Screen shot from the YouTube channel of David Fry
A 27-year-old Ohio man who used government computers at an Oregon wildlife refuge says posts he made online that appeared to sympathize with the Islamic State “were just a joke.”
“I absolutely don’t want to be associated with them at all,” David Fry said Wednesday.
Fry posted a video of himself Monday that showed him using computers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to create a website for the militants who took over the complex of federal buildings Jan. 2.
OPB reported Tuesday on Fry’s video
, as well as on several posts he made on his Google+ account that contained offensive content.
“ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS FOR ISIS TO NUKE ISRAELHELL!” he wrote on the site Nov. 30.
Another post was tagged #HitlerWasRight, another #Pray4ISIS.
Speaking to OPB Wednesday, Fry identified his personal religious affiliation as Messianic Judaism. Pressed about his online comments, he said he doesn’t hate Jewish people, but wants to distinguish between “fake Jews and real Jews.”
Fry has since deleted all of the posts, and said they were part of a “bad joke.”
“I’m an ironic kind of guy,” he said. “My humor is a little off compared to most people.”
Fry said he made the posts after Facebook managers would not delete a post he found offensive. Fry added the post in question to his Google+ account. It appeared to advocate for killing Muslims in the U.S.
When Facebook wouldn’t take the post down, Fry said he became angry and made the Google+ posts about ISIS killing people of the Jewish faith.
Facebook officials could not immediately be reached to confirm Fry's account.
“I’ve had a lot of problems with people attacking Muslims lately. There’s generally a lot of good Muslims inside the world, inside America,” Fry said in YouTube video responding to OPB’s article. “So, I just made the comment of ‘Nuke Israel’ and now you see it’s on the news. It’s not OK if you attack God’s chosen people I guess.”
Fry said he regrets making the posts, which he agreed appeared to be hate speech.
“It was complete satire, absolutely,” he said.
Since his statements were uncovered and
national media began reporting on him
, Fry said he feels scared “because my life is in danger.” He emphasized that he didn’t want to be associated with “terrorists,” and only traveled to Oregon “to do some media stuff.”
Fry said members of the militant group occupying the refuge may ask him to leave because of the negative attention.
“Last night, they said, ‘Let’s wait to see how bad it gets,’” Fry told OPB.
He said he came to the refuge from his home outside Cincinnati while his parents were on vacation in Costa Rica. He said they will return home in about a week.
“I’m just here for the cause. The cause is the Constitution,” Fry said. “I don’t support threatening the police. I didn’t come here armed. Nobody wants to see blood.”