Phillies "Pistachio Girl" Caught in Fight At White Nationalism Conference
The “Pistachio Girl”, who is often heard hawking pistachios at Phillies games, was caught in the middle of a scrum outside a white nationalism conference.
With the often sub-par play on the field at Phillies games, one vendor attempts to entertain in her own right. Emily Youcis, better known as the “Pistachio Girl”, announces her presence throughout the stands at Citizens Bank Park to both drive sales for her Cracker Jacks and peanuts as well as entertain the fans nearby.
However, Youcis went into the spotlight Saturday afternoon for a different reason. Protesters were gathered around the Reagan Building in Washington, D.C., to protest a convention held by the National Policy Institute, a group labeled as “white supremacist” by the Southern Poverty Law Center. WUSA9 reported that the protests turned violent after Youcis and a cameraman came out from the convention to try and ask questions to the group like, “Do you hate white people?”
Shortly after Youcis went outside to ask questions, a protester spray painted her hair, with a fight breaking out soon after. Youcis’s cameraman sustained a bloody forehead during the scrum, which had to be broken up by police officers. Youcis herself said she was fine, saying on Twitter she was “more than OK. Didn’t get any flesh wounds.”
You can watch the fight occur at about 31 minutes in this Facebook video.
The video does have explicit language and obviously contains graphic visuals of the fight. Afterwards, Youcis said to WUSA9:
“I think they’re the racists here. Because I’ve been sprayed in the face, I’ve been told to f*** off, they bloodied my cameraman, and stole his phone. They’re the violent people.”
Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer said Youcis told him she was at the conference as an “observer”, but also stated that “she’s been [enthralled] with the so-called ‘alt-right’ movement for about 10 months.”
More from That Balls Outta Here
This was not the first time Youcis has attempted to interview liberal-leaning protesters. This July, when the Democratic National Convention was held in Philadelphia, Youcis recorded a video uploaded to Youtube by the conservative website Breitbart labeled “Trump Girl Trolls #DemExit Protesters.” Dan McQuade of Philly Mag reported that Youcis often wore a hat emblazoned with “Make the Phillies Great Again”, a spin-off of President-Elect Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again” at Citizens Bank Park this year. Mcquade called Youcis “Philadelphia’s most prominent Trump supporter.”
After news of the fight broke, right-wing politician and former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan David Duke voiced his support for Youcis on Twitter. Duke said, “In the current year, if you’re White and don’t wake-up hating yourself for it -> NAZI!” Youcis then retweeted Duke’s tweet.
So far, the club has not commented on the incident and whether or not they will continue to employ her. Liz Roscher of the Good Phight said, “Continuing to employ her [Youcis] is a mistake, because her views are abhorrent and now those views are being tied in with her employer.”
Political polarization has spread like a plague in 2016 from both sides of the aisle, and Youcis was swept under its wave. No matter where you lie on the political spectrum, no one should have to suffer from violence or be antagonized for their political views.