Screenshot from Wall Street Journal video

The Wall Street Journal this week produced and published a video story that shows how the far-right group the Proud Boys – including Ethan Nordean, son of the owners of Wally’s Chowder House in Des Moines – was instrumental in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

“The Proud Boys, a far-right group, have tried to downplay their role in the Capitol riot,” WSJ said. “A WSJ investigation shows that at many of the day’s key moments, Proud Boys were at the forefront.”

As we reported in June, at that time Wally’s owner Michael Nordean disavowed his son’s involvement with the known, right-wing “western chauvinist” male-only group with a statement on his restaurant’s website:

Let me say right off the bat that I love my son. That said, I admit that I was slow to recognize how radical and violent that group is. Those beliefs are NOT the values shared by my family, my businesses, and this community. Writing this is not easy, in part because of the personal guilt and frustration I feel for not paying closer attention and in part because I was frankly naive.”

Ethan Nordean – who uses the pseudonym “Rufio Panman” – apparently was not arrested for his involvement in the D.C. riot. The Southern Poverty Law Center says he once “struck a counter-protester in the face so hard he knocked the person unconscious. The Proud Boys immediately turned him into a meme. They promoted video of the violence on social media and even created a commemorative challenge coin featuring an image of Nordean’s punch and sold it on their official online store.”

Reports are that he now lives in Auburn.

Here’s the full WSJ video:


 

5 replies on “Wall Street Journal video shows Proud Boy Ethan Nordean involved in Jan. 6 insurrection”

  1. Walley’s does not support extremist views based on the above news report Kristie, your opinion is of your own imagination and cancel culture belief system. Did you not read the article?

    1. I saw this on the /r/seattle subreddit:

      “Just so y’all know, his parents (owners of Wally’s in Des Moines and Buckley) are also huge pieces of sh*t. His dad has been accused multiple times of sexually harassing teenage girls that work at their restaurants. The mom also shares that weird proud boy ideology bullshit, as seen on her now deleted Twitter page. I’ve seen lots of people defending them, trying to claim that parents can’t be held responsible for the actions of their adult children. While that may be true sometimes, clearly that’s not the case here. Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. They raised him. So their sh*tty behavior in addition to his is unsurprising.

      The sexual harassment, Ethan’s proud boy involvement, and the mom being publicly racist and homophobic have all been really hot topics for a long time.”

      https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/lc25h2/seattle_proud_boys_leader_who_threatened_war/

      I’m going to guess that there’s something, um, fishy about the people that own these seafood restaurants. I think they even hired a PR person to help with all the bad press.

      It’s not hard to just patronize another seafood place without all of the right-wing extremist doggie baggage. (Well, maybe you’re loyal Wally’s regular that fits with this ideology. Just make sure to wear your yellow and black Fred Perry polo to show your true pride and ask for the family discount!)

  2. Get it right. It’s spelled wallys. I don’t believe for a minute they all don’t hold extremist views. My family will never go back there. I’d like to get my money back. The denouncement back in June was just to save the business. People should not support this place. Look at Judy nordeans social media? Talk about hate speech. She’s been outed so has removed social media. No wonder kid is involved with proud boys. He was front and center at the Capitol. Apples don’t fall far from the tree do they?

  3. Spoiled Chowder and Judy, I believe, that if we are honest, that we have all held views and opinions in the past that we are ashamed of. As human we should all be given the grace to mature and change.
    You don’t have to patronize Wallys, and I will think twice before doing so again.
    But the hatred of the Proud Boys and the hatred I feel from your posts sound pretty much the same to me, just different sides of the same coin.
    “Let him without sin throw the first stone.” – JC

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