ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Seconds after Paul Miller was announced as the winner of a kickboxing bout at the Kia Center on Saturday, he used his post-fight moment to target his opponent.
Speaking into a microphone as the arena listened, Miller said his opponent was “not a tough guy” and “not some alpha male,” before using an antisemitic slur and profanity to insult him.
Miller, known online as “Gypsy Crusader,” is a far-right internet figure whom the Anti-Defamation League has described as a “volatile white supremacist-accelerationist.”
His opponent Saturday night was King Azoulay, a Jewish man from Israel, in a kickboxing match that placed Miller in the spotlight at the downtown Orlando venue.
“This is a terrifying time,” said Marni Mandell, CEO of the Jewish nonprofit Shalom Orlando. “That he is so brazen as to do that in such a public setting is terrifying.”
After leaving the ring, Miller, a convicted felon, was seen on video appearing to make the Nazi salute toward the crowd twice.
Duel: Arena oversaw the fights. When News 6 reporter Mike Valente called a phone number listed on Duel: Arena’s Facebook page, a man who said he represented Island Fights answered.
The man said he helped organize matchups for many of the fights, but said he was not responsible for bouts involving “influencers” such as Miller.
He called what happened inside the Kia Center Saturday night “distasteful,” and said he would try to get News 6 in touch with a person representing Duel: Arena. As of this story’s publication, he had not connected us with anyone.
News 6 also reviewed videos taken from the crowd, showing a man in the crowd unfurling a Nazi flag.
Dr. Anna Eskamani, a former Democratic state representative and current candidate for Orlando mayor, wrote on Facebook that she was “disgusted” and called the incident in the crowd “another reminder of how prevalent extremism is in our society and the responsibility we all have to combat it.”
Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott also commented on one of the videos of the flag, calling it “utterly disgusting.”
“Antisemitism has NO PLACE in Florida,” Scott wrote on X.
The Kia Center, which is owned and operated by the city of Orlando, prohibits signs with indecent or derogatory comments/images, political statements, and commercial references, according to its website.
Late Monday afternoon, a spokesperson with Orlando Venues responded to our questions about the remarks heard and images seen inside the Kia Center Saturday.
“We do not condone or approve the messaging during Saturday’s event and the flag was removed once we saw it on display,” said Kirk Wingerson, Orlando Venues’ marketing division manager.
In response to our question about whether the city knew of Miller’s planned participation or if the city could have prevented the event from happening at the venue, Wingerson said the following:
“The City is required to operate its venues in accordance with federal, state and local laws and regulations, which do not allow us to make booking decisions based on the content or viewpoint of an event. As long as an event complies with applicable law, the City does not have a legal basis to deny the rental.”
