Boston protest personality Robby Roadsteamer detained by federal agents at Minneapolis protest

Local News

Robby Roadsteamer, the online name of Rob Potylo, was previously detained by ICE in Portland, Oregon in October. He shared videos of both arrests online.

A Boston political activist known for his zany outfits and anti-Trump parody songs was arrested by federal agents at a protest in Minneapolis Monday.

Rob Potylo, who goes by Robby Roadsteamer, was arrested by Department of Homeland Security agents outside the Whipple Federal building in Minneapolis, he shared alongside a YouTube video of the arrest. He was previously detained by ICE in Portland in October.

After the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent, Potylo told Boston.com, he traveled to Minneapolis “to see what I could do to sort of help the cause and bring my art to the darkest areas.”

Potylo said federal agents in Minneapolis targeted him after the Portland arrest, calling the situation “surreal.”

“These guys are out to send a message, and yeah, if you get under their skin, they will target you. And you know what? Who gives a sh—? I am representing marginalized people that don’t have a f—ing voice in this country, man,” he said. “I do it for them.”

In two separate GoFundMes following his arrests, Potylo has raised close to $200,000 to fight his cases in court, including to “sue ICE.” The Dropkick Murphys, the iconic Boston-based band known for blasting Trump, even contributed $2,000, according to the online fundraiser.

DHS did not respond to a request for comment about Potylo’s arrests.

‘Free Robby’

Dressed in a giraffe onesie (and a thong), Potylo used a handheld speaker to taunt dozens of agents wearing vests marked as “POLICE DHS” outside the federal building in Minneapolis. Around a dozen agents approach Potylo and a few immediately force him to the ground, the video shows. The crowd chants “Free Robby” as he’s marched toward the building. 

A GoFundMe raising legal fees related to the Minneapolis arrest has already raised nearly $40,000.

Potylo said he was detained for less than an hour in Minneapolis, where agents detained him “based on a traffic infraction,” he said. No one else was arrested, Potylo said, including people who were throwing baloney at ICE vehicles and other disturbances.

“They’re like, ‘what’s up Portland giraffe?’ So they know, and I think they were waiting to a certain degree,” he said. “I was the least of anybody’s concern, singing songs in a thong dressed as a giraffe … real, surreal set of circumstances.”

Potylo was detained in Portland, Oregon in October, also in his giraffe onesie, while he was singing outside ICE headquarters, he said in a description of a short YouTube video. He told Boston.com agents shot pepper balls at his crotch before detaining him.

“If you hate brown people and you are a Nazi, come on ICE, leave Portland!” he said in his handheld speaker. Three agents, wearing green camouflage and police vests, grabbed him and forcefully walked him into the facility.

“He was just talking,” a fellow protester can be heard saying in the video, as others boo the agents. A separate GoFundMe that has raised more than $125,000 said Potylo was charged with trespassing “even though ICE dragged him onto their property.”

He said that charge has since “mysteriously” been changed to a citation for blocking traffic.

Potylo’s Portland lawyer said he could pursue a battery charge against ICE for hitting him with pepper balls, as well as a false arrest or civil kidnapping claim for his apprehension, WBUR reported.

Robby Roadsteamer is Boston’s own

In Boston, Potylo, singing parodies as Roadsteamer, has posted videos of himself heckling pro-life protesters outside the Planned Parenthood on Commonwealth Avenue in one viral video. Across his social media platforms, he’s garnered nearly a million followers, he said.

He has also made videos taunting attendees at the National Men’s Rights to Abolish Abortion rally on the Boston Common and appearing at a protest outside the controversial ICE Boston field office in Burlington in November.

Potylo said he wants to use “absurdity against absurdity.”

“We have to remember in the darkest times in this country, counterculture rises,” Potylo said. “And why not New England this time? Home of the revolution. Why can’t we romanticize counterculture up here and show that artists can make a viable living in the Greater Boston area?”

Molly Farrar is a general assignment reporter for Boston.com, focusing on education, politics, crime, and more.