Oculus Rift Founder Palmer Luckey Funding Trump Shitposters

Oculus Rift Founder Palmer Luckey Funding Trump Shitposters

Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus Rift, has been keeping busy since he sold the company to Facebook in 2014. One thing he’s done to pass the time, as reported by The Daily Beast, is to financially back (and be named Vice President of) a company dedicated to alt-right meme shitposts.

Image: AP

UPDATE: Palmer Luckey posted a statement to Facebook in which he claimed he’s not a Trump supporter and instead plans to vote Libertarian. He said he contributed $US10,000 ($13,300) to Nimble America because he’s “committed to the principles of fair play and equal treatment” and “thought the organization had fresh ideas on how to communicate with young voters.” He also said he did not write the infamous ‘NimbleRichMan’ Reddit post, contrary to what the Daily Beast’s news editor claims Luckey said in an email.

Original story follows:

The company, described in The Daily Beast’s article as “a pro-Trump political organisation”, is called Nimble America, and say they are dedicated to establishing that “shitposting is powerful and meme magic is real.”

Some actions Nimble America claim to have taken in recent months include “conquering Reddit” (and by that they mean r/The_Donald) and paying for a giant anti-Hillary Clinton billboard outside Pittsburgh. Alongside Luckey’s name (well, his Reddit account) on the group’s founders page are two mods of r/The_Donald.

The report also dwells on the relationship between Luckey and Breitbart’s Milo Yiannopoulos, and mentions that another of Nimble America’s founders, Dustin Ward, claims the group will be paying for more billboards around the sites of upcoming presidential debates.

Luckey says that “I came into touch with them over Facebook. It went along the lines of ‘hey, I have a bunch of money. I would love to see more of this stuff.’ They wanted to build buzz and do fundraising.”

Here’s Luckey’s bio on Nimble America’s site (NimbleRichMan is his Reddit account, which Luckey confirmed to The Daily Beast):

NimbleRichMan is a near Billionaire and staunch supporter of the Common Sense Conservative movement. He is co-founder along with D.B. Purple and our third silent partner. Milo Yiannopoulos has personally vetted NimbleRichMan and the Non-Profit Nimble America, Inc. he helped create. NimbleRichMan will continue to guide Nimble America as its Vice-President.

And here’s a recent post Luckey made on r/The_Donald:

The American Revolution was funded by wealthy individuals. The same has been true of many movements for freedom in history. You can’t fight the American elite without serious firepower. They will outspend you and destroy you by any and all means.

Cool, guy.

Now go read The Daily Beast’s full piece.

UPDATE 1: Here’s another of his Reddit posts:

UPDATE 2: Looks like Luckey’s NimbleRichMan Reddit account has been deleted.

Oculus Rift Founder Palmer Luckey Funding Trump Shitposters

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