Almost $100,000 has been raised in support of a pair of gay dads, one of which was charged with a felony after they were tricked into taking part in a fake homophobic right-wing interview and ended up punching the interviewer.
Video footage that circulated online showed Anthony Vulin and his husband, David Miller-Robinson, being questioned on Santa Monica Boulevard by MAGA influencer Ryley Niemi.
Niemi approached the West Hollywood couple for what they believed was a CNN street interview. However, the interview was not what it seemed.
Talking to WeHo Times on 18 April, Vulin explained what had happened. “We were walking home on Santa Monica Boulevard,” he said. “There were four guys – three of them had cameras and one of them had a suit on and a mic. They said they were from CNN and wanted to talk to us about our baby.”
In the Instagram video of the confrontation, Niemi asks a series of hostile questions about the couple raising a child. “Have you ever heard about the statistics coming out that gay men are much more likely to commit child molestation?” he says. He also asks: “Don’t you think it’s weird that you guys have a child but neither of you are a woman?” and later: “You paid a woman $50,000 to be pregnant?”
As the couple walk away, Miller-Robinson is heard shouting: “Who the f*** are you? I’m gonna f****** kick your a**.” The video then shows him pushing Niemi away.
In a second Instagram video, Niemi claimed the couple followed him and continued the confrontation, though as the video cuts between clips it is difficult to know exactly what happened.
During the later confrontation, an unidentified person in a green sweatshirt is heard shouting: “We are asking you to leave!”
Miller-Robinson then lunges at Niemi and punches him in the head. Niemi also wrote on-screen: “Just another death threat from the left,” and said: “If we were men who were morally delinquent, we may have fought back and hurt that baby. But we do not do that.”
Vulin said Miller-Robinson was arrested for assault and released after about 12 hours. Miller-Robinson was later charged with a felony for “vandalism with loss valued equal or greater than $400” over alleged camera damage. Vulin denied damaging a camera.
Following the ordeal, Vulin set up a GoFundMe to help fund their legal representation.
In the fundraiser description, he wrote: “Our family is currently navigating an unexpected and deeply difficult legal situation that arose after a hostile and discriminatory encounter during a routine nightly walk in our West Hollywood neighborhood.”
He continued: “As a gay couple with our newborn baby, we were targeted in a way that was deeply upsetting and destabilizing for our family. My husband and I have fought incredibly hard to build the life we have today and to welcome our baby into it, which makes this moment especially painful and overwhelming.”
Vulin goes on to explain that his husband is now facing a legal process, the cost of which is “significant”.
“David is a devoted parent to our newborn baby and an incredibly important part of our lives,” he wrote. “Right now, our focus is simply on keeping our family stable, supported, and together as we move through this. We’re asking for help to cover legal fees and related expenses so that he can have fair representation during this time.”
At the time of writing, the fundraiser total sits at $97,183 after around 2,300 donations.
Niemi also has a GoFundMe, set up by Off The Record USA, in an attempt to recoup the costs of the allegedly damaged camera. That fundraiser has raised just $1,835 at the time of writing.
The description reads: “On April 16, 2026, Ryley Niemi and Off The Record USA were violently assaulted during an incident in West Hollywood… We are asking for your support after a situation that has directly impacted both him and our ability to continue our work.”
It continues: “What started as a routine interaction quickly escalated into a violent encounter. Ryley was physically assaulted, and the situation became serious enough that over a dozen emergency responders arrived at the scene. In the middle of the incident, one of our primary cameras, a Sony A7C II, was completely destroyed.”
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