Gay dad charged with felony after being tricked into fake homophobic right-wing interview
Two gay dads in West Hollywood were targeted with a fake interview (Image: Getty Images)
A West Hollywood gay couple say a right-wing “gotcha” interviewer targeted them with homophobic insinuations after approaching them for what they believed was a CNN street interview, an encounter that ended in a punch and a felony charge over alleged camera damage.
Video circulating online shows Anthony Vulin and his husband, David Vulin, being questioned on Santa Monica Boulevard by anti-LGBTQ+ pundit Ryley Niemi.
Anthony, who is a member of West Hollywood’s Business License Commission, said the team misrepresented themselves when they approached the couple.
“We were walking home on Santa Monica Boulevard,” Anthony told the WeHo Times. “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, David is heard shouting: “Who the f*** are you? I’m gonna f****** kick your a**.” The video then shows him pushing Niemi away.
Niemi’s claims
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!”
David 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.”
Making harmful and false links between crimes and sexuality or gender is nothing new. In recent months, trans people have been blamed for gun violence in the US, despite thee fact that, according to the Gun Violence Archive, 0.05% of mass shooters in the US between January 1, 2013 and September 15, 2025 were confirmed to be trans.
Similarly, a 1994 study found that less than 1% of adults identified in child molestation cases were gay or lesbian.
Arrest and felony charge
Anthony said David was arrested for assault and released after about 12 hours.
David was later charged with a felony for “vandalism with loss valued equal or greater than $400” over alleged camera damage. Anthony denied damaging a camera.
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