Sometimes exposing a Nazi once is simply not enough. Like when you treat a wart and you think it's gone and everything is good, then it comes back. Evan James McCarty is like that. He was exposed by our fine comrades at Rose City Antifa as a neo-Nazi drama club kid who performed fascist folk music under the alias "Byron de la Vandal." After being sued for racially-based harassment, McCarty agreed to an out-of-court settlement that required him to renounce white supremacy and participate in anti-racism counseling.
But like that nasty little wart that keeps coming back, McCarty just stayed beneath the surface spreading other little Nazi warts. While he made a show of redemption, it was all a sham. Recent leaks of the racism-friendly social media platform Poa.st provide a behind-the-scenes look at McCarty's duplicity.
While there are inspiring true examples of former white nationalists renouncing hate, McCarty is not one of them. He's the wart that came back. Here's the story.
"Byron de la Vandal"
Evan James McCarty was exposed as the neo-Nazi folk singer "Byron de la Vandal" by Rose City Antifa in 2018. You can read their full report here.
As Rose City Antifa explained in their piece, McCarty used the stage name for his musical act as an tribute to Byron de la Beckwith, the Mississippi Klansman who assassinated Medgar Evers in 1963. As "Byron de la Vandal," McCarty released a number of songs on online platforms. These songs, which were often merely existing songs rewritten with racist lyrics, were frequently shared by other neo-Nazis in white nationalist internet forums. McCarty even formed a friendship with neo-Nazi folk singer Patrick Corcoran, aka "Paddy Tarleton." Together they started a podcast called Blood and Song and released a collaborative album of racist folk songs.
Being a Theater Arts student at the University of Oregon, McCarty was at home with performing music, but his involvement in white nationalist activism went beyond hokey racist folk music. McCarty was a member of the neo-Nazi group Vanguard America and was likely behind a wave of white nationalist graffiti that occurred in Eugene, Oregon in 2017.
Lawsuit
In April 2017, Taylor Dumpson was elected the first female Black president of the student government at American University in Washington, DC. There was a vicious and coordinated racist backlash largely driven by the neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer. The Daily Stormer's owner Andrew Anglin published Ms. Dumpson's photo, social media addresses and contact information and encouraged his followers to harass her. Andrew Anglin has incurred millions of dollars in legal judgements stemming from previous similar harassment and trolling activity.
In 2018 Taylor Dumpson sued Anglin and two of this followers, Brian Andrew Ade and Evan McCarty for violations of the District of Columbia Human Rights Act of 1977 and the D.C. Bias-Related Crimes Act of 1989. McCarty was accused of sending "hateful, intimidating, and harassing messages directed at Ms. Dumpson to various Twitter accounts associated with her, American University, the American University Student Government, and/or the American University Student Government."
In 2019, McCarty reached an out-of-court settlement with the plaintiff that was focused on restorative justice. The unusual settlement called for a formal apology in which McCarty would also renounce "white supremacy, white nationalism, sexism, and other forms of hate and bigotry." McCarty was also required to become a cooperating witness and provide evidence in any proceedings against the other defendants, testifying against them at trial if needed.
Additionally, McCarty agreed to participate in therapy and counseling comprised of anti-hate training, anti-racism training, anti-sexism training, implicit bias training, and personal therapeutic counseling focused on remediating hate and bigotry.
McCarty also agreed to advocate against hate, white supremacy, and bigotry for a minimum of two years, which could include "direct outreach to other white supremacists to attempt de-radicalization (with proper training), or contributing Defendant's performing arts skills to anti-hate and racial justice causes."
An additional component of the settlement involved "Continuing Education' wherein he agreed to take at least four courses on "race and gender issues. In June 2021 McCarty received a BA in Popular Music Studies at the University of Oregon's School of Music & Dance.
The whole settlement regarding Evan James McCarty aka Byron de la Vandal signed can be viewed here:
https://lawyerscommittee.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Redacted-Settlement.pdf
As "Byron de la Vandal," McCarty craved the spotlight and he got it. There was a tremendous amount of media interest in this story which was greatly exacerbated by the lawsuit against him. McCarty was seemingly contrite in media interviews. “I’m working every single day in order to grow as an individual," he stated in an interview with a local news outlet. "I would ask for forgiveness and understanding. I would be the first to say that I absolutely regret 100 percent of my previous conduct."
"I've taken this to heart. I wanted to formally apologize. I want to engage on a personal level and I wanted to also educate myself…So I've been attending classes, seminars and workshops about the dynamics of racial and cultural diversity and the impact of intolerance and prejudice," he went on to state.
His parents even issued a statement, saying "Evan, our son, feels deep regret about his actions and is committed to making changes and moving forward in a positive way." They claimed in the statement that he had "completely ceased all involvement with and disengaged with the ideology of the alt-right."
Still, there is more than a whiff of parental denial. "He is a different person than he was when he hid behind an alias and was persuaded into hateful activity on the Internet, and recognizes its potential for harm it does to others," they said, minimizing his personal culpability by indicating that he was "persuaded" to undertake these actions.
McCarty's performance with respect to contrition and de-radicalization was nothing if not Oscar-worthy, but in a shocking third act plot twist it turns out the whole thing was a charade. Despite McCarty's apparent willingness to reform himself, recent leaks of the racism-encouraging social media platform Poa.st tells a different story.
Poast leaks
In May of 2023, Poa.st experienced a massive security breach, leading to the exposure of thousands of user accounts. The breached files were subsequently leaked to multiple file sharing sites for public download. The leaked files included users’ direct messages to each other within the site. These messages, previously private but now exposed to public scrutiny, proved to be a treasure trove of information on users of Poa.st, several of whom we have reported on here.
The Poa.st data breach included tens of thousands of user emails and direct messages including several between McCarty (writing as "AMALEK_ETERNVL") and two well known neo-Nazi podcasters.
In a direct message exchange with longtime neo-Nazi podcaster Jesse Daniel Ogden (aka "Borzoi",) concern was expressed about whether McCarty could still get in trouble for contacting any of them. McCarty responded, "Openly, yes. Clandestinely, no. Court ordered imaging of my devices happened back in 2018, but there's been no requirement since…Still, I want to avoid anything public." The exchange went as follows:
<2021-10-22T05:39:56.000Z> AMALEK_ETERNVL: Borzoi, it's me. It's Byron
<2021-10-22T10:58:10.000Z> borzoi: Which Byron
<2021-10-22T14:48:22.000Z> AMALEK_ETERNVL: De la vandal
<2021-10-22T14:48:34.000Z> AMALEK_ETERNVL: At least I used to use that name
<2021-10-22T14:51:02.000Z> borzoi: Can you still get in trouble for contacting any of us
<2021-10-22T14:52:33.000Z> AMALEK_ETERNVL: Openly, yes. Clandestinely, no. Court ordered imaging of my devices happened back in 2018, but there's been no requirement since
<2021-10-22T14:53:17.000Z> AMALEK_ETERNVL: Still, I want to avoid anything public. I don't need the hassle if anything did come up
<2021-10-22T14:54:43.000Z> borzoi: Well, good to hear from you. You'll understand though if I'm a little careful about what I say even in a Poast chat
[…]
<2021-10-22T15:54:41.000Z> AMALEK_ETERNVL: No I get it dude, suspicion is understandable. Their interest in me has wanted [sic] but I know I'm in an active file somewhere now
<2021-10-22T15:55:00.000Z> AMALEK_ETERNVL: Just wanted to let someone know I'm still alive
In another exchange with a different pseudonymous Nazi podcaster using the moniker "Nike Phoros," Evan McCarty was a bit chattier.
<2021-10-22T15:56:11.000Z> AMALEK_ETERNVL: Hey Nike, it's Byron
<2021-10-22T15:56:30.000Z> AMALEK_ETERNVL: De la Vandal, or used to be at least
<2021-10-22T15:56:52.000Z> Nike@pleroma.nobodyhasthe.biz: Ayyyyyyyy
<2021-10-22T15:57:10.000Z> Nike@pleroma.nobodyhasthe.biz: I've missed you bro
<2021-10-22T15:57:17.000Z> Nike@pleroma.nobodyhasthe.biz: So has Anglo
<2021-10-22T15:57:52.000Z> Nike@pleroma.nobodyhasthe.biz: He saw you on Instagram last week lol
<2021-10-22T16:30:22.000Z> AMALEK_ETERNVL: Haha yeah I'm on insta, just there to lurk and laugh at Alex's/morrakiu's posts
<2021-10-22T16:38:38.000Z> Nike@pleroma.nobodyhasthe.biz: I am glad to see the court-ordered libtard re-education camp didn't work
<2021-10-22T16:43:59.000Z> AMALEK_ETERNVL: Lmao
<2021-10-22T16:44:14.000Z> AMALEK_ETERNVL: It was never going to, that's the thing
<2021-10-22T16:44:39.000Z> AMALEK_ETERNVL: It wasn't about all this reform bullshit it's just to waste my time and punish me. They know that shit doesn't work
<2021-10-22T16:47:56.000Z> Nike@pleroma.nobodyhasthe.biz: I figured it would be as much. They can come with hackneyed curriculum thats a half-assed attempt to gaslight us, but far more likely to just steal several months of our real lives sitting in a classroom.
McCarty admitted to having several different secret social media accounts to maintain his ties to the white nationalist and Nazi world. He shared a screenshot of his Telegram messenger profile named "Salty Spitoon" which featured a picture of antisemitic actor Mel Gibson with the caption "Nate Higgers, Kate Hikes."
McCarty's Poa.st account shared the same sort of vile antisemtic, racist, anti-LGBTQ+, misogynistic garbage that he had before his legal settlement.
AMALEK_ETERNVL even discussed gun safety on a film set in public Poa.st messages, stagecraft that Evan McCarty would be well acquainted with.
Evan James McCarty is a terrible person to his very core. Here he directly engages with the Auschwitz Memorial to spew his Holocaust denial and antisemitic bile.
Evan James McCarty didn't last long on Poa.st. He dramatically quit with an expletive and slur filled rant addressed to the creator of Poa.st Dan Stevens (aka "graf." Where he peddles hate currently is anybody's guess. We have some theories but won't publish them without proof.
Perhaps the most shocking aspect of all this is that it appears McCarty seems to have never truly intended to leave white supremacy and neo-Nazi ideology. While some of McCarty's "Byron de la Vandal" social media and music accounts were deleted, a great many are still online, albeit apparently inactive. These include his website and accounts at Gab and Minds. Some profiles are still on several prominent music sites like Bandcamp and ReverbNation. Incredibly, "Byron de la Vandal" merchandise is even available on Amazon.
A Wart in Waiting
It appears as though Evan James McCarty aka "Byron de la Vandal" has been biding time until his legal obligations are complete and keeping as many of his social media accounts alive for his eventual return. The out-of-court settlement provided him with a compassionate path to improve his character and recover from a life stained with hate and bigotry. Instead, McCarty chose to throw this chance away and in his arrogance thought he fooled us all.
Evan James McCarty is the wart that came back and he has no one but himself to blame.