Jeremy Boreing And Ben Shapiro Recount ‘Impossible’ Inception Of Bentkey, Reveal Robust Slate Of Shows Coming To Daily Wire’s Kids Entertainment Company On ‘Sunday Special’

Daily Wire co-founder Jeremy Boreing joined his colleague and fellow co-founder Ben Shapiro on the “Sunday Special” to discuss the crazy story behind Bentkey’s beginning and what The Daily Wire’s new kids entertainment company has in store.  

The Bentkey app was launched on Monday, the 100th anniversary of the founding of Disney, as Boreing announced that the first live-action film brought to the service would be “Snow White and the Evil Queen,” featuring Daily Wire YouTube star Brett Cooper. Currently, the Bentkey app features 17 shows, including Bentkey original shows like “A Wonderful Day with Mabel Maclay,” and “Chip Chilla.” 

As for the name, Boreing said “Bentkey” comes from the bent key he’s worn around his neck every day for the last 28 years. 

“It’s the key to a small theater in a town called Post Texas, where I grew up doing plays and where I kind of discovered who I was and what I wanted to do in life,” Boreing said. “The full story of that is probably not one for this conversation.”

Boreing then went into the reasoning for stepping away from naming The Daily Wire’s kids entertainment company “DW Kids” — instead choosing Bentkey.

“Daily Wire is a very politically charged name. … And while the launching of our kids entertainment company is intrinsically a political act, what we’re trying to do with that political act is create content for kids that isn’t inherently political,” said Boreing.

“Bentkey isn’t about politics, and so that’s why we needed a new name,” he continued. “And I thought Bentkey was a fun name because it is mysterious, because it has this sense of whimsy.” 

Bentkey’s launch is traced back to March 29, 2022, when journalist Chris Rufo posted a video of a Disney executive discussing how she easily implemented a “not-at-all secret gay agenda” in one of her shows. Boreing and Shapiro discussed how Shapiro had suggested producing kids entertainment to Boreing immediately after video of the Disney executive was posted, but initially, Boreing thought the endeavor was “impossible.” 

GET BENTKEY FREE WITH DAILYWIRE+ ANNUAL PLAN

“And then I laid back in bed to go back to sleep for another 40 minutes. And as I sat there, I thought, dammit, he’s right,” Boreing added. “I waited until the earliest possible moment that I could reach out to Caleb Robinson, our other business partner. and I said, Caleb, we’ve got to launch kids today.”

“And I said, I think that we have to announce today, while people are rightly outraged about what Disney what’s happening at Disney,” Boreing added. “I think we have to announce that we’re going to make an investment in kids and that we’re going to spend we’re going to commit $10 million over the next three years.”

The Daily Wire co-founder told Shapiro that the $10 million number seemed impossible when he discussed it with Daily Wire co-CEO Caleb Robinson, and Robinson told him he was “out of [his] mind.” But the Daily Wire executives couldn’t let the idea go. 

“I drive into work. By now, our COO, Jon Lewis, is involved in the conversation and we’ve decided that we’re just going to do it,” said Boreing. “We’re going to announce this initiative. We’re going to change the direction of our company in a deeply profound way.” 

Hours later, without having the opportunity or time to write a speech, Boreing stood on a stage in front of his employees and a livestream of Daily Wire members and announced — not a $10 million initiative — but a $100 million dedicated to the launch of kids entertainment. 

“$10 million sounded like a lot laying in my bed, but $10 million, it’s like one show. That’s not wanting a kids entertainment company. That’s launching a TV show, but what are we really doing here?” Boreing asked. 

“$100 million sounds impossible. And it is,” Boreing added. “And it’s nothing. Disney’s content budget is $1 billion a year. Hollywood spends like $180 billion a year on content. So to say that we’re going to spend $10 million isn’t taking seriously the scope of the fight that we’re claiming that we’re going to jump off into it. … If we’re going to do this, we’ve got to really do it.” 

As for where the money came from, Boreing said he and the company, including Shapiro, had to take a giant risk. 

“You and I and Caleb have diluted our ownership in the company to raise money, and we literally made ourselves poorer,” he said. “If it fails, much poorer. If it succeeds, maybe it was worth it.” 

After the launch of Bentkey on Monday, the success of the endeavor looks more than promising. The Bentkey app was the number one kids app by the end of the day Monday. Already featuring 17 shows, four of which are Bentkey originals, and a live-action film in the works, Bentkey also “went around the world” to curate existing content, ensuring that the kids entertainment company continues to offer a “robust” slate of shows. 

“I think it’s an amazing start, but we wanted to make sure that our offering was robust. We want to make sure that parents get value for the money that they’re going to spend,” Boreing said. “So we also went around the world and curated existing content that we didn’t think betrayed the values of our audience.”