Portrait of a Jew-Hating Coward: Jon Minadeo Jr

It is no secret that almost all Jew-haters are cowards.

When their antisemitism is exposed, they almost always do not own up to their hatred of Jews – especially when it becomes clear it might have a negative impact on their livelihood or that of a loved one. Instead, we invariably hear things like “I am not against Jews, just Zionists”, or “How can I be antisemitic? Some of my best friends are Jewish.”

A recent story of a Berkeley yoga instructor being fired for helping her boyfriend run antisemitic website Goyim TV has been doing the rounds. But I actually wanted to focus on one particular part of the story, which illustrates the above point:

The owner of a Berkeley yoga studio has broken with a co-founder because she won’t denounce the views of her boyfriend, a vocal white supremacist linked to the blanketing of the Berkeley Hills last month with flyers claiming COVID-19 is “a Jewish agenda.”

Jeff Renfro co-founded Hella Yoga with his wife, Lynn Whitlow, and a business partner, Kelly Johnson, about six years ago. Johnson is the longtime girlfriend of Jon Minadeo Jr., a Petaluma resident behind a group called the Goyim Defense League, known for social media and publicity stunts spreading its antisemitic, racist and anti-LGBT views. 

Johnson was a yoga teacher at Hella Yoga, as well as Renfro’s other studios, Funky Door Yoga in Berkeley and Yoga Hell in Petaluma, who also helped with the business end of the enterprise.

Renfro said he fired Johnson — who had been Hella Yoga’s owner until a few weeks ago — last weekend after learning that she’d used company computers to set up Minadeo’s “Goyim TV” business. 

Minadeo said Goyim TV produced the flyers found in the Berkeley Hills, across the Bay Area and in Southern California, as well as in other states. He said he didn’t distribute them. The flyers were packed in plastic baggies, weighted down with rice and found in the front yards and driveways of hundreds of Berkeley homes the morning of Feb. 20.

Renfro, Johnson and Minadeo all live in Petaluma and have known each other for years. Minadeo helped with the launch of Hella Yoga. 

Renfro sold Hella Yoga, formerly on Oxford Street, to Johnson at the start of the pandemic; she was the main one running the business, Renfro said. At that point, Hella Yoga and Yoga Hell were switching to online classes.

About a month ago, Renfro and Johnson mutually decided she’d sell it back to him, he said, when the escalating publicity about Minadeo’s stance on Jews was threatening their relationship, as well as the business. 

Renfro announced this week that he’s donating all of Hella Yoga’s profits to the Auschwitz Memorial Fund. Johnson’s firing was first reported by J. The Jewish News of Northern California.

According to Renfro, who is Jewish, recent attention paid to Minadeo by law enforcement, anti-hate groups such as Anti-Defamation League and the media, led him to take a closer look at his views. The FBI is investigating a distribution of the flyers in Colleyville, Texas, where a man held a rabbi and others hostage in a synagogue in January.

Renfro said he was shocked by what he learned. He knew Minadeo was an anti-vaxxer and suspected he might be into Q-Anon, Renfro said.

“I’m friends with people who have different political views than me. I thought he was an idiot,” he said. 

But he had no idea the extent of Minadeo’s hate platform, he said.  

“When this came out, he called me up to tell me that when he was badmouthing Jews, he wasn’t including me,” Renfro said. Renfro describes himself as not religious. 

This is Jon Minadeo Jr, who runs Goyim TV.

I have seen a part of one of his videos. He is even cockier than he looks.

Yet when faced with his girlfriend losing her livelihood, he has denied he hates all Jews.

What a coward AND dumbass. Which makes him a great match for his seemingly cowardly and dumb girlfriend.

Incidentally, I am guessing Minadeo is not a Viking name.

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