Meet Zachary Scott Martin, aka Hoss, a racist, antisemite, extreme homophobe, and misogynist. Zach is a returned Mormon missionary, graduate of Brigham Young University, member of the Beverly Ward of the Mesa Arizona Maricopa Stake, and an original member of the Discord server that gave rise to DezNat. While Zach has close family ties and a lot going for him, Zach is also an inveterate, persistent troll who uses his online influence to spread hate and bigotry, as well as to harass marginalized people and minorities. Hoss is 33 years old and well known for his videos wearing a mask, playing with Bowie knives. Today that mask will finally be removed as we reveal the man behind the camera.
Welcome to the spotlight, Zach!
Zach Martin, aka “Hoss”
Content Warning: This article contains racist, queerphobic and misogynistic statements, antisemitism, Islamophobia, references to assault and other acts of violence, and other objectionable language. We feel it is important to show examples of this person’s hateful ideology in his own words, rather than merely describing or characterizing it. In all cases where slurs or other offensive words have letters replaced by asterisks, or have been redacted or obscured in images, those redaction’s have been added by the authors of this article, not by the person who is being quoted/screencapped.
Extreme Anti-Communism Politics
Zach Martin was born in 1988, returned from an LDS mission to Paraguay [1] in 2009, graduated from Brigham Young University in 2015 [2,3], and married his wife, Lennai (Lenny), in 2011 [4]. From social media posts we learn that Zach’s mother was at a minimum aware of his extreme political views. In 2013, his mother, Stephanie, was recommending far-right political and Islamophobic articles and videos to him on Facebook. In one video she recommends is a republishing of Robert Welch’s 1958 speech wherein a communist plot to destroy the United States is alleged. The description of the video on YouTube states, “Proof that the NEW WORLD ORDER has been planned by the elite” which is a conspiracy theory popular with anti-government extremists. Robert Welch is the founder of the John Birch Society, one of the most controversial far-right groups known for antisemitism, dangerous conspiracy theories, and extreme anti-communist propaganda. In January 1963 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a statement distancing itself from the Society. In the early 1990s the LDS Church reportedly expelled several ultraconservative extremist members from the faith.
source: [1, 2, 3]
source: [4]
In 2011, Zach Martin began a blog titled “…
a Call to Arms“. Consisting of just thirteen posts, the blog seems to have started as a place for Martin to publish short stories and mission experiences, but soon transformed into a place for him to publish his political thoughts and plagiarize Mormon leaders. In these pseudo-intellectual ramblings Martin is primarily fixated on
anti-communism,
anti-homosexuality, and
attacking trans activists. He also attacks financial aid and welfare recipients on the blog. He has stated:
“What was once seen as noble work fit to support a family is now work only fit for illegals, outcasts, and subhuman.” – Zach Martin, …a Call to Arms
In an article titled Know Thy Enemy …Trans Activists, Martin declares:
“There are legitimate enemies to freedom. I have seen them and I have heard them. These are not the enemies you see featured in the news in far away desert lands. These are enemies closer to home. They do not dress in black and carry AK’s. Instead, these enemies fight you in word, philosophy and in the voting booth. These enemies are seeking to take your freedom. If they cannot take your freedom they want your life. They may not own guns but they seek a monopoly on violence. They wield the mighty cudgel of government force and coercion. I seek to document these enemies so that their violence is exposed.”
Martin also states that he believes that certain political ideologies take away one’s agency, or power to choose, an oft-cited argument used by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to defend anti-communist beliefs. Martin cites two prominent Mormon leaders known for their support of ultraconservative ideologies to make his argument, Ezra Taft Benson and J. Reuben Clark, known for his antisemitism.
The name of Zach’s blog “acalltoarmz”, also goes hand in hand with the name of a previous Twitter account of his:
- Display Name: H O S S
- User Name: @acalltoarm
- Twitter ID: 1199749637256531968
- Created: 11/27/2019
- Suspended: (on or around) 2/6/2020
Given Zach Martin’s fixation on anti-communism we were not surprised to discover the Anti-Communist Society Facebook page he created in 2013. As is expected with extreme Anticom politics, Martin’s Anti-Communist Facebook page is popular with neo-Nazis, racists and homophobes. On August 12, 2017, Zach Martin used the page to call James Fields (the scum that murdered Heather Heyer at Unite the Right with his car) a “scared and confused motorist.” In the image below, note the date:
Anti-Communism was also tied to Zach Martin’s original profile on Twitter:
- Display Name: Big Hoss ⚔️ 💪 🐝
- User Name: @AntiCommieSoc (changed to @BigHossACS between 3/1/2019 and 3/6/2019)
- Twitter ID: 1081159706
- Created: 1/11/2013
- Suspended: Early May 2019
- Link: https://archive.ph/wZQUu
DezNat Related Accounts
ID 814167999288471552:
- @DHossChrist, then changed to
- @HossWell47, then changed to
- @WeeklyHoss
- Created: 12/28/2016
- Suspended: (on or around) 9/25/2019
ID 1245591829690478593:
- @NiasDiad, then changed to
- @UtahValleyDaddy, then changed to
- @iamhomosexuaI
- Created: 4/2/2020
- Account Status: Active
The Weekly Hoss –
The Weekly Hoss is a live-recorded show featuring Zach Martin (as Hoss) wearing a hat, face covering, and clothing which he uses to disguise his identity. The format of the show usually begins with music–sometimes overlaid with Mormon leaders soundbites–and Martin playing energetically with Bowie knives and other weapons that allegedly viewers send him. Deseret Nationalists are known to create memes [5] and video montages of the show featuring Martin. Viewers are able to participate in a chat during the show and donations to a Patreon unlock additional features for viewers. In June 2021, Martin made episodes of The Daily Hoss available only through his Patreon, stating, “It’s safe because Antifa can’t get the video,” and claiming he was “really scared” his videos would lead to his identity being revealed. Martin has been accused by those in DezNat of theft by not providing promised content on Patreon, and complaints have been met by another DezNat user going by @benhistorical calling at least one of those making a public complaint a homophobic slur.
sources: [5]
Side by side comparison of “Hoss”, left, and Zach Martin, right.
DezNat Facebook Page –
The DezNat Facebook page is a DezNat-related propaganda aggregate that was run exclusively by Zach Martin (Hoss) until August 2020. There are as of the publication date of this article, three page managers. The Facebook page serves primarily as a place to share Deseret Nationalist content [6], bully progressives, journalists, former Mormons*, and the LGBTQ+ community [7,8,9], as well as to spread misinformation [10]. Facebook has flagged the page [11] as a page that “may share content that violates our Community Standards.” Martin’s obsession with “antifa” (antifascists) has caused Martin to act out unpredictably and irrationally, purposely spreading lies about antifascists [12] in order to stir up members of the Latter-day Saint faith to anger. A recent post showed an image of a fabricated screencap [13] of an ExposeDezNat tweet that added a sentence not included in the original stating, “If you’re a member of the Mormon Church and you’re fired it’s your fault!” in order to make it appear that the account was targeting members of the Latter-day Saint church.
sources: [6, 7, 8, 9, 10]
sources: [11, 12]
sources: [13]
In the summer of 2020, a video shared on the DezNat Facebook page was used by numerous far-right and white nationalist media sites in a coordinated misinformation campaign stemming from a shooting at a Black Lives Matter protest in Provo, Utah. In the video an SUV without visible license plates is seen attempting to plow his vehicle through a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters and is shot. Far-right outlets including, but not limited to,
The Post Millenial,
Tucker Carlson,
Jason Kessler,
Gateway Pundit, and the alt-right associated Mormon blog,
Conflict of Justice, spread the video.
The DezNat Facebook page has also been used to accuse the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News of “working directly with Antifa” [14]. The Facebook page has also disingenuously claimed DezNat has been successful de-radicalizing young members of the Mormon religion [15], published sexist memes [16], attacked a Latter-day Saint LGBTQ activist by calling him a “Korihor” [17] (Korihor is a Book of Mormon antichrist that was trampled to death), published content targeting the Mormon LGBTQ+ community [18], and promoted tweets by established white nationalists within DezNat [19].
On March 5, 2021 the same DezNat Facebook page manipulated an official BYU tweet [20] to state, “BYU did not authorize that gay shit,” in response to LGBTQ activists lighting the “Y” in rainbow colors. The page has also been used to advertise anti-LGBTQ hate rallies [21] at Brigham Young University. In response to an LGBTQ rally that was held at BYU in March 2020 the page posted the face of Ted Kaczynski [22] with the description, “Rumor has it that this was the guy who read the proclamation today at the gay protest at BYU.” The headshot of the Unibomber appears to be a violently themed ironic joke involving a mass murdering mail-bomber and the LGBTQ rally at BYU. A commenter going by the name Sam Chev responded to the meme, stating, “The gay rights movement and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race,” which is a riff off the Unibomber Manifesto and signaling the page’s audience understood the reference.
sources: [14 ,15 ,16 ,17 ,18 ,19 , 20]
sources: [21, 22]
Twitter Troll –
One of the most pernicious trolls in DezNat, Zach Martin, known as “Hoss”, is mostly popular for demonstrating especially cruel and offensive behavior. He is known for fabricating tweets [23]. He has also impersonated accounts in order to discredit journalists and antifascists. Martin has also coordinated attacks on progressive Mormons in order to discredit them [24]. A disingenuous reactionary, in late July 2021, Martin used his Twitter account to make the false claim that DezNat is a “de-radicalization movement” working with recognized de-rad groups like “Life After Hate“.
sources: [23, 24]
Racism
Although married to a woman of color that certainly doesn’t keep Zach Martin from tweeting racist things. In August 2020, Martin started a so-called N-tower directed towards a black ultraconservative Mormon influencer, Kwaku El. Martin later joked about it stating simply, “I once typed the wrong letter.”
Hoss has stated that Jesus Christ himself would use the N-slur and further explained, “Christ speaks to his children in there [sic] own language. Are you saying God doesn’t speak to people who speak AAVE [African American Vernacular English]? That is racist.”
Martin often uses religion to justify his racism. He has stated that “Your offspring will be white depending on their righteousness,” and also that “…marrying within your own culture is still advisable to ensure family unity. Culture and race being mostly interchangeable terms for much of history.”
Reminiscent of the white genocide conspiracy theory, Martin has scolded Deseret Nationalist Nima Cheraghi for not doing his part to preserve the white race by remaining “perpetually single.” He has also attempted to trick other Twitter users into using the alt-right slogan “It’s OK to be white” which was popularized on 4chan in 2017 for trolling purposes and soon afterward adopted by white supremacists (see ADL). Martin has also claimed he is not white while also claiming that on a college application form he would mark “one or more race” because of his Mediterranean ancestry.
Antisemitism, Holocaust Denial
Zach Martin is a holocaust denier and perpetuates holocaust denial directly, but more frequently indirectly, to his audience on Twitter. A series of tweets is necessary to demonstrate the broader intent of his insinuations and loaded questions (below). He compares Mormons to Jews in Germany during the WWII Nazi regime, emphasizing Mormon suffering and deaths at the hands of the state and eluding to (paraphrased) “Our peoples’ suffering and death was worse than anything that has ever happened, so clearly, if we’re saying there were six million Jews killed in the holocaust, that means there were at least six million Mormons.”
In February 2021 he tweeted, “When my j*wish doctor asks if I want to circumcise my son imma tell him to read the last 14 words of Moroni 8:8 #DezNat.” This is significant because in the tweet Zach Martin is brazenly referring to the neo-Nazi slogan 14 words, as well as the white supremacist numerical code “88” which means “Heil Hitler.” When combined (like they are in his tweet) they create a powerful symbol for white supremacists (see ADL).
source: [35]
In a tweet that should appall most Latter-day Saints, Zach Martin
shared a meme depicting Mormon apostle
Dieter F. Uchtdorf wearing a skull mask that is popular with neo-Nazi accelerationists, i.e. members of Atomwaffen. Uchtdorf is a German aviator who was born during WWII.
source: [36]
Antisemitic content, like the “happy merchant”, is also published on the Anti-Communist Society Facebook page. Created by Nick Bougas,[
16] the “happy merchant” depicts a caricature of a “scheming” Jew – a hunched figure with a large, hooked nose and crooked teeth, wearing a yarmulke and rubbing his hands together. The centuries-old stereotype of Jews having large noses and other grotesque features was used extensively by Hitler’s Nazi party to evoke disgust against Jews in the German population;[
17] it is still used for the same reason by antisemites like Zach Martin, frequently coupled with other antisemitic motifs involving conspiracy, blood, greed or money. “Bignoseclaspinghandsguy.png” is a reference to this antisemitic caricature.
sources: Anti-Communist Society Facebook page
Homophobia
Martin is a vile queerphobe and publishes homophobic content frequently. Martin admits to using the word “gay” in a derogatory manner. To Martin, faith doubters are gay. Atheists are gay. The Mormon church owned Brigham Young University is gay. Mormies are gay. Everyone in Utah County is a gay apostate. Martin has even told people who were looking for uplifting words and opinions to “Stop being gay.”
Martin is adamantly opposed to equal marriage rights for LGBTQ+ because he views homosexuality as a
sin that requires repentance. He
does not believe in being gay. He states that “
Gays shouldn’t be allowed to adopt.” He also believes that homosexual relationships serve no purpose because it cannot naturally produce children. Martin
states:
“Because straight people dating is a good thing that leads to marriage and family. What does gay people dating lead towards? What is the aim?”
Hoss has cruelly written about electroshock aversion therapy, tweeting,
“Gays have been complaining about being forced to be near electricity at BYU for years, but when they decide to mess around with electricity at BYU they call it empowering.”
In 2018, Martin tweeted a modified Nordic Wear graphic with the intent to attack the LGBTQ+ community. Nordic Wear is a Swedish clothing brand that is connected to European neo-Nazism. The image depicts a heterosexual family holding up an umbrella for protection against rainbow rain. In Martin’s modified image, the family represents a heterosexual family, the umbrella DezNat (later, The Family Proclamation), and the rainbow rain as DezNat’s perceived enemies, in addition to the LGBTQ+ community. Many Deseret Nationalists have subsequently started using umbrella emojis in their Twitter display names to signify their queer-phobic hate.
Misogyny
One of DezNat’s most well-known misogynists, Martin has exuberantly called himself a “male chauvinist.” Martin has proclaimed that a woman’s only place is at home rearing children, and a woman who does otherwise is a failure. Additionally, he has stated, “Men have dominion over women,” and if a woman “fails” it is because a weak man permitted it:
“Couldn’t the point be simply “Men are responsible for women.” or better “Men have dominion over women” so if a woman has failed there is a weak man somewhere who has permitted/encouraged it?”
Martin also gives misogynistic dating advice, stating:
“If you have fun in the company of woman you are gay or evil.”
Zach Martin has also questioned a female returned Mormon missionary’s sexuality by saying that a woman who does not gain weight on her mission isn’t a real woman. Moreover, Martin has claimed female missionaries are not as successful as male missionaries. He stated “never vote for a woman.” Later, he reinforced his far-right misogynistic political views by stating, “Imagine calling yourself conservative and voting for a woman lol.” Martin also, as a consistent theme, asks antagonistic questions, in this case, “Are you for or against women’s suffrage?” (Seeking an ironic and potentially unintended response from his audience).
sources: [Anti-Communist Facebook page, 42, 43]
When confronted about his misogyny, Martin has
responded with, “Need a white chick built like a pregnant basset hound to explain toxic masculinity to me.” When other DezNats have suggested that married LDS men should not comment on a woman’s appearance, he proposed the question, “
What if the woman is really fat or really ugly?”
Harassment, Threats, and Bullying
Zach Martin has repeatedly harassed and threatened those he views his enemies, namely progressive Mormons (progmos) and former Latter-day Saints (exmos). He has suggested targeting Brigham Young University professors by leaving them fake negative reviews. When one DezNat user asked for opinions on what kind of gospel apps were needed that don’t exist, Martin suggested “A way to report apostate behavior.”
Martin has also harassed journalists, most recently one with the LDS Church owned Deseret News in which he called the journalist “an apostate and a coward.” Martin has also stated that “becoming a journalist is immoral because it causes your wife to work outside the home.”
Martin also threatens blood atonement on so-called apostates. Blood Atonement is a disputed doctrine in Mormonism that has been disavowed by the Mormon church in which certain “eternal sins” were only redeemable by the spilling of blood. Martin’s opinion on white nationalist Ayla Stewart is that “all apostates deserve blood atonement but her worst sin was her cringe.” Ayla Stewart reportedly left the Mormon faith when the church’s leaders denounced white supremacy after the deadly Unite the Right hate rally in Charlottesville. Stewart was a member of Identity Evropa, an American neo-Nazi and white supremacist “identitarian” organization.
Identifying Zachary Martin
Zach Martin left us a memorable trail of breadcrumbs leading us right to his real identity. The first link we noticed, was an advertizement of his Anti-Communist Society Facebook page [44] on the far-right, DezNat associated, misinformation website, “Teancum’s Javelin”. After sifting through several posts on the Facebook page we found a display name we recognized: “Martin Grandehoss.” [45] This display name piqued our interest because it was also listed as the administrator for a private Facebook group called DezNat High Command [46]. The Anti-Communist Society post we found stated, “In case I get Zucced permanently, keep in mind that I am on Twitter….” and showed an image of a Twitter account with the handle @AntiCommieSoc, as shown earlier, was Hoss’ oldest account located, to-date. In a comment on the same post, Martin Grandehoss replies to a profile saying, “I got banned from FB for saying Muslims sometimes throw acid on women…”
sources: [44, 45, 46]
Next, we researched public posts mentioning the name “Martin Grandehoss”. We already had Hoss’ chin, neck, body frame, hair color, and eyeglasses seared into our minds from his YouTube videos, and so when we came across an image with an
individual tagged as “Martin Grandhoss” we knew we our guy. Furthermore, the post referred to “Martin Grandehoss” as “Zach” which meant we now had a name to go with the face. A commenter on the post also replied saying, “Happy happy happys semana del padre en Paraguay,” which translates to “Happy happy happy father’s week in Paraguay.” We already knew from Zach’s tweets that he
served a mission in Paraguay and were able to confirm when he posted in the
Paraguay Asuncion North Mission Facebook group.
Using Facebook, we noticed Zach Martin had befriended family members, further confirming his identity as Zachary Scott Martin. From a Facebook post dated from 2011 we noted a name tagged in a comment that showed a different name when we hovered over it. This means the display name was changed between 2011 and 2021, but the original tag remained. This shows that “Martin Grandehoss” AKA Hoss, is Zach Martin.
Browsing public Facebook posts, we were able to locate additional photos of Zach Martin, his wife, as well as information about him that provided additional insight (e.g. living in Arizona). We were also able to identify Hoss’ wife as Lennai (Lenny) Idso-Martin who matches up with an image posted as a selfie by DezNat account @HelaWomyn, who is connected directly to Martin on Twitter (quantified by via retweets, replies, likes, and being mutuals; each following the other).
Lenny Idso-Martin, connected to an additional Facebook account of Zach Martin’s “Taco BigHoss.”
Martin GrandeHoss (deleted) https://www.facebook.com/MarvinHGrande/
Facebook ID: 1593295685
Taco Stan https://www.facebook.com/taco.stan.1
Facebook ID: 100028822220847
Lenny Idso Martin https://www.facebook.com/lenny.idsomartin
Facebook ID: 100000152604996
Calls to Action
Unemploy:
Zach Martin works for Wells Fargo.
UPDATE from Wells Fargo 8/9/2021: “Thank you for reporting your concern. Wells Fargo does not currently employ anyone matching the info in this social media profile. Since posted content is not always validated, we’ve found that social media profiles and accounts can contain inaccurate or outdated information.”
LinkedIn: https://archive.vn/tN7pu
If you have current employment information for Zach Martin, email us at: exposedeznat at riseup dot net
We do not share sources of tips with anyone.
Email: exposedeznat at riseup dot net
Deplatform:
1.) Report Zach’s Twitter @lamhomosexual for hate speech.
ID 1245591829690478593
2.) Please report his Patreon account for Hate Speech here:
Reference this Patreon link:
https://www.patreon.com/WeeklyHoss
This Twitter post:
https://twitter.com/ExposeDezNat/status/1424624826790998019
and this article:
https://exposedeznat.noblogs.org/zach-martin-arizona-deznat-racist-homophobe-mormon/
Spread the Word
Zach and Lenny recently moved from their home in the Phoenix, AZ area. To those who know, please help spread the word of Zach’s behavior to his new ward.
UPDATE: Zachary Martin recently purchased a home in Mesa, AZ in the Beverly Ward of the Mesa Arizona Maricopa Stake at 1054 WEST 2ND PLACE Mesa, AZ 85201 of the LDS Church.
Please help spread the word of Zach’s behavior to his new ward.
Tips
If you have additional information to share regarding Zach or Lenny Martin, please email exposedeznat at riseup dot net. We do not share sources of tips with anyone.
Email: exposedeznat at riseup dot net