Nationality American Role Performance artist | Name Vermin Supreme Years active 1984 – present Home town Balti | |
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Occupation Performance artist, anarchist, and activist Similar People | ||
Vermin supreme a tyrant you can trust
Vermin Love Supreme (born c. 1961) is an American performance artist and activist who has run as a candidate in various local, state, and national elections in the United States. Supreme is known for wearing a boot as a hat and carrying a large toothbrush, and has said that if elected President of the United States, he will pass a law requiring people to brush their teeth. He has campaigned on a platform of zombie apocalypse awareness and time travel research, and promised a free pony for every American.
Contents
- Vermin supreme a tyrant you can trust
- Vermin supreme
- Personal life
- Political views
- 2004
- 2008
- 2012
- 2016
- Film career
- References
In 2011, he participated in the Occupy Boston protests. He is the subject of the 2014 documentary, Who Is Vermin Supreme? An Outsider Odyssey, which follows his 2012 campaign and explores his life as an activist and political prankster.
Vermin supreme
Personal life
Supreme grew up near Boston, Massachusetts and is said to be the oldest of three children. He graduated from Gloucester High School in the 1980s, then moved to Baltimore to attend art school, but he dropped out and began booking bands for underground clubs.
In 1986, he joined the Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament in protest of nuclear weapons. In 1987, he began running for public office. He legally changed his name to Vermin Supreme in the 1990s while still in Baltimore.
In 2006, Supreme donated one of his kidneys to save his mother. He is married and has no children.
Political views
Supreme discussed his political views in a 2008 promotional video. He stated he was registered as a Republican at that time, but that he leaned toward anarchism. He asserted that libertarians "are just about abolishing the government and letting shit fall where it may," which he called a mistake; he also asserted that Republicans want to nullify the government, but "offer no alternative to helping people other than charity." Supreme's vision of anarchism holds no need for government, but depends on citizens to take responsibility for themselves and for others, citing "mutual aid and support and care to our fellow citizens" as key elements. To that end, Supreme called for a gradual dismantling of the government, while citizens take up the slack. He asserted that Americans no longer know how to be citizens, placing some of the blame on schools that teach in "very twisted and jingoistic fashion".
In the video, Supreme discussed his presidential campaign. He describes his "joke humor" campaign as a response to the lies people are fed by the media and by the government.
2004
Supreme campaigned in the Washington, DC Presidential primary in 2004, where he received 149 votes.
2008
Supreme campaigned in the New Hampshire Republican primary in 2008. He received 41 votes (0.02%) in the New Hampshire primary. According to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), he also received 43 votes, nationally, in the general election.
2012
Vermin Supreme campaigned as a Democrat in the 2012 U.S. presidential election.
The following are some of the milestones in this campaign:
2016
Supreme attempted another presidential run in 2016. He embarked on a tour of 20 cities to build support for his campaign and sought to qualify for matching funds from the Federal Election Commission (FEC). He filed as a candidate in the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary on November 21, 2015, and received 259 votes in the primary on February 9, 2016, coming in fourth after Martin O'Malley. He was, however, not invited to return to the Lesser-Known Democratic Candidates Presidential Forum, due in part to him glitterbombing Randall Terry at the event in 2011. Shortly before the primary, he was observed questioning Republican candidates Chris Christie and Ted Cruz through a bullhorn. On March 4, 2016, he switched his affiliation to the Libertarian Party, claiming his rightful position as Sage and Oracle for Libertarians throughout America, and possibly Belize as well. He received the vote of a single delegate in the first round of presidential nomination voting at the 2016 Libertarian National Convention.
Film career
Supreme co-wrote and stars in the 2009 film Vote Jesus: The Chronicles of Ken Stevenson, in which he poses as a right-wing political candidate to gain access into the world of American fundamentalism.
In 2012, Supreme starred in a web series entitled Learnin' with Vermin that uses a fictional version of his presidential campaign as a platform to teach political concepts such as voting methods.
A documentary following Supreme on the 2012 campaign trail and exploring his life and work as an activist and political prankster called Who Is Vermin Supreme? An Outsider Odyssey was funded through a Kickstarter campaign and premiered at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival on April 9, 2014. The film was directed by Minneapolis-based filmmaker Steve Onderick and features founder of the Rent is Too Damn High Party, Jimmy McMillan, and Boston-based singer-songwriter and comedian Rob Potylo. The film was released to the general public on Vimeo on Demand on January 30, 2016.
Supreme has also collaborated with performance artist, activist and musician Rob Potylo in the web series Quiet Desperation.