What to Know
The MAGA influencer Ryley Niemi and Off The Record USA were involved in a physical altercation with a gay couple who were out on the street with their infant child. The kicker? It was all caught on camera, from the personal and antagonistic questions from Ryley to the apparent physical attack from one of the dads when things got too heated.
After the footage was shared on X (formerly Twitter) and Ryley even responded to the post to tag Elon Musk (for what, I’m not entirely sure), sides were drawn on what other users believed to be of importance in what happened. Some people support Ryley and his freedom of speech, others called him out for rage biting the dad and for saying some pretty controversial things to both of the gay men before things escalated.
The MAGA influencer’s questions quickly escalated.
🚨🚨They had The Baby in THEIR ARMS!!
— Ryley Niemi (@RyleyNiemi_) April 18, 2026
🚨🚨Are Gay Men Fit to be Parents?🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
2 Gay Dads with Their "Baby" Strike Ryley Niemi in the back of the head 3 Times
And also break a $2,500 Camera
Support these patriots at this GoFundMehttps://t.co/uL2jMXmjuC pic.twitter.com/A1nBE2Ihw2
In the video, Ryley starts off by asking the gay dads if they are gay men and if the baby one of them is holding is their child. He then asks if they’ve heard the supposed statistic that gay men are more likely to commit child molestation. Unsurprisingly, the men had not heard that one before. Things get worse as he questions if they think “it’s weird” that they have a child together and that neither of them happens to be a woman.
“So you had a surrogate?” Ryley asks. “You paid a woman $50,000 to be pregnant and build an emotional connection to a baby?”
From there, things get physical, as one of the dads shoves him out of the way. The video then cuts to another man saying that the gay dads should be shot and killed. It’s quite the escalation, and the entire ordeal is a lot for people to take in. When Ryley tells the men he is “concerned” for their baby, one of them says they are asking Ryley to leave. At that point, he is shoved into a cameraman.
People have taken sides between the influencer and the gay dads.
Other users on X responded to the post with the video to share their thoughts. Some took sides right away, while others questioned if the video and if the gay dads are totally legitimate, or if it was all somehow an elaborate set-up. Either way, there are clear sides to take here.
“Bruh nobody on your side with this one,” someone responded to Ryley when he tagged Elon in the comments. “Take this as a learning opportunity and grow from this. You are you and mistakes happen. Just strive to be better.”
Someone else had a similar sentiment. They wrote, “So glad they broke your camera. You should have been knocked the f–k out too. Harassing people in the street like that. What a cringe f–king loser.”
“I don’t agree with the whole gay adoption thing,” a user wrote, taking a different approach. “It’s not a good example for kids. Keep your degenerate behavior to yourself.” Who knows? Maybe that comment was from one of Ryley’s throwaway accounts on X.
Another person quickly called him out: “What was the point of this? Harassing people on the street like that is embarrassing and brazen. Moreover, you’re lying about the statistics when it comes to sexual abuse. You’ve only shown that you’re a stupid and malicious person.”
He started a GoFundMe for his filming equipment.
Other users taunted Ryley for “running to the internet” after the altercation happened. They also shamed him for going so far as to start a GoFundMe afterward. According to the fundraiser, it was made in an effort to raise money to replace a camera that was allegedly damaged during the part of the interaction that got physical. As of late April 2026, it was up to more than $1,800 of its $9,000 goal.
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