(Photo illustration by The Bulwark / Photos: Getty, Shutterstock)Groypers Ground Up by Their HeroJohn Lawrence, a “groyper” devotee of white nationalist podcaster Nick Fuentes, last week posted a picture of himself and another Fuentes supporter being interviewed by CNN reporter Donie O’Sullivan. For Lawrence, who regularly packages clips of Fuentes for his 40,000-plus followers on Instagram, the interview should have marked a new level of prominence.And, at that moment, he certainly seemed to feel that way. In the caption, Lawrence wrote that he and his friend were “mogging” O’Sullivan—in other words, looking stronger or more handsome than the journalist.But by the weekend, the vibes had turned sour and popular opinion had changed; people were starting to feel it was Lawrence who had been mogged.

As pictures he posted of the still-unreleased CNN interview began circulating online, none other than Fuentes himself entered the conversation—fuming that Lawrence and another of his followers were making his fanbase look slovenly.“Can someone come kill me immediately,” Fuentes wrote in a Telegram post, zooming in on Lawrence’s clunky taupe loafers.“Do not claim to represent me if you are dressed like that and are +25 BMI,” Fuentes added, posting a picture of the pair walking with Sullivan as they wore shirts with Fuentes’s face on them.Fuentes concluded by posting a picture of Family Guy’s Peter Griffin jumping out of a window, presumably to his death. His followers soon joined in.

One posted a cartoon of a quivering Lawrence, his belly hanging out of his shirt, preparing for the interview. A pro-Fuentes streamer who goes by the name “Beardson Beardly” declared in an online chat that he couldn’t wait for Lawrence “to be doxed and have his life ruined forever.”None of this backlash, it’s worth repeating, resulted from what Lawrence actually said to O’Sullivan, since no one knows that yet. It was literally all about fat-shaming him and mocking his looks.The fervor Fuentes turned on his erstwhile fans isn’t just a reflection of how nasty the internet can be, something all social media users already know very well. It rather underscores one of the central internal problems within the groyper community.