Rolling Stone reports:
The Anglican Catholic Church (ACC) has defrocked Father Calvin Robinson after the priest went viral for mimicking a recent gesture by Elon Musk that really, really looked like a Nazi salute. In a statement released Wednesday, the leadership of the ACC wrote that “were made aware of a post made on X showing the end of a speech made by Calvin Robinson at the National Pro-Life Summit in Washington, DC.”
In his closing remarks at the summit, Robinson quoted Musk, telling the crowd, “My heart goes out to you,” before tapping his right hand to his chest and extending his arm — palm down — in a salute to the crowd. Musk was embraced and celebrated by extremists and neo-Nazis when he performed the gesture twice while speaking to Trump supporters following the inauguration last week.
From the church’s statement:
At approximately 3:00 pm today (1/29) members of the College of Bishops of the ACC were made aware of a post made on X showing the end of a speech made by Calvin Robinson at the National Pro-Life Summit in Washington, DC. In it, he closed his comments with a gesture that many have interpreted as a pro-Nazi salute.
While we cannot say what was in Mr. Robinson’s heart when he did this, his action appears to have been an attempt to curry favor with certain elements of the American political right by provoking its opposition.
Mr. Robinson had been warned that online trolling and other such actions (whether in service of the left or right) are incompatible with a priestly vocation and was told to desist. Clearly, he has not, and as such, his license in this Church has been revoked. He is no longer serving as a priest in the ACC.
Furthermore, we understand that this is not just an administrative matter. The Holocaust was an episode of unspeakable horror, enacted by a regime of evil men. We condemn Nazi ideology and anti-Semitism in all its forms.
And we believe that those who mimic the Nazi salute, even as a joke or an attempt to troll their opponents, trivialize the horror of the Holocaust and diminish the sacrifice of those who fought against its perpetrators. Such actions are harmful, divisive, and contrary to the tenets of Christian charity.
Finally, we pray that God will give us grace to lay aside our unhappy divisions, and we commend our nation and ourselves to his Almighty protection.
From my comments yesterday…
Robinson is known for campaigning against same-sex marriage and LGBTQ rights. In recent years he unsuccessfully ran for office in the UK as candidate for the Brexit Party and the Tories.
In 2023, he received an undisclosed settlement after being “canceled” for opposing a Drag Queen Story Hour event.
Last year he became spokesman for Britain’s far-right party UKIP. There is apparently no conspiracy theory too out there for Robinson to promote, such as the claim that Zelensky is laundering war effort funds to buy bitcoin.
And now he’s been shitcanned.
Father Calvin Robinson finished his remarks at the National Pro-Life Summit by throwing an Elon Musk salute, much to the delight of the crowd.
— Right Wing Watch (@rightwingwatch.bsky.social) January 29, 2025 at 2:18 PM
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