By Andrew Stanton
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Rob Smith, a gay and Black conservative who was heckled and called racist and homophobic slurs while attending a MAGA event last year, said he is leaving the Republican Party.
Smith, a longtime conservative commentator, announced he now identifies as "politically homeless" during an episode of his podcast Can't Cancel Rob Smith titled "I Was Betrayed—Rob Smith Speaks Out" on Monday.
Smith shared a video on social media in December that he said showed him at an event in Phoenix being "confronted and surrounded by some White Supremacists that don't like gays or blacks in the Republican Party." He said the group hurled racist and homophobic slurs at him, and he later told CNN he was a victim of a hate crime.
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The event was hosted by Republicans for National Renewal, a conservative advocacy group, which previously told Newsweek that "harassment of any attendees at our events is not permitted or condoned."
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Smith described the heckling last December as a key point for his political evolution on Monday. Still, he noted that he remains a "right-leaning person" and will continue sharing his views on political issues.
"When the Rob Smith story is being told about this entire political evolution, let it be known that the Phoenix is very much a catalyst of my evolution completely away from the Republican Party," he said, adding that he will continue to work with some Republicans on issues he believes in.
Smith told Newsweek on Monday it is "not a possibility" that he could begin identifying as a Republican "at any point in the near future," adding that he know identifies as a "right-leaning independent.
"Unfortunately, Trump's loss in 2020 opened up the door for a very far-Right fringe in the party that has become louder and more powerful over the past few years, and it's clear that officials and others with very large platforms do not care to speak up about this because they think these types will bring them back to power," he said.
During his podcast, Smithalso knocked Republicans present at the event for not doing more to defend him, noting that the only person who stood up for him was former Ohio Congressional candidate J.R. Majewski.
He said the encounter left him feeling "exposed," and that he will no longer attend similar events moving forward.
"The reason I don't identify as MAGA anymore, I don't identify as Republican, I don't identity as any of this stuff is because I saw just what the 'MAGA movement' really thought of me," he said.
Smith, an Army veteran, noted that some conservatives "support the troops and they do all that stuff" but that they "don't care" that he was accosted.
Newsweek reached out to the RNC for comment via email.
Smith on Friday said he may release "receipts" on MAGA in a post to X, formerly Twitter, responding to a critic who alleged that Democrats may have been behind the heckling. He also accused a Missouri lawmaker of participating in the heckling.
"Those people were not pretend Republicans or Antifa types they were all involved with @RNRenewal (and direct ties to other orgs) and I have many more receipts to back it up which will be released in the coming weeks," Smith wrote.
Jake Hoffman, CEO of Invasion Digital Media and executive director of Tampa Bay Young Republicans, on Monday backed up Smith's account in a post to X.
"Since it's coming back up, the incident with @robsmithonline in Phoenix did actually happen. They did actually call him the N-Word and other slurs. I know, because I'm there WITH Rob in the video and heard it. It's not some hoax. Same trolls that spew BS from anon accts just IRL," he wrote.
Smith replied, "People don't believe it because they don't WANT to believe it. A big problem, but no longer mine."
Update 03/18/24 1:30 p.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Rob Smith.
Update 03/18/24 2:42 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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