Far-right media personality Stew Peters took down videos in which he claimed a gay influencer sexually abused his own children and suggested that the New York Police Department investigate him for sex crimes.
The removal was predicated by a cease-and-desist from the influencer, who threatened a defamation lawsuit against Peters.
The influencer, Jose Rolón, goes by @NYCGayDad online and has half a million TikTok followers. Peters talked about him, his three children, and his TikTok videos in a February 2024 episode of the Stew Peters Show, which he broadcasts online.
Peters called Rolón a pervert, a creep, and “utterly disgusting,” and claimed that he bought his young children sex toys.
Peters rose to prominence as a conspiracy theorist who has denied that the Holocaust happened and that Ukraine and Russia are at war.
He also produced a film called Died Suddenly, which promotes anti-vax conspiracies and claims that people were killed by the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Some pervert homo has access to at least four kids around the clock all the time. He can take them to drag conventions and then post the evidence. Post pictures and videos of criminal sexual conduct or at minimum lewd and lascivious behavior online,” Peters said of Rolón’s social media accounts. “And somehow not end up in jail—or better yet the gallows.”
Peters’s broadcast about Rolón came after right-wing influencer Chaya Raichik tweeted about one of his TikToks. In the video, Rolón and his children talk about attending drag conventions and reference a time that Rolón bought his children what he thought were bracelets but were actually sex toys.
“I was mortified. I was like ‘wait a minute oh my god what did I do?’” Rolón said in a TikTok about the gaffe. “I had a good laugh with the vendor afterwards.”
Rolón has three children, who he said didn’t know about Peters’ statements about them.
@nycgaydad You got the wrong guy #StewPeters . Don’t be scared while looking in your own backyard. #lgbtqfamily #gaydads @Out Magazine @Gays With Kids @theadvocatemag @Attitude Magazine @PinkNews 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ @GAY TIMES @Queerty* @gaynewsoffical ♬ original sound – Jose Rolon
At the time, Rolón shared screenshots of the hateful comments and death threats he received as a result of Peters’ statements—many of which suggested Rolón should not be allowed to be a parent and should be killed.
Peters’ comments about Rolón are reminiscent of other anti-LGBTQ conspiracies and rhetoric that have become popular among the far-right in the last few years. Anti-LGBTQ figures like Raichik, who runs the X account @LibsOfTikTok, have popularized the falsehood that LGBTQ people groom and molest children.
And these false narratives have consequences: Raichik’s statements about LGBTQ people have been connected to bomb threats nationwide.
In response to Peters’ harmful claims, Rolón and his legal team sent a cease-and-desist letter to Peters “demanding that Stew Peters Network remove all videos that mention Rolón or his children,” according to a post on Rolón’s website.
Peters and the network complied “quickly,” he said.
“We have to stand up to these bullies and trolls,” Rolón said on his website. “Free speech doesn’t mean you are free to say anything you want just to get clicks and views.”
Though a firm ended up working with Rolón on a pro bono basis, he raised over $75,000 in the wake of Peters’ broadcast about him to pay for legal fees to fight Peters. According to his GoFundMe, Rolón hasn’t yet used the funds he raised.
“It’s amazing that the kids are still completely unaware of this situation, and I’m grateful for that,” Rolón wrote in a GoFundMe post today to his donors. “You got me through the worst of it, and I cannot thank you enough.”
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