Alt-Right Comic Sam Hyde to Perform at Skankfest

Sam Hyde, a comedian infamous for pandering to the alt-right, is playing Skankfest in Las Vegas this September alongside some talented people, some creeps, and the usual Legion of Skanks edgelords.

In case you’re unfamiliar with Hyde, he had an Adult Swim show called Million Dollar Extreme Presents: World Peace with fellow comics Nick Rochefort and Charls Carroll. The program premiered in 2016 and was canceled that same year following sketches featuring blackface, the racist “welfare queen” stereotype, and other contentious moments. Unsurprisingly, alt-righters were big fans of World Peace. At a 2013 Brooklyn comedy show, Hyde “read aloud several pages of homophobic ‘research,’” as per The Hollywood Reporter (the video of said incident was on the MDE YouTube channel but has since been made private). In their extensive history of Hyde’s extremist actions, Hope Not Hate point out that Hyde uses the anti-semitic term “ZOG” (Zionist Occupied Government) in that same performance. He also donated $5,000 to the legal defense fund for neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer (the name is a nod to the Nazi tabloid “Der Stürmer”). In a photo online, Hyde is seen saluting next to neo-Nazi Andrew “weev” Auernheimer. Oh, and for good measure, he went on alt-right nut job Alex Jones’ show Infowars. As much as Hyde has used his position as a comedian to pass off his racist and discriminatory comments as ironic, his actions speak for themselves. 

That’s why it’s so disappointing to see Hyde on a lineup alongside talented comics like Beth Stelling, Sam Jay, and Dina Hashem. We’re big fans of theirs; their respective 2023 specials were some of our favorites last year.   

Perhaps the other stand-ups performing at Skankfest this year weren’t aware that Hyde was on the bill, or of his notoriety. It’s worth noting that even if they would like to pull out, there may be contractual or financial reasons impeding them from doing so. At the same time, it would also be pretty cool if they spoke out against the presence of a guy who pals around with Nazis—not that Legion of Skanks puts much stock into that kind of thing (having morals).