Roosh V
| Roosh V | |
|---|---|
| Roosh V in 2014 | |
| Born | Daryush Valizadeh June 14, 1979 Washington, D.C., U.S. | 
| Alma mater | University of Maryland | 
Daryush Valizadeh (born June 14, 1979), also known as Roosh Valizadeh, Roosh V and Roosh Vorek (or Vörek), is an American former alt-right blogger and pickup artist. Valizadeh wrote on his personal blog and also owned the Return of Kings website and Roosh V Forum, where he published articles by himself and others on related subjects. Valizadeh has self-published more than a dozen dating and travel guides, most of which discuss picking up and having relations with women in specific countries. His advice, his videos and his writings have received widespread criticism, including accusations of misogyny, antisemitism, homophobia, and having ties to the alt-right.
Many of Valizadeh's publications have been taken down. On May 30, 2018, DreamHost took down Kings Wiki. On September 10, 2018, several of Valizadeh's books were removed from Amazon.com's self-publishing platform. He was also sanctioned by YouTube, another source of revenue for him, for violating their rules. On October 1, 2018, citing a loss of revenue and traffic due to PayPal's and Disqus's terminating their partnerships with him, Valizadeh announced Return of Kings would no longer be publishing new articles.
In March 2019, Valizadeh converted to the Armenian Apostolic Church and condemned extramarital and casual sex as sinful, also stating that he was embarrassed about the books he wrote in the past, unpublishing some of them. On May 1, 2021, Valizadeh was received into the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) at Jordanville Seminary in Jordanville, New York.
On Sunday, October 29, 2023 Valizadeh closed his online forum and decided to move on from public internet life. "I have a regular job now and want to live a normal Orthodox life. This forum is a hinderance [sic] to that end."