Tampa Bay internet celebrity ‘Baked Alaska’ gets 60 days for Jan. 6 riot

Anthime Gionet, the newly minted Tampa Bay resident and white nationalist internet celebrity known as “Baked Alaska,” should serve 60 days in jail for his participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden ordered Gionet to serve two years of probation following his release. Prosecutors had asked for 75 days in jail.

While his conduct was far from the worst seen that day, Gionet’s status as a social media star made him a prominent face of the mob that stormed the Capitol, delaying certification of the 2020 presidential election results and threatening the peaceful transition of power.

A supporter of former President Donald Trump, Gionet publicly celebrated when his case was reassigned to Judge McFadden in March. In a Twitter post, he called it “a literal miracle,” and later elaborated in a livestream video his belief that McFadden is a “pro Trump judge.”

McFadden was appointed to the bench in 2017 by the former president. But the judge found no room to excuse what Gionet did on Jan. 6.

“You did everything you could to publicize your misconduct,” he told Gionet. “You were there encouraging and participating fully in what was going on.”

Gionet pleaded guilty in July to a single federal charge of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

He twice entered the Capitol that day, remaining inside for more than an hour. He recorded a lengthy livestream video of the chaos as rioters stormed through offices and clashed with police officers.

One portion of the video showed Gionet inside a senator’s office using a phone to pretend to call the Senate.

“Hello, U.S. Senate,” he said. “We have a fraudulent election I would like to report. We need to get our boy, Donald J. Trump, into office.”

He was also recorded proclaiming: “Occupy the Capitol, let’s go, we ain’t leaving this b--ch,” “Patriots are in control” and chanting “Whose house? Our house.”

Other moments captured Gionet encouraging rioters to move through a broken window and yelling at Capitol police.

“You’re a f---ing oathbreaker, you piece of s--t,” he told an officer.

With his signature Pit Viper shades, dark beard and shock of bleached hair, he takes nightly to internet livestreams, espousing white nationalist, misogynistic and antisemitic sentiments while twiddling through video games.

Looking for real-time news alerts?

Subscribe to our free Breaking News newsletter

You’ll receive updates on major issues and events in Tampa Bay and beyond as they happen.

Loading...

You’re all signed up!

Want more of our free, weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started.

Explore all your options

With a sizable following, Gionet has been credited with helping radicalize his audience, professing extremist views in a goofy format.

Prosecutors described him in a sentencing memo as a “33-year-old professional troll engaged in increasingly provocative and criminal behavior.”

A year ago, Gionet was sentenced to 30 days in jail in Arizona after he was convicted of pepper spraying a bouncer who told him to leave a bar while livestreaming.

In another incident, he was convicted of criminal damage and fined $300 for tearing down a Hanukkah display at the Arizona state capitol and declaring: “No more Hanukkah, only Merry Christmas.”

Gionet moved to the Tampa Bay area after the Capitol insurrection. His reasons for doing so are unclear, but his arrival coincided with what experts see as a rise in political extremism in the state. Records indicate he has lived in both Pinellas and Hernando counties.

He has continued his nightly livestream shows from the Sunshine State.

Times Staff Writer Tracey McManus contributed to this report, which also used information from The Associated Press.