Gavin McInnes

Gavin Miles McInnes was born on July 17, 1970, in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England, to Scottish parents. His family relocated to Ottawa, Canada, when he was four years old. He attended Earl of March Secondary School in Ottawa and later graduated from Carleton University. In his youth, McInnes played in an Ottawa punk band named Anal Chinook. His career began in 1994 when he joined Voice magazine, later renamed Voice of Montreal, as an assistant editor and cartoonist. The magazine, established under a Quebec government job creation program, focused on Montreal’s alternative cultural scene. In 1996, McInnes, along with Suroosh Alvi and Shane Smith, acquired the magazine and renamed it Vice.

McInnes co-founded Vice magazine in 1996 and moved to New York City with Vice Media in 2001. During his time at Vice, he was considered a prominent figure in the New York hipster subculture. He contributed articles such as “The VICE Guide to Happiness” and “The VICE Guide to Picking Up Chicks,” and co-authored books including “The Vice Guide to Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll” and “Vice Dos and Don’ts: 10 Years of VICE Magazine’s Street Fashion Critiques.” In 2006, he appeared in “The Vice Guide to Travel” with David Cross. He departed from Vice in 2008 due to what he cited as creative differences, particularly concerning the increasing influence of corporate advertising on the magazine’s content.

Following his departure from Vice, McInnes founded the website StreetCarnage.com in 2008 and co-founded Rooster, an advertising agency where he served as creative director. He was a guest judge on “Kenny vs. Spenny” in 2006 and voiced Mick in the animated series “Soul Quest Overdrive” (2010-2011). In 2012, he released his memoir “How to Piss in Public,” and in 2013, he directed “The Brotherhood of the Traveling Rants.” McInnes also acted in films such as “How to Be a Man” (2013), “Creative Control” (2015), and “One More Time” (2015). In 2016, he founded the Proud Boys, a men’s organization.