Church Gains Control of Proud Boys Trademark
The Proud Boys can no longer use that name or sell merchandise without the consent of the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church.
A Washington, DC Superior Court Judge has awarded a historic Black church in the District of Columbia, control over the “Proud Boys” trademark.
Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church had successfully sued the group for defacing banners and otherwise vandalizing the church, but the right-wing, white-supremacy group defaulted on the court’s $2.8 million judgment.
This ruling grants the rights to the trademark name of “The Proud Boys” to the famous AME church and bars group members from selling any merchandise with the group’s name or symbols without the church’s consent.
The church filed the $2.8 million lawsuit to try to recoup damages from vandalism made by group members after a December 2020 pro-Donald Trump rally. Black Lives Matter banners were torn down and burned at two churches, including Metropolitan African Methodist, and violent clashes between opposing protesters led to arrests by the police that night.
Enrique Tarrio, then the leader of the Proud Boys, confessed to participating in the burnings and was later sentenced to more than five months in jail on those and other charges. Tarrio was later sentenced to 22 years in federal prison for orchestrating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.
On his first day in office, President Donald Trump granted pardons, commutations or vowed to dismiss cases against the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol—including Tarrio.
While the Constitution empowers presidents to grant pardons, however, the president is not able to overturn a court’s monetary judgment and penalties. Only a potential ruling by the US Supreme Court, if the Proud Boys organization chose to appeal the Superior Court’s ruling, could do that.
