Norwegian Cruise Line bowed to pressure from an anti-racist organization and canceled a scheduled trip booked by a far-right Canadian media outlet, it was reported on Thursday.
The cruise ship company took the decision on Wednesday to scrap a November 12 sailing by individuals associated with Rebel Media, the Miami Herald reported.
The ship was due to carry 1,646 passengers from PortMiami to the western Carribean, with scheduled stops in Honduras, Belize, Costa Maya, and Mexico.
The ‘Rebel Cruise’ trip was being billed as ‘a week at sea with like-minded folks, hanging out, getting hammered, aye, smoking darts, and talking about making Canada great again,’ Canadian media personality and Vice co-founder Gavin McInnes said in a promotional video.
Norwegian Cruise Line bowed to pressure from an anti-racist organization and canceled a scheduled trip booked by a far-right Canadian media outlet, it was reported on Thursday
The cruise ship company took the decision on Wednesday to scrap a November 12 sailing by individuals associated with Rebel Media, a platform that hosts, among others, far-right provocateur and Vice co-founder Gavin McInnes (seen above at a rally in Berkeley in April)
McInnes, who left Vice and has since become a far-right commentator with Rebel, is considered a controversial figure due to past statements about Jews, women, and blacks.
Norwegian’s decision is a victory for a United Kingdom-based advocacy group, HOPE not hate, which launched a campaign asking people to sign a petition demanding that the ‘Rebel Cruise’ be canceled.
The group noted that McInnes had ties to Jason Kessler, the ‘white rights’ activist who lives in Charlottesville and who organized the ‘Unite the Right’ protest.
Both McInnes and Kessler are members of Proud Boys, a far-right male-only organization.
The ‘Rebel Cruise’ trip was being billed as ‘a week at sea with like-minded folks, hanging out, getting hammered, aye, smoking darts, and talking about making Canada great again.’ The image above is a screenshot of a web site promoting the Rebel Cruise
That demonstration also attracted anti-fascist counter-protesters, some of whom clashed violently with alt-right and white nationalists.
Events deteriorated even further when a suspected white nationalist allegedly drove his car at high speed into a crowd of anti-fascist demonstrators, killing one woman and injuring 20 others.
‘We believe Norwegian Cruise Line must take a stand against racism, homophobia, sexism, transphobia, and hatred of all kinds,’ HOPE not hate’s petition read.
Norwegian released a statement saying that Rebel Cruise ‘espoused views that are inconsistent with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings core values. The company has therefore exercised its right to cancel this group’s reservation and provide a full refund.’
Since the Charlottesville rally and the aftermath, which included President Donald Trump’s condemnation of ‘both sides’, alt-right figures have had trouble securing speaking engagements.
Norwegian was alerted to McInnes’s ties to Jason Kessler, the ‘white rights’ activist who lives in Charlottesville and who organized the ‘Unite the Right’ protest this past weekend. Both McInnes and Kessler are members of Proud Boys, a far-right male-only organization
Richard Spencer was informed Wednesday that the University of Florida canceled his planned appearance on campus due to ‘serious concerns for safety.’
‘In the current climate, this is a valuable example that companies have the choice to act responsibly and to refuse to allow their platforms to be vehicles for the normalization and mainstreaming of bigotry,’ HOPE not hate wrote in a statement.
Rebel Media denied allegations it was an ‘alt-right’ platform.
Its president, Ezra Levant, wrote an email to the Herald stating: ‘I also happen to be a proud Jew, by the way!’
Rebel Media responded with its own online petition against Norwegian Cruise Line demanding that the company reinstate the planned trip and reverse the ban.
The company, Rebel Media said, should ‘announce that they will not discriminate against conservatives on their cruise line.’
‘We hope we can convince Norwegian to stop the blacklist, and change their mind, and let us have our cruise, as we have done so many years before on various cruise lines,’ Levant wrote in an email.
‘Norwegian got this one wrong, it wasn’t fair, and they smeared our reputations too.’
Norwegian Cruise Line declined requests for comment.