Former Black Lives Matter activist says anti-racism group is a 'scam' as he reveals he is now a conservative

Published: 02:35, 14 May 2026 | Updated: 02:35, 14 May 2026 A former Black Lives Matter activist has declared the group he once organized marches for is a 'scam' and revealed how he became a conservative.  Xaviaer DuRousseau, 29, said he had spent his youth supporting liberal causes but when he began researching conservative arguments during the 2020 riots to prepare for his role on the Netflix series 'The Circle,' he became 'red-pilled.' 'Because it was COVID, I had nothing but time on my hand, so I'm like, "Let me start researching without confirmation bias," which I didn't realize how bad I had confirmation bias,' he said on former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines' podcast. 'And I saw quickly that I was not researching to make a conclusion - I already had a conclusion that I was trying to research to defend. 'But once I started looking at the conservative side of the argument, I started realizing "Oh wait, socialism has literally never worked, BLM has always been a scam and the Democratic Party has always been the party of racism and violence." 'I have just been drinking the Kool-Aid because this was the indoctrination that was put upon me from the age of a little child,' DuRousseau said. He went on to explain that even when he was organizing Black Lives Matter marches following the death of George Floyd, he was questioning the riots and whether the millions of dollars raised were actually going to the victims' families. Yet when he would bring up his concerns, DuRousseau said he would be met with hostility. Xaviaer DuRousseau, 29, a former Black Lives Matter activist has declared the group he once organized marches for is a 'scam' He described on The Riley Gaines Show how he became a conservative influencer 'Whenever I called it out, I was told that I needed to stay in line or that I was losing the plot,' he recounted. 'And I just got sick of it.' Eventually, DuRousseau said he realized just how 'performative' his activism was, noting that the families of the victims of police brutality were not actually being helped by the anti-racism organization. 'Breonna Taylor's mother was even speaking out saying that her daughter's name and death was exploited, and there [were] millions of dollars made off of her death. Not a single dollar went to her, went to legal fees or anything of that nature. 'So I just started seeing the fraud pretty early on,' DuRousseau said. He also said he had some issues with the group's messaging, noting that he had family and friends who worked in law enforcement. 'I thought it was weird that so many people were demonizing every single cop,' the former activist shared. 'I thought it was insane to watch the looting and the rioting happening.' DuRousseau, who is now a conservative influencer and personality for PragerU, previously described how he became liberal after being subjected to hate crimes while growing up in a small town in Illinois. By high school, DuRousseau said he found himself 'talking about how all these white people need to be educated on black history and black culture' and began 'leading groups that put more black history into school,' according to Breitbart. DuRusseau previously said he had concerns about Black Lives Matter even when he was organizing marches following the death of George Floyd in the summer of 2020 His activism continued as a student at the University of Illinois, where he advocated for the school to require ethnic studies courses as a graduation requirement. DuRousseau even voted for progressive Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential election and helped organize Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020. 'I just felt like this was where I belonged, I thought that I was truly on the right side of history.' But when he was cast on 'The Circle,' in which contestants isolated in separate apartments compete for a cash prize - with some opting to adopt a fake digital identity to trick others - his worldview changed. The producers had wanted DuRousseau to pose as a white woman and lecture others about racial injustice before revealing himself as a black man, The New York Times reports. It was then that he spent hours reading conservative arguments to prepare himself for debates - and realized he was having trouble refuting them. Just days before he was set to fly to London to film the show, DuRousseau backed out, as he no longer believed in the liberal politics he was supposed to spew.  DuRousseau has said he became 'red-pilled' when he was researching conservative arguments  to prepare for his role on the Netflix series 'The Circle' Looking back, DuRousseau said he realized he had a narrow world-view growing up. 'Back then, being young and not knowing much about the world, the only thing I knew about the world was the world I lived in, and that was a small town,' he said. 'And because I had dealt with these types of situations, I had this belief that this must be how the country works, that this is how the whole system works. 'But with growth and maturity, I recognize that there's a huge difference between individualized or circumstantial racism that's happening person to person versus a systemic issue that needs to be addressed at a larger scale. 'In retrospect, I came to understand that yes, there are racist people, but ultimately the average American and the majority of people in this country are so adamantly against racism that it's foolish to even consider that systemic racism is still a trope in this country because we're so far removed from that.' No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.