Bronies Condemn FedEx Mass Shooter After His “My Little Pony” Obsession Went Public

Photo via @ContextlessMLP/Twitter, @EquestriaDaily/Twitter

April 19, 2021, 1:37 pm*

Male fans of the show My Little Pony, often referred to as “Bronies,” have come out in force to condemn the mass shooter who killed eight people at an Indianapolis FedEx facility after it was revealed that he himself was a big fan of the cartoon based on his social media posts. Investigators looking into the motivation for 19-year-old Brandon Scott Hole’s massacre and subsequent suicide found many Facebook entries talking about the show, including one that was posted just an hour before the shooting.

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“I hope that I can be with Applejack in the afterlife, my life has no meaning without her,” he wrote.

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Hole’s fellow Bronies would like people to understand that most of them are not violent people and would never kill anybody, but are just some men and boys who love the show about the magical ponies. One of the bigger fan accounts on Twitter, “My Little Pony Without Context,” spoke out on this subject,

May as well bring this up while it’s news. F*** this guy. He does not represent us. Thoughts and prayers to those lost in the Indianapolis shooting. pic.twitter.com/ZGbfNOEOiA

— My Little Pony Without Context (@ContextlessMLP) April 17, 2021

“May as well bring this up while it’s news,” wrote the account owner. “F*** this guy. He does not represent us. Thoughts and prayers to those lost in the Indianapolis shooting.”

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Unfortunately for the good Bronies, there does appear to be a possible connection between this fandom and the FedEx shooting. Brony culture has been known to have a white supremacist problem, and investigators found some far-right content, including rhetoric associated with “white nationalist extremism,” in between Hole’s My Little Pony posts.

Furthermore, the Indianapolis FedEx facility reportedly employs a large number of Sikh individuals, and four out of the eight killed by Hole were of the faith. Only two appeared to be white.

Eight people lost their lives and more were injured at their place of work. Hate and violence are a threat to all of us. We must support one another in our grief and we must call on our elected officials to make meaningful change. pic.twitter.com/DrYDm7Fg91

— Sikh Coalition (@sikh_coalition) April 18, 2021

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Other Twitter accounts, including some that explicitly have the word “Brony” in their names, have followed the lead of the My Little Pony fan accounts in denouncing Hole and his actions and are posting links to fundraisers for the victims’ families.

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So apparently the Indianapolis FedEx shooter liked ponies. You know what? F**k that guy. I hope Applejack is real so that she can kick him right in the nuts, and then ignore him for all of eternity. #Brony #MLP pic.twitter.com/aDUZT18iCH

— Depeche Maud (@Depeche_Maud) April 19, 2021

Hole was able to commit the mass shooting after legally purchasing two firearms even though he had recently gotten his gun confiscated by authorities after his mom told them she was afraid he was planning a “suicide by cop.”

He was interviewed by the FBI and committed to a mental health facility for a time. Had the state’s “red flag” law been enforced by the authorities in this case, he may have been stopped from buying the guns he ultimately used to kill eight people.

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*First Published: April 19, 2021, 1:35 pm