# Jean-François Gariépy

Jean-François Gariépy (born 1984) is a Canadian white supremacist, former neuroscience researcher, and alt-right political commentator. Gariépy hosted the YouTube channel The Public Space before launching his current channel JFG Tonight where he calls for the creation of a white ethnostate, promotes antisemitic messages, and advocates for the genetic superiority of white people. The Anti-Defamation League lists The Public Space among "White Supremacist Channels". Gariépy has been described as a "standard bearer of the alt-right."

## Early life

Gariépy was raised in Saint-Sophie. Gariépy studied biology at the Université de Montreal. In 2008, the Society for Neuroscience awarded Gariépy the Next Generation Award. In 2012, he finished a doctoral thesis in French about the neural networks involved in the respiratory rhythm in lampreys. From September 2011 until September 2015, Gariépy studied social interactions in monkeys at the Institute for Brain Sciences at Duke University. Over his scientific career, Gariépy published 21 research items that were cited 922 times.
Gariépy was not asked to return to his postdoctoral position. At this time, Gariépy was in a relationship with one of his undergraduate lab assistants. Gariépy told The Daily Beast he left Duke University for Canada because "he'd grown disillusioned with the scientific community." In a Facebook post, Gariépy said he was leaving academia because it was "defective" and was interfering with "a true search for knowledge". He said he would continue to search for "a better way" to satisfy his scientific curiosity. As of 2018, he had moved back to Canada following changes to his legal immigration status related to his divorce from his third wife.

## Political commentator

Gariépy made his first public appearance on episode 76 of the podcast Drunken Peasants in 2015. In 2017, Gariépy joined the YouTube channel Warski Live as co-host. At Warski Live, Gariépy introduced topics like scientific racism by discussing ethnic differences with guests like Richard B. Spencer, Millennial Woes, Andrew Anglin and Sargon of Akkad. At Warski Live, Gariépy gained notoriety among the alt-right as a moderator of the so-called "YouTube Bloodsports" where two or more mainly right-wing guests engage in often highly abusive discussions on politics.
After a falling out with his co-host, Andy Warski, in April 2018, Gariépy founded his own YouTube channel "The Public Space". The channel has, among many others, featured white nationalists and alt-right figures like Richard B. Spencer, David Duke, Mike Peinovich, Nick Fuentes, Greg Johnson, in addition to anti-transgender activist Posie Parker.

## Personal life

Gariépy has been married and divorced three times. His first marriage occurred when he was 18 and lasted five years.
His divorce case with his third wife (who he married in early 2015) became contentious when his ex-wife accused him on threatening to take their newborn child (born in December 2015) to Canada, among other accusations of emotional abuse that had her file for custody the day after his birth. In that same case, an undergraduate at Duke University had disclosed he had conducted an inappropriate sexual relationship with her when he had her as his research assistant and was accused of "emotional abuse", while he contended that the relationship was consensual.
Not long after the custody battle, he became embroiled in a guardianship lawsuit over a 19-year-old he was claiming as his fiancée that a doctor said had autism and "the social and mental maturity of a 10 or 11-year-old child.” Gariépy had made contact with the woman online before she decided to travel to North Carolina to see him in July of 2016 and had sex. The parents of the teenager won guardianship and returned her home, having believed in fear of being pregnant (she was not found to be pregnant, despite attempts made by Gariépy). Gariepy stated in a video after the battle that his public statements being used against him in court was flawed and “that is a problem a white ethnostate could solve.”
Gariépy's partner Élora Patoine (also known as "Mama JF") disappeared in June 2023, having last been seen in Moncton on June 19, two days after being left at a gas station. He subsequently announced a deep cleaning of his house. He believed that she left voluntarily (as an act of off-the-grid living) in explaining why he never reported her absence to police, but in September/October 2023, she was reported missing. As of October 2024, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police was still seeking tips from the public to help find Patoine.

## Selected works

* Gariepy, Jean-Francois (2012). Organisation et modulation du réseau neuronal de la respiration chez la lamproie (PDF) (in French). Montreal: Université de Montreal.