Diagolon leader Jeremy MacKenzie says the recent attacks against mainstream media outlets results from them "lying and misrepresenting people."."They're trying to take this issue of public outrage against the legacy media for what they've been doing over the last few years, and they're trying to spin that as 'well you're just attacking women and people of colour," MacKenzie said in an interview with the Western Standard.."No, I'm attacking you because you lied.".MacKenzie was recently thrust into the centre of the Conservative Party's leadership race after the 35-year-old Canadian Armed Forces veteran shook hands with frontrunner Pierre Poilievre during a meet and greet in Nova Scotia..In the days following, several Liberal and NDP MPs called for Poilievre to denounce MacKenzie by name. Instead, Poilievre denounced racism "and all who spread it," and said he couldn't be held responsible for the actions of every person he met..MacKenzie said he met with Poilievre because he wanted to ask him about his commitment to defund the CBC. But MacKenzie also wanted to take a photograph with Poilievre because he "knew this would happen."."I knew the media would run with this conspiracy theory that Pierre Poilievre, James Topp and I are all secretly colluding together with Neo-Nazis to take over the country," he said. .READ MORE: Legacy media blasts Poilievre for shaking hands with Diagolon founder.Anti-hate groups characterized MacKenzie's Diagolon as a far-right, accelerationist militia group, pointing to instances of racism, antisemitism, and anti-government rhetoric its members have expressed..MacKenzie also faces criminal harassment charges arising from a protest outside the home of Nova Scotia's chief medical officer. And patches sporting Diagolon's flag were found during an RCMP raid at the Coutts, AB border back in February..Media outlets like Global News have written stories questioning whether Diagolon's rhetoric could encourage real-world violence. But MacKenzie, who came up with Diagolon while high on marijuana edibles on a livestream, said the media has failed to cover the group fairly.."The leader of Diagolon is a goat with a substance abuse problem. There's no militia and there's no hidden cache of weapons. Diagolon is just an amalgamation of conservative Canadians and Americans that think a certain way. The country is a meme," he said..MacKenzie said he's been "waging my own war" against the media for several years.."They've been deliberately lying and misrepresenting people for quite a while now, and it doesn't take much to get them to shoot themselves in the foot," he added..MacKenzie's comments come as several journalists allegedly received hateful and threatening emails from anonymous right-wing Canadians. Global News' Rachel Gilmore, The Hill Times Erica Ifil, and the Toronto Star's Saba Eitizaz have all been the targets of people displeased with the media's coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and Conservative leadership race..But according to MacKenzie, outlets like Global News have used their platform to harass members of Diagolon. MacKenzie claimed one smaller publication even posted MacKenzie's home address online..MacKenzie said he isn't aware of any members of Diagolon that have been sending hateful messages to Global News' Gilmore, who has written extensively about the group. But he questioned the legitimacy of the emails she and other journalists have posted online.."Obviously that's detestable, but I'm suspicious that it's even taking place. Why don't they publish the senders of these emails?" MacKenzie said..MacKenzie said Diagolon is seen as a radical and dangerous group due to a "sustained character assassination campaign" being lead by former Canadian Jewish Congress CEO Bernie Farber and Canadian Anti-Hate Network Executive Director Evan Balgord. .MacKenzie said the Anti-Hate Network is a "government-funded partisan actor" that has written such biased articles about Diagolon that then get picked up by media outlets. He pointed out that the Anti-Hate Network receives grants from the Liberal government.."These journalists type in my name into Google, they see language about these scary white supremacists with guns and masks, and they run with it. Many of them, not including Rachel Gilmore, have never even reached out to me," he said..Rachel Gilmore did not respond to a request for comment.
