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Jon Minadeo is a neo-Nazi on a mission — a mission to meet America’s children in online video chats and convince them to hate.
Scripps News Group Investigative Reporter Phil Williams reviewed hours of online videos that reveal how. When Minadeo encounters children of color, he tries to persuade them to hate themselves, often brandishing an assault weapon and warning them to expect to be treated violently.
And when he meets White kids, especially boys, the 42-year-old Missouri man frequently insists that the children need to get their own guns and prepare to “kill n*****s” as part of a looming “race war.” He also encourages them to follow his neo-Nazi websites.
"We need more kids like you on this website because we've got to be pushing this White power, f—k this n***** bulls—t," he told a pair of teen boys in one video.
Has your child had an online encounter with Minadeo? We want to hear your experience. Email: investigate@newschannel5.com
Minadeo is founder of the so-called Goyim Defense League (GDL), the neo-Nazi group that spent two weeks on the streets of Nashville in July 2024. GDL’s hateful propaganda also appears to have partly influenced the 17-year-old shooter at Antioch High School earlier this year, according to a manifesto he left behind.
Williams' investigation into the group’s activities has discovered how Minadeo routinely meets children in roulette-style video chat rooms that are designed to connect strangers. While many of those apps specify that they are intended only for those 18+, they have become popular with minors because of the lack of age verification.
The neo-Nazi leader brazenly engages with children he knows are well below the age of 18, livestreaming his encounters on his own hate-filled platform without telling his subjects that their conversations are being shared with anyone who cares to watch.
Videos reviewed by Williams show him interacting with a boy who identified himself as being 10, with other children appearing to be even younger.
'Blame their parents’
Yet, Minadeo is completely unapologetic, telling the Scripps News Group in a chat on X, “Everyone on that app is required to be 18... so you should blame their parents.”
His podcast followers donate money to cheer him on and to be able to have their own racist comments read by an automated voice during the livestreams. An on-screen graphic keeps track of the contributions which can sometimes reach more than $1,000 per episode.
So far this year, by the Scripps News Group's count, Minadeo’s hate has raked in more than $100,000.
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In a statement, Minadeo insisted that each of his livestreams carry the disclaimer that “this show is for entertainment purposes only, I disavow violence.” That disclaimer, seemingly designed to help him avoid legal liability for acts of violence that may be committed by his followers, is nothing heard by any of the children he encounters.
On his X account, the GDL leader publicly posted his response to a Scripps News Group inquiry, referring to our reporting as a “Jewish hit piece,” using a Star of David emoji.
He ended the statement, saying: “I do promote sobriety and fitness... something you should consider, you fat out-of-shape N***** LOVER!”
Who is Jon Minadeo?
The Scripps News Group's Williams first confronted Minadeo during GDL’s visit to Nashville when he and his group spread their antisemitic flyers in the city’s downtown entertainment district, disrupted a Metro Council meeting and protested outside the West End Synagogue.
One GDL member is now serving prison time for a pair of assaults committed during the Nashville visit, while a second is incarcerated for his death threats against the city’s district attorney general. A third man recently pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a separate antisemitic stunt at Nashville’s Gordon Jewish Community Center.
"What I do is I'm an entertainer, a pro-White entertainer,” Minadeo explained to a girl in one of his online encounters. “I hate n*****s. I hate f*****s. I hate non-whites, ok?"
A former rapper who calls himself “Handsome Truth,” Minadeo livestreams from a virtual set that makes it appear as if he is sitting in front of a portrait of Adolf Hitler.
He opens each show with a dramatic stiff-armed salute and a call to “expose these Jewish lies,” followed by a slickly produced music video with Nazi imagery set to a hypnotic song by a German band titled “We Will Kill Them All.”
Engaging in the video chats live during his show, the neo-Nazi uses a variety of filters to change his appearance, often adopting racists caricatures to act out various personas. Those performances are also frequently supplemented with music and dramatic sound effects.
Much of his online trolling activities have been focused on a chat app called OME.TV, which is supposed to be for adults only, although he also appears to seek out children in other online forums, including an app called Monkey.
In one exchange, a young white girl seemed shocked by Minadeo’s presence in the chat.
“How old are you?” she asked incredulously.
“I’m too old to be on this,” he acknowledged, “but I’m warning women like you to stay away from these f——g filthy n*****s.”
The girl giggled before Minadeo began repeatedly switching video filters to change his appearance and yelling at her, calling her “racist,” before finally giving her a Nazi salute. Much to Minadeo’s amusement, the child appeared stunned, unable to speak.
Minadeo clipped that moment from his show and posted it on his channel on the right-wing Telegram messaging app.
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In the case of the 10-year-old boy, after he had revealed his age, Minadeo continued, “Awesome, man. Do you like n*****s?” When the boy said he did not, the podcaster triggered an applause sound effect and delivered a Nazi salute to celebrate his answer.
“Good job! f—k yeah! White power to this f—ing kid!” Minadeo said, drawing laughter from the boy. “This is what I’m talking about. This is the future, bro.”
The GDL leader also clipped that moment for his Telegram channel.
While Williams' investigation has blurred portions of the children’s faces for this report, Minadeo makes no such effort to protect their identities.
‘It’s sickening’
In another moment captured by Williams, the GDL leader held an assault weapon as he interacted with a group of White girls who appeared to be as young as eight.
"Well, listen,” he told them, “I was planning on shooting up like a Black school." Minadeo solicited their opinions on his plan, and they urged him not to follow through with it.
In another case, a group of young White boys began laughing hysterically, jumping up and down in glee, when Minadeo gave his Nazi salute and declared, “F—k n*****s! White power!”
"More of this, more of this,” the podcaster told his audience with a laugh as he watched the boys’ reactions.
Williams asked a group of Nashville parents to watch some of the clips with us to offer their perspectives.
Maryam Abolfazli, the daughter of Iranian immigrants and former chair of the Metro Nashville Human Relations Commission, noted how Minadeo’s showmanship seemed designed to appeal to the children he was courting.
“It felt trendy,” Abolfazli observed. “It felt popular, it felt cool, it felt hip.”
Part of Minadeo’s appeal, especially to White children, is the weaponry that he displays during his interactions.
When a group of young boys spotted what appeared to be an assault weapon the podcaster was holding, they became excited, rushing around the room. One exclaimed, “Get the Glock! Get the Glock!”
In another case, a white girl, who appeared to be in her mid-teens, asked Minadeo about the long gun he was holding, “Is it real? Can you shoot something?"
Minadeo answered, "No, I can't, but it's real."
"Oh, s—t," the girl responded.
The GDL leader continued, “I'm going to go kill n*****s for Charlie Kirk."
"Will you take me with you?" the girl asked excitedly.
For the parents watching the clips, such moments filled them with sadness.
"It's sickening,” said Jason Sparks, a member of Nashville’s Jewish community. “I can't believe that guy's whole thing is engaging with kids like that. That's just so pathetic."
Amber Posey, who lost her 17-year-old daughter Ashanti to gun violence five years ago, noted how Minadeo appeared to be using his guns as a lure for the children.
Williams noted, "What I hear you saying is the gun is used as the hook to sell the hate."
"Absolutely," Posey agreed.
'All so predatory’
In another video, Minadeo tried to befriend an innocent-looking, 12-year-old white girl who had confided that her dad had died in jail as a result of a drug overdose.
Adopting a fatherly tone, he tried to persuade her to avoid what he suggested would be a temptation to date Black boys.
"That's all so predatory to ask where's your dad, like he's looking for the vulnerable kids because they are going to be looking for the strong, male influence—and here he comes in with his big, strong gun," said Sarah Shoop-Neumann.
Jason Sparks agreed. "Like, it's such a grooming, right? He found his way in."
And once he makes the connection, the neo-Nazi frequently tries to get the White kids to come to his websites — goyimtv.com and gtvflyers.com — and become followers.
In one video, Minadeo held up one of GDL’s antisemitic flyers for two White boys to see, telling them: "Read that for me, the headline."
One boy complied, reading: "Every single aspect of the media is Jewish."
In another video, a teen girl exclaimed, “All of them are Jewish? Fox? Fox is Jewish?”
“Yes,” Minadeo falsely claimed.
"Comcast?"
"Yes."
The teen was speechless for a few seconds. "Oh, my God!"
Williams asked Jason Sparks, "How does it feel to see kids embracing his lies?"
“It's terrible," Sparks said, searching for the right words to convey his feelings. "It's crazy because the guns, the racism, all those things are just props so that once he gets them in. It's like, alright now, let's get to the good stuff, hating the Jews.”
In one case, when a teen boy hesitated to show his face on camera, Minadeo pulled out his gun and began to accuse him of being Jewish.
"Look at me, boy!” he yelled at the child. “Listen, I've got something for you, you f—ing little Holocaust survivor! Come, survive this n*****!"
‘He was so vulnerable’
And when Minadeo encounters children who are not White, the Goyim Defense League leader can be unbelievably cruel.
Chatting with a Latina teen, he held his assault weapon as he told her she needed to go back to Mexico.
"Here's what it's going to come down to, ok, in all honesty,” Minadeo said, patting the gun. “You people are a bioweapon."
In another case, he told a young Black boy, “You look like an ugly f—ing n*****."
And in another video, Minadeo repeatedly mocked a biracial teen boy, telling him:"You look like you're part n*****. Is that true?"
"Yes, sir," the boy responded.
"Man, that sucks, bro," Minadeo continued, calling him a "Jewish science experiment."
He eventually used a monkey doll and his gun to act out the murder of a Black baby for the boy.
“Oh, my God!" Maryam Abolfazli called out, finding the scene too much to take.
"It's evil," we acknowledged.
Amber Posey also wiped away tears.
“Even the biracial child was not willing to accept a part of him because he's like, I have this person in front of me that's telling me it's wrong. I have to believe it's wrong," she added.
Maryam Abolfazli interjected, “He internalized that s—t like that."
"He didn't even flinch," Sarah Shoop-Neumann agreed.
Abolfazli added, “He was so vulnerable because it was somewhere else in him, it was somewhere else around him — and that man just dug that hole deeper and filled it with his hate."
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For this group of parents, it was a troubling reminder of the Antioch High School shooter who had somehow come to hate his own Black skin.
"That kid was taught to hate himself and to hate others and kill them," Abolfazli said.
‘It’s just utter depravity’
Adding to the horror, Minadeo encourages the White kids to get guns and prepare themselves to become killers.
"Now, listen, you guys gotta start playing with f**king guns, ok?” the GDL leader told a boy who was sucking on a lollipop while playing a video game. “F—k joysticks. Joysticks are for f*****s."
Speaking to a white boy with braces who claimed to be 14, Minadeo pulled out his assault weapon and began patting it.
“So you know what that means?” he asked.
The boy responded, "Hell, yeah."
"It's time to strap up and get ready for a complete race war."
Speaking to a couple of White boys who appear to be 14 or 15, Minadeo again pulled out one of his guns.
"So here's what's coming, guys — race war! White f—ing power. Feed n*****s lead, ok? F—k n*****s, white power, lock and load, ok?"
And he told two older teen boys, “You need to be at the shooting range getting ready to kill n*****s."
For Sarah Shoop-Neumann, it brought back memories of the deadly day at Nashville's Covenant School when a shooter roamed the halls of her child's school.
"It's just utter depravity,” she said. “I think about the evil that walked through the halls those days, and you can't comprehend it. You can't try to figure out why — and he's breeding it."
In another video, Minadeo cheered on a white teen boy, who pulled out a rifle and was pretending to shoot Black people.
Then, using a video filter to take on a monkey face and holding a monkey doll, the neo-Nazi mocked the sorrowful wail of a grieving Black parent.
"That's a pain that man will never understand,” Amber Posey said, tears streaming down her face as she recalled the unbearable grief of learning that her daughter had been murdered.
“And you make a mockery of that for click bait? That's not ok. That's not ok."
In the videos, the parents saw a man who's willing to take advantage of innocent children for the payouts from his sick followers who thrive on that hate.
“I can’t escape the financial factor — I can’t,” Maryam Abolfazli observed.
Sarah Shoop-Neumann agreed, “The people were giving it when the worst parts came out."
"Yes,” Abolfazli continued, “that's why he does it. It's so clear to me."
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Do you have information that would help me with my investigation? Send me your tips:
phil.williams@newschannel5.com
This story was originally published by Phil Williams with the Scripps News Group in Nashville.
