Death Threats Chase BU Student, Charlottesville Marcher Out Of Boston

BOSTON, MA — Death threats are nothing new for Nicholas Fuentes – his politics have garnered plenty over the past year. Now, after Charlottesville, he's heeding them.

A staunchly far-right voice in a left-leaning city and state, the 18-year-old Boston University student quickly caught the eye of the media – and his peers – as he proudly embraced his political beliefs on his hourlong "America First" series on YouTube.

But after attending the same weekend rally as scores of white nationalists, the Illinois native will not return to the Boston school. The decision, he said, was partly influenced by death threats he received in the wake of the violence.

Fuentes estimated he has received about 10-20 death threats in total. After Charlottesville, he "started to see a lot more."

"There was a clear demonstration by the students and people of Boston that not only would I not be welcome to return to campus, but it would actually probably be dangerous," Fuentes told Patch. "Health and safety has always been number one."

Fuentes rejected being labeled a Nazi or a member of the KKK. He said he traveled from Chicago to Charlottesville to fight what he called the "replacement of the native populations of Europe and the United States by people from the third world."

"The slogan of the rally was 'you will not replace us,'" Fuentes said. "And for a long time this issue has gone without discussion or media attention."

He credited President Trump with bringing the issue of "replacement" to the forefront and felt it was important that he and others show up to demonstrations.

"It's important to go to the ground," he said. "Globalists who run the country are not going to replace the population."

White nationalists marched on Charlottesville over the weekend to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. The demonstration turned violent, and three people were killed in events related to the rally, including a counter-protester who was run over by an alleged Nazi and two Virginia State Police troopers who died in a helicopter crash.

Fuentes shared screenshots of the purported death threats he received in the wake of the violence, which included a person calling on him to "jump off the BU bridge" and another telling him, "since you are white, male, a nazi and a supremacist, ... we are going to kill you instead of reasoning with you."

Seb Tellez, 19, who posted the Facebook status Sunday that read "Petition for Nicholas J. Fuentes to jump off the BU bridge" issued a blistering rebuke to the idea that his post contributed to Fuentes leaving school. In a Facebook message to Patch, Tellez wrote:

"Nick Fuentes, a Mexican-American neo-Nazi who supports the alt-right, is reaching for attention through the media. I pose and posed no threat to him. My comment was suggesting disdain but in no point did I threaten him. To elaborate on his seeking attention through lies, let me point out that on Saturday, August 12th at 5:13 PM, he commented on a Facebook post that “… i actually transferred out of BU” and my post was posted the day after. In no way can he suggest that I am to blame for an action he had already committed to. Was I harsh? Of course. He and I are very harsh to one another verbally. Why did I make the comment? The world would be better if Nazis and their supporters, and thereby other Nazis, jumped off bridges. Do I feel bad? Should I feel bad for a Nazi, or a Nazi-sympathizer?"

Fuentes said he will not attend the "Second Boston Free Speech Rally" on the Boston Common this Saturday, calling it "tone deaf" after last weekend's violence. Officials have strongly condemned any hate groups planning to attend.

"Especially with the tragedy of [Charlottesville victim] Heather Heyer, I don't know what these people are thinking," he said. "It seems like it's asking for trouble."

Boston University confirmed that Fuentes is no longer enrolled at the school. He plans to transfer to Auburn University in Alabama in the spring.

Nicholas Fuentes, poses for a photo in his basement studio in LaGrange Park, Ill., Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2017. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford)