Anthime "Tim" Gionet, more commonly known as Baked Alaska, is an American white nationalistsocial media personality who gained attention through his commentary and political advocacy on behalf of alt-right and neo-Nazi ideology, and through his promotion of anti-semitic conspiracy theories such as white genocide and Jewish control of the media. Prior to his 2016 transformation into an alt right activist, Gionet was a commentator for Buzzfeed. In March 2019, Gionet attempted to distance himself from the alt-right and meme culture, which he criticized as hateful and a source of terrorism and violence. He released an emotional video apologizing for his past participation in meme culture and alleging a link between 8chan and the Christchurch mosque shootings. However, in November 2019 Gionet changed his politics again, and collaborated with the white supremacist "groyper" movement in their trolling of rallies held by Turning Point USA. He subsequently deleted all his previous videos, in which he had apologized for his old views and condemned meme culture and the alt right.
While working at Warner Bros. Records, Gionet was social media and marketing intern for Warped Tour. Kevin Lyman gave him the stage-name Baked Alaska, a reference to the fact that he came from Alaska and was a marijuana user at the time, referencing the dessert, baked Alaska. In 2011, Gionet worked for Capitol Records for a short time, before pursuing his own career in rap music with a "wild, redneck, kick-ass" persona. While in Los Angeles, he got involved in the party scene and had issues with drugs and alcohol, leading him to seek professional help to get sober.
Political activism
In the following years he started working as a commentator for Buzzfeed. He then identified as a libertarian, supporting Rand Paul's White House bid and the legalisation of marijuana, and participating in Black Lives Matter street demonstrations. He claims to have left Buzzfeed and turned to Trump and the alt-right in rejection of "political correctness". After leaving BuzzFeed in 2016, Gionet traveled as Milo Yiannopoulos' Dangerous Faggot Tour manager. Gionet is a supporter of Donald Trump. In May 2016, Gionet was introduced to Donald Trump and received the candidate's signature on his arm next to his Trump tattoo. Later that month, Gionet released "MAGA Anthem", which featured pro-Trump lyrics and amassed more than 100,000 views on YouTube. Mike Cernovich then hired Gionet to work on a project dedicated to gather Trump supporters. Following the election, Gionet has continued his pro-Trump activism delivering speeches and participating in multiple rallies. Gionet was also largely responsible for spearheading the #DumpKellogs and #TrumpCup hashtag movements. #TrumpCup was a Twitter trend in November 2016 on Twitter, following allegations that a Starbucks employee refused to write "Trump" on a cup. The Twitter hashtag trended with more than 27,000 tweets in the span of two days. In late 2016, following Trump's election, conflict arose between Cernovich and Gionet regarding Gionet's antisemitic remarks on Twitter. Gionet was disinvited from DeploraBall, an inaugural ball. Gionet later mended his relationship with Cernovich and said that he had been "heated" and that he had misspoken. In February 2017, Gionet called for a boycott of Netflix in response to the announcement of Dear White People. He claimed that the show was "anti-white" and promoted "white genocide". Gionet participated in an alt-right rally outside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC on June 25, 2017, and he was scheduled to address participants at the white nationalist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 11, 2017. At the Unitedthe Right rally, he marched and chanted, "You will not replace us," and "I'm proud to be white!" On social media he has frequently promoted the Fourteen Words, a white supremacist slogan about preserving the white race. He was permanently banned from Twitter after posting a photoshopped image of Laura Loomer, a Jewish far-right political commentator, inside a gas chamber. Baked Alaska wrote and self-published a book, Meme Magic Secrets Revealed, through Amazon. The book was removed as a copyright violation due to its use of Pepe the Frogon the cover. At the turn of 2019, Baked Alaska had abandoned his support for President Trump and started promoting 2020 Democratic presidential candidateAndrew Yang, such as with his music videoYang Gang Anthem. In March 2019, Gionet attempted to distance himself from the alt-right and meme culture, which he criticized as hateful and a source of terrorism and violence. He released a video in which he apologized for his past participation in meme culture and claimed that it was responsible for radicalizing people, also linking 8chan to the Christchurch mosque shootings. However, in November 2019 Gionet changed his politics again, deleting his apology videos and collaborating with the white supremacist "Groyper" movement in its trolling of rallies held by Turning Point USA.
