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Racist, conspiratorial posts push out Ignite supporters group president

Posted at 8:55 AM, Apr 15, 2019
and last updated 2019-04-15 08:55:56-04

The president of Lansing Ignite supporters group "The Assembly Line" is no longer with the group after racist and conspiratorial posts he made on social media surfaced Sunday.

A blog post on the website of Michigan-based soccer company Tuebor Football Company shows screenshots of social media posts from now-former Assembly Line president Eric Gibbs that include racist memes and conspiracy theories.

The Assembly Line is an independent supporters group made up of fans of Lansing's professional soccer team, Lansing Ignite FC.

Among the posts Gibbs made to Reddit, about two years ago according to the screenshots, is a meme of African-American rioters in Baltimore with the text "Want to stop riots? Play the national anthem. They'll all sit down." In other posts, Gibbs uses the meme "Pepe The Frog," a hate symbol recognized by the Anti-Defamation League.

The screenshots also show Gibbs posted right-wing conspiracy theories to Reddit, including the false claim that Chelsea Clinton wore a Satanic cross necklace and the false claim that Hillary Clinton engaged in the satanic ritual known as "spirit cooking."

The blog post mentions another Assembly Line member, Alex Hirschmann, and shows screenshots of tweets from 2013 in which he uses the N-word.

In a statement posted to Twitter Sunday night, The Assembly Line says Gibbs and Hirschmann are no longer with the group.