Conservative youth organization Turning Point USA has parted ways with brand ambassador Ashley St. Clair after she was photographed at a dinner over the weekend with white nationalist and anti-Semitic content creators.
A spokesperson confirmed on Monday that staff had been alerted to the pictures, which began circulating on social media, and later announced that TPUSA had severed ties with St. Clair.
“TPUSA is a large national organization that touches hundreds of thousands of people all across the nation,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Ashley is no longer one of our thousands of volunteer activists and ambassadors. Charlie [Kirk] and TPUSA have repeatedly and publicly denounced white nationalism as abhorrent and un-American and will continue to do so.”
The spokesperson added that St. Clair was not representing TPUSA when she was photographed.
Before she was let go, St. Clair posted social media content for right-wing audiences and served as an ambassador for the organization, a position that typically is not on the TPUSA payroll. Earlier this year she was advertised as a “special guest” at TPUSA’s Teen Student Action Summit.
This weekend, right-wing personalities assembled in Florida for a debate between white nationalist and anti-Semitic podcaster Nicholas Fuentes and right-wing operative Jacob Wohl. Afterwards, many in attendance joined for a dinner which St. Clair also attended. She later told Right Wing Watch that she did not attend the controversial event but was present for a “diverse dinner.”
“I did attend a diverse dinner I was invited to in which I got to give voice to some of the anger I’ve had in the past,” she said. “Some of the people pictured had been vicious to me online and I’m not above confronting people or forgiving people. I’m a strong Jewish woman and don’t need to be told where I can and cannot go,”
She later said, “I’m sick of guilt-by-association Twitter journalism that leaves out all context and meaning. The focus of the dinner was civility. I’m not accountable for anything anyone else posts online and I myself have been a victim of bigoted trolling. Attending a dinner for a civil conversation is not an endorsement for anybody’s views.”
Among those pictured in the photo were Fuentes and Tim “Baked Alaska” Gionet, who has used his social media influence to promote extremists, including the Daily Stormer’s Andrew Anglin, and open anti-Semite Paul Nehlen, who ran for Congress in 2018.