Brittany Sellner
Birth nameBrittany Pettibone
OccupationActivist · influencer · author
Years active2016–present
SpouseMartin Sellner (m. 2019)
Websitebrittpettibone.com

Brittany Sellner () is an American white nationalist and conspiracy theorist.[1][2][3] She has been active as a YouTuber, and advocates anti-feminism and the Great Replacement conspiracy theory.[4][5][6][7]

Political activities

Sellner began her political activism in 2016 in support of Donald Trump's presidential campaign.[6] She promoted the Pizzagate conspiracy theory,[2][8][9] and co-hosted the video podcast Virtue of the West with Tara McCarthy.[9][10] The following year, she was one of the speakers at events that led to protests at Berkeley.[11][12] She also traveled to France to support French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen,[6] and to Sicily to join Generation Identity's efforts to stop NGO boats of African migrants.[10]

In 2018, she was refused entry to the United Kingdom and deported along with her boyfriend, Austrian Identitarian activist Martin Sellner,[13][14] after having come to Britain with the intention of interviewing Tommy Robinson.[15] The same year, together with Lauren Southern, she met with and interviewed Russian ultranationalist Aleksandr Dugin.[16][17] Sellner is also noted to be a friend of Dutch right-wing influencer Eva Vlaardingerbroek,[18] and has appeared in anti-COVID-19 vaccination demonstrations.[5][6]

Sellner describes herself as a "Catholic American nationalist", and advocates a "full stop on mass immigration".[2] The Anti-Defamation League have described her as an alt-right or alt-lite activist[10][15] who traffics in white nationalist ideas,[2] having contributed to websites such as AltRight.com and Red Ice.[19] She has been a major promoter of the Identitarian movement,[20] and has promoted the white genocide[3][8] and George Soros conspiracy theories.[5][21] At the same time, she is noted for presenting a "soft" and feminine tradwife influencer lifestyle on social media like Instagram, appealing to a more mainstream audience.[4][5]

Personal life

Together with her identical twin Nicole, Sellner authored the science-fiction and fantasy novel Hatred Day under the pseudonym T.S. Pettibone in 2016.[22] The novel was selected as one of Kirkus Reviews' Best Books Of 2016.[23]

Originally from California, she married Martin Sellner, and moved to Austria in 2019.[6] The couple had originally planned to get married in Idaho in the US,[24] while Brittany was living in Post Falls.[8] However, Martin's visa was cancelled after Austrian police raided his home, even though the couple eventually received backing from the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee.[2][8][21] In June 2019, the Austrian investigation of Martin for alleged contacts with Christchurch terrorist Brenton Tarrant widened to include Brittany, for her interview with Australian Blair Cottrell.[25] Brittany and Martin Sellner had a son in 2021.[6]

Bibliography

  • The Steel Inferno: There are as many secrets as there are faces. Chrysanthalix Press. 2013. ISBN 978-0615727882.
  • Hatred Day. Chrysanthalix Press. 2016. ISBN 978-0997202915.
  • What Makes Us Girls: And Why It's All Worth It. Reason Books. 2018. ISBN 978-0997202977.
  • Patriots Not Welcome. Chrysanthalix Press. 2021. ISBN 978-0997202991.

References

  1. ^ "IntelBrief: How was the Capitol Insurrection Viewed by Far-Right Extremists Globally?". The Soufan Center. February 8, 2021. Retrieved July 4, 2025. There are still important differences between aspects of the far-right in the United States and elements in Europe, although there appear to be growing synergies. Martin Sellner, the leading figure in Europe’s Generation Identity movement and married to a prominent American white nationalist (Brittany Pettibone), spoke openly about the events of January 6 at the Capitol.
  2. ^ Kelety, Josh (May 9, 2019). "An alt-right figure who pushed the Pizzagate conspiracy theory finds allies among Kootenai County Republicans". Inlander. Archived May 20, 2024 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ^ Cox, Simon & Meisel, Anna (September 20, 2018). "Martin Sellner: The new face of the far right in Europe". BBC News. Archived December 3, 2024 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ^ Schmid, Birgit (March 4, 2024). "Rechte Influencerinnen wie Brittany Sellner gestalten die Identitäre Bewegung mit. Bei ihnen verschmelzen Intimität und Ideologie" (in German). Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Archived May 19, 2024 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ^ Steffens, Frauke (January 20, 2024). "Ein Gemisch aus Verschwörungsreden, Rassismus und Aufwiegelei" (in German). Frankfurter Allgemeine. Archived October 24, 2024 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ^ Schäfer, Sarah (February 4, 2024). ""White-Power-Barbie": Wer ist Brittany Sellner?" (in German). Heute.at. Archived May 19, 2024 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ^ Vela, Sabeth (March 18, 2024). "Brittany Sellner: So vertreibt Martin Sellners Frau Rechtsextremismus auf Social Media" (in German). Watson. Archived May 19, 2024 at the Wayback Machine.
  8. ^ Sokol, Chad (May 1, 2019). "Kootenai County GOP embraces promoters of far-right 'Pizzagate' and 'Great Replacement' conspiracy theories". The Spokesman-Review. Archived February 7, 2025 at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ^ Bonazzo, John (January 30, 2017). "Alt-Right 'PizzaGate Expert' Starts GoFundMe for Her Podcast, Internet Revolts". Observer.com. Archived May 19, 2024 at the Wayback Machine.
  10. ^ "From Alt Right to Alt Lite: Naming the Hate". Anti-Defamation League. July 12, 2017. Archived October 9, 2024 at the Wayback Machine.
  11. ^ Dizikes, Cynthia (April 16, 2017). "Arrests made as protesters clash at pro-Trump rally in Berkeley". SFGate. Archived October 6, 2023 at the Wayback Machine.
  12. ^ McLaughlin, Eliott C.; Yan, Holly; Hassan, Carma (April 27, 2017). "Berkeley protests: No Ann Coulter, but demonstrators gather". CNN. Archived March 23, 2024 at the Wayback Machine.
  13. ^ "Why 3 anti-Islam activists were refused entry to the UK". BBC. March 14, 2018. Archived May 15, 2024 at the Wayback Machine.
  14. ^ Schneider, Kate (March 14, 2018). "Far-right activists refused entry to the UK". news.com.au. Archived November 20, 2023 at the Wayback Machine.
  15. ^ Porter, Tom (March 12, 2018). "Alt-Right Media Personalities Denied Entry to U.K.". Newsweek. Archived February 28, 2025 at the Wayback Machine.
  16. ^ Zappone, Chris (August 12, 2018). "The high price of 'white genocide' politics for Australia". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived September 24, 2024 at the Wayback Machine.
  17. ^ Barthélemy, Hélène (June 8, 2018). "Far-right provocateurs Lauren Southern and Brittany Pettibone met with Russian ultranationalist philosopher Alexander Dugin". Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived May 19, 2024 at the Wayback Machine.
  18. ^ Wienand, Lars (February 24, 2025). "AfD-Kampagne aus dem Ausland – mit Musk an vorderster Spitze" (in German). t-online. Archived February 28, 2025 at the Wayback Machine.
  19. ^ "Explained: Alt-right, alt-light and militias in the US". Al Jazeera. October 13, 2017. Archived June 5, 2025 at the Wayback Machine.
  20. ^ Zúquete, José Pedro (2018). The Identitarians: The Movement against Globalism and Islam in Europe. University of Notre Dame Press. p. 151. ISBN 9780268104245.
  21. ^ Shamsian, Jacob (May 1, 2019). "A far-right Austrian activist who received a donation from the Christchurch mosque shooter has been banned from going to the US to marry his YouTube star girlfriend". Business Insider. Archived February 28, 2025 at the Wayback Machine.
  22. ^ Freixas, Catalina & Abbott, Mark (2018). Segregation by Design: Conversations and Calls for Action in St. Louis. Springer. p. 284. ISBN 9783319729565.
  23. ^ "Hatred Day". Kirkus Reviews. April 11, 2016. Archived May 20, 2024 at the Wayback Machine.
  24. ^ Owen, Tess (April 30, 2019). "The Idaho GOP is helping an alt-right YouTube star marry her Austrian white nationalist boyfriend". Vice News. Archived February 28, 2025 at the Wayback Machine.
  25. ^ Wilson, Jason (June 26, 2019). "Austrian far-right leader searched on suspicion of forming terrorist group with Christchurch shooter". The Guardian. Archived February 12, 2025 at the Wayback Machine.

Further reading