A photo showing Tila Tequila and two men doing the Nazi salute at an alt-right conference, held in Washington, D.C., on Sat. Nov. 19, has lead to Tequila’s Twitter account (@angeltilalove) being suspended.
Tequila, who was born in Singapore and raised in Texas, has long been vocal about being a neo-Nazi and her sympathy for Nazism , Buzzfeed reports. Tila’s tweets supporting the white-supremacist group have been a topic of controversy for years, and her latest picture is no exception.
At the pro-Trump NPI white supremacist conference in Washington DC, Tila Tequila and friends do a “sieg heil” salute https://t.co/1u1iN6XhaS pic.twitter.com/dLV8OxilZl
— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) November 20, 2016
The photo, which was taken at Maggianos Little Italy restaurant, was tweeted by Tila over the weekend, and shows her standing next to two men, all three of which are doing the Nazi salute at the National Policy Institute (NPI) banquet. She captioned the photo by writing: “Seig heil!”
According to the organization’s official website, the NPI is “an independent organization dedicated to the heritage, identity, and future of people of European descent in the United States, and around the world.” Maggianos Little Italy Restaurant said they had no idea the organization was dining at their restaurant because they made the reservation under a different name. After a protest outside the building, the restaurant took to Facebook to apologize for allowing the NPI to gather there .
Tila Tequila suspended from Twitter for Nazi hate speech: https://t.co/wb1bq8uh5l pic.twitter.com/DALmoEwQjN
— Complex (@Complex) November 22, 2016
“After the event, an attendee sent a tweet in which she made a ‘Sieg Heil salute’ in support of Hitler and white supremacy. This expression of support of Hitler is extremely offensive to us, as our restaurant is home to Teammates and Guests of every race, religion and cultural background,” the Facebook post reads. “We want to sincerely apologize to the community of Friendship Heights for inadvertently hosting this meeting, which resulted in hateful sentiment.”
To conclude their post, the restaurant said they would be donating the $10,000 they made during the banquet to the “DC office of the Anti-Defamation League, which for decades has been working to bring people together in peace and understanding.”
Twitter confirms it has suspended Tila Tequila https://t.co/C6ms9wJAOi
— Jon Passantino (@passantino) November 22, 2016
Tila is a dedicated neo-Nazi, and before her Twitter account was suspended, her bio included: “Alt-reich queen! Literally Hitler!” In 2013, Tequila shared a photo of her standing in front of Auschwitz concentration camp wearing a Nazi armband. Then in 2015, she claimed not to be “a racist nor antisemitic and absolutely not 100% a Nazi supporter.” However, she later tweeted “Happy birthday, mein Fuhror!” on Hitler’s birthday, and has shared numerous pictures of her supporting the Nazis.
Tila has also been very supportive of President-elect Donald Trump. Earlier this year, she shared a photoshopped image of herself wearing Nazi garb with the then-candidate. While many have compared Donald Trump to Hitler, Trump insists he doesn’t stand for racism or white supremacy.
White nationalists and Nazi-saluting Tila Tequila toast “Emperor Trump” in Washington, DC: https://t.co/xAyRevklzs pic.twitter.com/MNr07PRSTx
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) November 19, 2016
According to The Daily Beast, Trump’s transition team issued a statement regarding the NPI gathering .
“President-elect Trump has continued to denounce racism of any kind and he was elected because he will be a leader for every American,” the statement reads. “To think otherwise is a complete misrepresentation of the movement that united Americans from all backgrounds.”
Tila Tequila rose to fame after garnering thousands of followers on MySpace. She later went on to appear on several MTV reality shows, including the 2007 series A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila.
[Featured Image by Ian Gavan/Getty Images]