Ethan Ralph, host of the far-right “Killstream” podcast, was arrested Tuesday for posting revenge porn of an 18-year-old woman with whom he was involved.
Ralph, who was a prominent cheerleader of the misogynist Gamergate harassment campaign, was arrested on charges of unlawfully disseminating images of another person. Under Virginia law, maliciously disseminating sexual photos without the victim’s consent, with the intent to coerce, harass, or intimidate, is a Class 1 misdemeanor, subject to up to two years in prison and a fine.
On Aug. 11, a video of Ralph and an 18-year-old woman was reportedly posted on Instagram and then Kiwi Farms, a website referred to as “the Web’s Biggest Community of Stalkers” by New York Magazine in 2016 and known for reposting the white nationalist manifesto of the Christchurch shooter in 2019. Ralph claimed he did not leak the video, but far-right websites and personalities suggest otherwise.
Ralph was released from jail on recognizance bail on the same day he was arrested, according to court records, meaning he did not have to pay bail. Ralph claims he was only in jail for about 2.5 hours and that he had another hearing this morning, which he claimed in a tweet was “5 minutes.” This wasn’t his first stay in jail either. Ralph spent eight months in jail after resisting arrest and attacking an officer in September 2016.
In his “Killstream” podcast, which was recorded Tuesday night after his arrest and posted online Wednesday morning, Ralph said police showed up to his home in Richmond, Virginia, Tuesday evening and informed him there was a warrant out for his arrest. Ralph claimed that police officers, whom he called “Richmond’s finest,” allowed him to put on warmer pants and shoes, adding, “the magistrate was very polite, the police officers were amazing.”
“I saw a magistrate, and it was about the whole sex tape thing back in the summer,” Ralph said. “And the magistrate was very polite, the police officers were amazing. They had so many stories to tell, I went into my escapades in Loudoun County.”
“But I had a great time talking to the officers and went down there,” he said. “The magistrate was very kind, allowed me … a recognizance bond, which I walked out without having to pay any money. Since it's so understaffed because of COVID quote unquote, it took me two hours to get out even though I got bond in like 30 minutes, so that was slightly annoying, but I understand how that goes.”
Ralph claimed he was “very confident of prevailing on this matter” and that he didn’t “want to get in the nuts and bolts ... because I don't feel like it's appropriate.”
He also claimed he didn’t want to “see any attacks on her or anything like that,” adding, “I am not going to attack her myself. It’s not conducive to anything. I'm very confident in my position as it is. It's a regrettable situation, I mean, let's not act like it’s not. But you guys know me.”
However, shortly after Ralph was released from jail, he took to Twitter to publicly attack the victim, a woman with whom it appears he has a son, as “a liar denounced by her own parents,” claiming that she was jealous of his relationship with another woman.
Ralph also took time on his podcast to thank the Richmond PD and gave a shout-out to the magistrate.
“Thank you so much to the Richmond PD. Oh my god, they were—oh, fuck. I shouldn't even say all that,” he said. “Oh, man, it was funny as fuck, let's just put it that way. And let's just say kind of on the same page, most of the police, some of them very much on the same page talking about some of the antifa, etc. around here. So I won't. I don't want to get anybody in trouble. But shout out to the Richmond PD. Shout out to that excellent magistrate who gave me bond and didn't necessarily have to.”
