Say what you want about the furry fandom but it’s become a staple of pop culture. Furries and their fursuits have appeared in shows like Lucifer and there have even been several award-winning documentaries about the unique subculture. Even Violent J from the Insane Clown Posse has a fursuit. Seriously, furries are everywhere.
However, not all is well within the furry fandom. As far back as 2017, websites like Rolling Stone have been reporting on the community’s potential Nazi problem and issues with those in the community having ties to the alt-right. The right-wing ideological movent often rejects mainstream politicals and expresses opposition to racial, religious, or gender equality. Even as recently as 2019 alt-right figureheads like Milo Yiannopolous attempted to attend the largest convention in the fandom before being subsequently banned.
Still, it seems the community is still facing these issues. AWOO Association announced on Twitter today that they would be hosting a convention called Free Fur All in May 2022 also posting a video trailer for the event. Since the initial announcement, the fandom has been up in arms due to the questionable people behind the convention and its announced guest of honor — both of whom have ties to the alt-right.
One of the major minds behind the convention is Nicole “Peacewolf” Reno, a self-described Conservative-Libertarian according to their Twitter account @PeaceWolfRants. Reno has previously faced accusations of saying racial slurs to Black people, participating in a chatroom ran by a person who has advocated for the genocide of transgender people and has allegedly supported zoophiles, and making various bigoted tweets by various furry community members on Twitter. She also has ties to a darker group — The Furry Raiders.
The Furry Raiders are an alt-right furry group lead by Lee “Foxler” Miller who is well known for his fursuit that features a Nazi-esque red armband and whose name is a combination of the words fox and Hitler. Miller was previously charged with sex crimes against a minor and while charges were dropped, he was not proven innocent with an acquittal.
The Furry Raider’s ties to hate movements have been heavily documented and there are even known neo-nazis with membership in the group. One of their members even attended the now-infamous Charlottesville march. The group has also had a special chat allegedly for zoophilia content.
Reno has appeared in a Furry Raiders video as recently as June 5th, 2021, and has previously faced allegations of not taking sexual assaults seriously at a convention she previously worked for which has raised concerns on the safety of having her head a convention.
It has been confirmed to us by an anonymous source that Reno is the creative force behind the convention as well as by incorporation documents for Awoo Association. It was also revealed to us by the same source that Awoo Association allegedly attempted to get the hotel to sign an exclusivity clause which would have forced Tails and Tornados Fur Con to find a new host for their event, but the hotel refused to do so. They also claimed that Awoo Association was attempting to scalp AV and audio crews from other conventions in the surrounding area.
Leaked Discord chat logs depict that Jeffory Nightfang, Orion, LakodaFrost, Arken, Fleur, AzariahWolf, ArtMonkey27, and Reno’s husband who goes by Foxglove are also involved in convention planning. Foxglove is known to have multiple Twitter accounts which have been allegedly used to harass people on Twitter. Foxglove has also previously made homophobic statements and shared his anti LGBTQ+ views on various forms of social media.
Orion has also previously shared racist views on Twitter, is an alleged QAnon supporter, and has previously held staff positions at other furry events. He has also expressed anti-masking views.
The convention’s current guest of honor also has ties to The Furry Raiders. Matthew “2 Gryphon” Davis has gone so far as to say he was “going to promote alt-furry” within a Furry Raiders chat room but that’s just the beginning of controversies surrounding the once-popular fandom comedian.
Davis has been recorded in several videos and well as in his written “rants” saying things that many found offensive about suicide, slavery, and sexual assault. He even has gone so far as to defend Foxler after he was charged with the sexual assault of a minor.
“Unfortunately, in 2016, his excursion in comedy was considered ‘canceled’ after being accused of being a ‘Homophobic, Transphobic, Misogynist, Racist, Nazi’ for the usual sin of publicly declaring a belief and passion for the concept of free speech.”
AWOO Association Website
The controversy surrounding the convention doesn’t just end there. Awoo Association’s logo may be inspired by The Grey Wolves, a violent white supremacist organization. The group is also not only potentially trying to trademark the well-used furry term Awoo, but even the charity Free Fur All has chosen is extremely questionable. Safari’s Sanctuary has faced multiple accusations of animal abuse with the USDA previously revoking its license to operate. A man was also killed after a lion-tiger hybrid mauled him to death at the facility.
There is even an entire Facebook group dedicated to sharing information about Safari’s Sanctuary, showing it even has ties to Joe Exotic who became infamous after the documentary Tiger King was released. Nicole “Peacewolf” Reno has previously stated she volunteers for the organization.
While there have already been calls to get the convention canceled, there is no word from the Tulsa Marriott Southern Hills on if they will be canceling their contract with the convention at this time. We’ll have to wait and see if the furry fandom is loud enough or if Free Fur All will go on as scheduled.
Update – Sept. 1 2:40pm CT: Article updated with additional context regarding Miller’s charges.
Update – Sept. 1 3:00pm CT: Article updated with additional information surrounding the convention and its potential board of directors.
Update – Sept. 1 10:39pm CT: Article updated with additional information on Orion, and previous Furry Raider activity.
Update – Sept. 2 1:11pm CT: We have received an official comment from the general manager at the Tulsa Marriott Southern Hills.
“I think commenting on anything that may or may not happen here is a little bit premature. We have received many calls about this convention called fur con but as for us hosting them, nothing has been confirmed yet. We are too far out to comment on an event that may not even happen. I understand that you want to write a story on this but as far as the Marriott is concerned it would be prudent to leave us out of it. That’s all I want to comment at this time.”
Update – Sept. 3 1:00pm CT: Updated for clarity and additional information.
Update: Sept 3. 5:10pm CT: Awoo Association currently has a link to the Free Fur All room block on its website contradicting statements made by the Tulsa Marriott Southern Hills general manager.
