jumper, Fuentes downplayed his role as a neo-Nazi, racist, and misogynist, saying, “I love people, I love all kinds of people, I love Black people,” which is demonstrably false — Fuentes is an open white nationalist who uses the n-word during his livestreams.
Later in the interview, Fuentes complained that “Blacks get treated better than white people,” and falsely suggested that “Black people are committing the majority of the violent crime.”
In another edition of No Jumper mainstreaming extremists, Grandmaison invited notorious white nationalist Richard Spencer onto his show for a conversation. Spencer has used anti-Black and antisemitic slurs, helped organize the deadly 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and translated a Nazi phrase to celebrate former President Donald Trump's 2016 presidential win.
The episode started out with Grandmaison watering down Spencer’s history of white nationalism and suggesting that he is a new, improved person without citing any evidence.
“Richard Spencer seems like he has gone through quite a bit of a political transformation,” Grandmaison said. “He’s really not — or at least he doesn’t claim to be the version of him that a lot of people kind of remember from a while back.”
Later in the conversation, Grandmaison compared Spencer’s past quotes about his white identity to Black people being proud of their identity.
“Almost every quote that I’m seeing from you talking about your white identity or whatever is something that sounds eerily familiar to something I’ve heard Black people say in relatively mainstream circles in the last couple of years,” Grandmaison said. “A large percentage of them didn’t really seem all that shocking to me.”
“Well, I mean that’s true — there is a double standard,” Spencer added. “An actual white identity is something that we’re just not allowed to talk about.”
Misogyny
Grandmaison and No Jumper have invited numerous misogynistic “manosphere” influencers to talk about themselves and spread hatred toward women.
The manosphere is an online community of right-wing websites, bloggers, and influencers cultivating a worldview based on conservative gender politics repackaged for the internet age. The group, which valorizes pick up artists, violent misogynists, and so-called men’s rights advocates, often blames women for myriad societal woes and treats them as inferior.
No Jumper has previously featured Why Women Deserve Less author Myron Gaines (real name Amrou Fudl) and dating and lifestyle coach Walter Weekes. Fudl and Weekes host the Fresh & Fit podcast, which is a safe haven for extreme misogyny.
During their June 2021 interview, the Fresh & Fit podcasters argued that demeaning women and “asserting dominance” is a turn on. Later, Grandmaison described the women who appear on the Fresh & Fit podcast as “bitches” who are “retarded.”
Over the past year, No Jumper has platformed De Balinthazy, Hannah Pearl Davis, and Dan Bilzerian, all of whom are influencers who have demeaned women and made misogynistic comments.
During Grandmaison’s interview with Davis, who has ties to Fuentes, the pair laughed about calling a woman “a whale,” and Grandmaison later suggested that “girls in America are hoes” and “there is a lot of sluttery going on.”
In June 2022, Grandmaison sat down with right-wing poker player and misogynist Bilzerian, who attacked feminists, praised the manosphere, and made other misogynistic comments during the interview.
“Adam22” knows he’s platforming hate and extremism
It appears that Grandmaison knows that platforming extremists trades long-term brand damage for a short-term boost in clicks. That has not stopped him from continuing down this path.
Before he invited Fuentes on his show, Grandmaison explained his fears about platforming a white nationalist:
“I’ll be, like, normalizing him,” Grandmaison said. “Letting him come in and giving him a clean version of his platform when the reality of what he’s into might be a little bit darker.”
During the interview with Fuentes, Grandmaison stated that he would get backlash for his poor retorts:
“The more specific accusation about Nick is that he is basically bundling up his white supremacist ideas in this nice sports coat and everything and that he acts real cool,” Grandmaison said. “That’s what people are going to fucking destroy me for, is if I am not perceived as being aggressive enough toward Nick.”
During his interview with Spencer, Grandmaison even predicted that Media Matters would be interested in his mainstreaming of extremists:
“When I interviewed Nick Fuentes, I was ready to be on fucking Media Matters and ready to be torn apart for having a conversation with him,” Grandmaison said. “Nobody gave a fuck.”
However, some of Grandmaison’s staff seem appalled at the direction of his podcast. Former No Jumper co-host AD (real name Armand Douglas) expressed his disagreement with Grandmaison for interviewing Spencer and allowing his extremist past to be whitewashed:
“I’m a little disappointed,” Douglas said. “You have a mostly Black staff. This No Jumper is built off of hip-hop.”
“What the fuck are we doing? Why are we platforming this guy?” Douglas later added. “We’ve got to hold everybody accountable, including Adam.”
Douglas reportedly quit No Jumper around one week after calling out Grandmaison for platforming bigots, joining several other co-hosts who have recently left the show.
No Jumper’s decision to host and mainstream far-right zealots comes as antisemitic and racially based hate crimes are on the rise and white supremacist propaganda is proliferating across the country and online. Despite the growing backlash No Jumper has received from fans and staff, Grandmaison has seemingly decided now is the time to double down on using his show to platform hate and bigotry.