Spotify superstar <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-rogan">Joe Rogan</a> is a man’s man in the classic sense of the phrase.
The comedian loves hunting, eating red meat, and combat sports. He’s been part of the UFC revolution for more than 20 years, providing color commentary for some of the sport’s biggest matches.
He looks as wide as he is tall, and it’s all muscle, not fat. So why does he attract so many female listeners?
<div id="attachment_693389" style="width: 826px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-693389" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-693389" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-1440840074-816x576.jpg" alt="NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 11: Joe Rogan is seen on stage during the UFC 281 ceremonial weigh-in at Radio City Music Hall on November 11, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC)" width="816" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-1440840074-816x576.jpg 816w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-1440840074-300x212.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-1440840074-768x542.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-1440840074.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 816px) 100vw, 816px" />Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC</div>
A <a href="https://business.yougov.com/content/47483-whos-listening-to-the-joe-rogan-experience-men-mostly" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2023 YouGov poll</a> found that Rogan’s podcast fan base leans younger and male.
No surprise there given the show’s content, Rogan’s personal interests, and the crush of male guests. He also curses like the proverbial sailor sans apology.
Yet <a href="https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/joe-rogan-renews-spotify-deal-not-exclusive-1235895424/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Variety’s announcement</a> of Rogan’s Spotify contract extension included this nugget:
<blockquote>Per Edison Research’s Q3 2023 survey of most listened-to podcasts, “The Joe Rogan Experience” ranked No. 1 for the period. In addition, “JRE” was the No. 2 most listened-to podcast for women 13 and older in the U.S., according to Edison.</blockquote>
Number two. And it’s not for lack of female-centric podcasts or alternatives across the pop culture landscape. And that includes true crime podcasts, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/13/why-are-women-falling-asleep-to-true-crime-podcasts-and-tv-shows.html#:~:text=%22My%20research%20shows%20that%20women,what%20to%20do%20if%20kidnapped." target="_blank" rel="noopener">audio catnip for many women</a>.
Turns out women love Rogan, too. But why?
<div id="attachment_693165" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-693165" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-693165" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/JRAR-1024x576.jpg" alt="Joe Rogan Aaron Rodgers" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/JRAR-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/JRAR-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/JRAR-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/JRAR-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/JRAR-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Screenshot: Joe Rogan Experience</div>
Rogan is unapologetically male at a time when pop culture suggests that’s off limits. So-called “toxic masculinity” must be called out and avoided at all costs.
That message got through to Rogan.
“It’s become a disparaged term, to be a man,” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoE_VJ0UopM" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rogan said in an undated clip</a> from his podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
“We are now around soft men and hard times. We’re in a time of ‘<a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/views/news/peterson-rogan-tate-the-cult-toxic-masculinity-3129491" target="_blank" rel="noopener">toxic masculinity’</a> where you can be toxically male,” he said <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5Za3RPE9uc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in another talk</a> on the subject. “And if you’re suppressing masculinity, you’re going to bring on hard times.”
He dug deeper into the phrase last year with <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/podcasts/joe-rogan-goes-after-critics-who-believe-toxic-masculinity-is-an-indictment-of-all-men-thats-crazy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“The Punisher” star Jon Bernthal</a>.
<blockquote>There’s no term toxic femininity, right? But there’s toxic human beings, and some of them happen to be male and some of them happen to be female … but it’s not an indictment on male, you know, the male gender of the species. That’s crazy.</blockquote>
Rogan’s unabashedly male persona connects with his female flock.
It’s not unlike how women swoon over the Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce courtship. The couple represents an old-school romance, the prettiest girl at the prom and the gridiron hero scoring touchdowns for his sweetie.
Podcaster Karol Markowicz noticed a recent viral moment when Kelce moved past a security guard to open a car door for his squeeze during a Big Apple date. The video swiftly got shared far and wide, with Markowicz noting how women swooned over his old-fashioned manners.
They’re playing out their gender roles to a T, sans apology. And so, too, is Rogan. Women reacted to Kelce’s Alpha Male move, much like they long for Rogan’s podcast brand.
<div id="attachment_646243" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-646243" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-646243" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-01-at-4.20.43-AM-1024x574.png" alt="Elon Musk" width="1024" height="574" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-01-at-4.20.43-AM-1024x574.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-01-at-4.20.43-AM-300x168.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-01-at-4.20.43-AM-768x431.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-01-at-4.20.43-AM-1536x861.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-01-at-4.20.43-AM-2048x1148.png 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Screenshot: Joe Rogan Experience</div>
When Cancel Culture came calling Rogan stood his ground. He apologized for using the N-word in the past, although never against a person of color in a derogatory way and carried on his show and career. The press piled on, too, shaping everything Rogan did or said as “controversial” or “problematic.” 
He ignored the attacks, understanding his fans didn’t believe the false narratives against him. Plus, he kept on challenging authority, promoting his professional and personal interests as if the woke mob never knocked on his door.
That’s courage in 21st-century America, and Rogan’s alpha male instincts served him well. Thus the new Spotify deal, reportedly worth up to $250 million.
Men appreciate Rogan as much for his content as his attitude toward their gender. He preaches discipline, much like Dr. Jordan B. Peterson, connecting with disaffected young males hungry for a father figure.
Alpha Males don’t wait for opportunities to knock on their door. They break the door down and make it happen.
<div id="attachment_693413" style="width: 730px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-693413" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-693413" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-1137862413-720x576.jpg" alt="PASADENA, CA - APRIL 17: Comedian Joe Rogan performs during his appearance at The Ice House Comedy Club on April 17, 2019 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Michael S. Schwartz/Getty Images)" width="720" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-1137862413-720x576.jpg 720w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-1137862413-300x240.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-1137862413-768x614.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-1137862413.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px" />Michael S. Schwartz/Getty Images</div>
Rogan is a mixed martial artist as well as a stand-up comic. That requires patience, discipline, and a dedication to one’s health that goes beyond what most people embrace.
<blockquote><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OL16129Qayg">F*** your motivation</a>. You need discipline. Because motivation’s not there every day. I’m missing motivation most days … once I get going, I feel great … but it’s that beginning part that’s hard because your body wants to stay comfortable.</blockquote>
Young men in particular won’t find many Alpha Male role models in pop culture. James Bond had to ride behind his female partner on a motorcycle in the most recent 007 affair, “No Time to Die.” Iconic male figures like Mad Max and He-Man now play second fiddle to strong, empowered female characters.
Male politicians like Gov. Gavin Newsom and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hardly radiate Alpha Male energy. That leaves many men without a sense of purpose or identity. How many times must they see “the future is female” messages before they feel less than useful?
Rogan welcomes them with humor and tough love. That’s the Alpha Male approach, and it means the Spotify superstar will keep attracting both men and women to his signature showcase.
* * *
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of <a href="http://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://twitter.com/HollywoodInToto?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@HollywoodInToto</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Joe Rogan Aaron Rodgers

Alpha Male Magnet: Turns Out Women Love Rogan, Too

Cancel Culture

comedian

Entertainment

Joe Rogan

Masculinity

Readers Pass

Women

Life for conservatives can often feel like an endless series of setbacks. As the Left continues to wage war on reality and convert more people into their cult of insanity, it often feels like we’re fighting an unwinnable war.
But if you pay attention, there are often victories on the battlefield that should encourage us all to keep fighting the good fight.
Today’s moment of justice has to do with a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/woke-college-puts-professor-on-leave-for-handing-out-jeremys-chocolate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">California-based professor</a> who was just cleared to return to work after committing the cardinal sin of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/most-popular-item-prof-under-fire-for-sharing-jeremys-chocolate-bars-says-students-loved-them" target="_blank" rel="noopener">handing out chocolate bars</a>.
Professor David Richardson, a man of substance and excellent taste, was suspended from Madera Community College in May 2023 after he laid out a table of snacks for students which included a selection of <a href="https://www.jeremysrazors.com/collections/jeremys-chocolate?utm_campaign=chocolate&amp;utm_medium=editorial&amp;utm_source=dw-site&amp;utm_content=na_sweetvictory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jeremy’s Chocolate</a>. Though many of his students didn’t recognize this act of heroism for what it was, one disgruntled colleague – who identifies as transgender – was predictably offended and reported Richardson’s actions to the administration. 
Considering this happened in California, and considering the political leanings of almost every institution of higher learning in the country, it would be logical to assume that Richardson, who taught at the college for 30 years, would lose his job over this. But just when all hope was lost, a light shined through.
The chocolate-loving prof is back, baby.
“I am happy and grateful to be back for all the faculty, staff and students who supported me while I was in exile. I wouldn’t have made it without them. But there is a new normal. I know there were a lot of people on the other side who wanted nothing more than to see me never come back,” Richardson said of his return, per <a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/suspended-jeremys-chocolates-professor-cleared-returns-to-classroom/">The College Fix</a>.
Richardson, who is both gay and conservative, was drawn not just to the deliciousness of <a href="https://www.jeremysrazors.com/collections/jeremys-chocolate?utm_campaign=chocolate&amp;utm_medium=editorial&amp;utm_source=dw-site&amp;utm_content=na_sweetvictory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jeremy’s Chocolate</a>, but also the way these delectable candy bars aren’t afraid to declare the truth. Like humans, the candy is <a href="https://www.jeremysrazors.com/collections/jeremys-chocolate?utm_campaign=chocolate&amp;utm_medium=editorial&amp;utm_source=dw-site&amp;utm_content=na_sweetvictory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">available in two varieties</a>: He/Him and She/Her, one with nuts and one without. They were made in response to a Hershey’s featuring a man as one of the faces of its “SHE” bar on the first day of Women’s History Month.
<a href="https://www.jeremysrazors.com/collections/jeremys-chocolate?utm_campaign=chocolate&amp;utm_medium=editorial&amp;utm_source=dw-site&amp;utm_content=na_sweetvictory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GET YOUR JEREMY&#8217;S CHOCOLATE HERE</a>
The professor’s colleague claimed the chocolate brand’s messaging is “transphobic.” That staffer made no mention of how the candy quickly became the most popular item on the snack table once students realized what it was. 
Ultimately, Richardson was “fully exonerated” after an investigation following the Title IX complaint filed against him. Madera Community College spokesman Cory Burkarth declined to comment on the matter, saying the institution didn’t comment on personnel decisions.
This incident proves that not everyone who stands up to leftists gets defeated, even in a completely indoctrinated field such as academia. 
Truth-tellers would be wise to send the message to more people with the miniature <a href="https://www.jeremysrazors.com/collections/jeremys-chocolate?utm_campaign=chocolate&amp;utm_medium=editorial&amp;utm_source=dw-site&amp;utm_content=na_sweetvictory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">micro-aggression size Jeremy’s Chocolate bars</a>. They’re ideal for handing out to “they/them” at parties, for the holidays, or yes, even in a classroom setting. Because the trans activists can complain, they can tattle, they can scream, but they can’t deny that chocolate tastes better when it’s rooted in truth.
One has nuts. One doesn’t. Any questions, class?

JEREMY’S sweet victory

Sweet Victory: Prof Suspended For Distributing Jeremy’s Chocolate Goes Back To Class

Sweet Victory: Prof Suspended For Distributing Jeremy's Chocolate Goes Back To Class

College

Jeremy's Chocolate

Leftism

Professors

TV’s crankiest character is kvetching for the last time.
Larry David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” kicks off its 12th and final season on Feb. 4, ending a remarkable run that changed TV comedy for the better.
Or, rather, the show’s lack of change gave us hope in the Age of Woke.
David’s ability to spoof his image remains a wonderful bit of performance art. He wasn’t a household name prior to the HBO series’ debut in 2000. It didn’t take long for him to go from “the guy who co-created ‘Seinfeld’” to “Curb’s” signature jerk.
He might be the least likable main character since “All in the Family’s” Archie Bunker. Each episode gave us a new reason to boo him and his selfish ways. Like actor Carroll O’Connor of “Family” fame, David made his Larry doppelgänger oddly lovable, flaws and all.
“Curb’s” improv-heavy style delivered a different brand of sitcom, stripped of canned laughter and stale setups. Like “Seinfeld,” “Curb” often introduced several plotlines that came together in the show’s waning moments.
And we never saw it coming.
Of course, “Curb” was and remains hilarious, thanks to a deep cast including Richard Lewis, Ted Danson, Cheryl Hines, Jeff Garlin, and, most of all, J.B. Smoove. The latter’s introduction in season six gave Larry the ultimate on-screen partner.
<div id="attachment_690129" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-690129" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-690129" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-1974493864-864x576.jpg" alt="LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 30: (L-R) Jeff Garlin, Cheryl Hines, Larry David, Susie Essman, and J.B. Smoove attend the Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 12 premiere at DGA Theater Complex on January 30, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic for HBO)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-1974493864-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-1974493864-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-1974493864-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-1974493864.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic for HBO</div>
The show’s protracted run could have been “problematic” for David and fans alike. The show started at a time when “safe spaces,” “trigger warnings” and Cancel Culture weren’t part of the vernacular.
David and co. had nearly free reign in the early years. No one could “cancel” a “Curb” installment for bruising their feelings.
Would David’s “Curb” bow down to the woke mob? Could his on-screen character be less monstrous and more of an “ally?” The show would crumble as a result, of course, but we’ve seen more than a few comedy institutions decay under the weight of our woke age.
“Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”
Not “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
Even the Left-leaning Guardian applauded David’s showcase for not bowing to modern sensibilities – <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/oct/03/curb-your-enthusiasm-review-if-it-aint-woke-dont-fix-it" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“If It Ain’t Woke, Don’t Fix It,”</a> read one headline.
<div id="attachment_690207" style="width: 660px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-690207" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-690207" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-102599274-650x576.jpg" alt="NEW YORK - JULY 02: Larry David and Cheyenne Jackson (R) on location for &quot;Curb Your Enthusiasm&quot; on the streets of Manhattan on July 2, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Bobby Bank/WireImage)" width="650" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-102599274-650x576.jpg 650w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-102599274-300x266.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-102599274-768x680.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-102599274.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px" />Bobby Bank/WireImage</div>
Signature episodes showed David’s fearless approach to comedy. A 2011 episode dubbed “Palestinian Chicken” found Larry torn between his fellow Jews and a delicious new restaurant. Larry ends up siding with a beguiling Palestinian woman named Shara (Anne Bedian) who ran a restaurant teeming with anti-Semites.
She even called him an “occupier” as they make love. David recently dubbed it his <a href="https://twitter.com/Variety/status/1752523735842566307" target="_blank" rel="noopener">favorite “Curb” episode</a>.
The show’s complicated politics shouldn’t be over-examined. David’s approach is nuanced and absurd, his willingness to be true to the character triumphs in the end.
David’s character came of age when other antiheroes ruled the small screen. Think Tony Soprano and Walter White, to name just two. The on-screen Larry wasn’t whacking mobsters or cooking meth. He went through life being offended by everyone crossing his path.
And, more often than not, he selfishly used his money and fame to keep the world at arm’s length.
<div id="attachment_690223" style="width: 773px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-690223" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-690223" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-103126001-763x576.jpg" alt="NEW YORK - JULY 27: Larry David on location for &quot;Curb Your Enthusiasm&quot; on the streets of Manhattan on July 27, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Bobby Bank/WireImage)" width="763" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-103126001-763x576.jpg 763w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-103126001-300x226.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-103126001-768x580.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-103126001.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 763px) 100vw, 763px" />Bobby Bank/WireImage</div>
“Curb” rarely dabbles in modern politics, but when it does Larry and co. aren’t crashing any Libertarian dinners. And it wouldn’t be authentic if the on-screen Larry, a product of the Hollywood ecosystem, rocked a MAGA hat sans irony.
“Curb’s” antihero was liberal to the core, but the show dedicated an episode to Larry using that red Trump hat to his advantage. He realized strangers would flee from the sight of any MAGA hat wearer, so he proudly wore it to fend off strangers.
Pure “Curb.”
How did David keep “Curb” honest? Like his on-screen persona, he doesn&#8217;t dwell on <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/curb-your-enthusiasm-boss-larry-davids-willingness-offend-1276219/">what other people think of him</a>, according to the show’s executive producer Jeff Schaffer.
“Here’s the thing for us: Nothing is really off limits. I think it’s just how you do it. Any subject is totally fair game; it’s how you execute it. Larry is willing to address issues other people just might not want to touch at all, and I think there’s a very good reason for that, and that’s that he doesn’t care if you watch.”
Some media outlets decried a <a href="https://observer.com/2020/02/larry-david-hbo-curb-your-enthusiasm-metoo-happy-new-year/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“Curb” MeToo plotline as “clumsy,”</a> a commentary that didn’t impact David or the show. Wokesters sensed David and co. didn’t have time for such complaints, so they rarely rose up to attack him or the series.
Even when Garlin, a fixture on “Curb” as Larry’s best bud, got booted from his other gig at ABC’s “The Goldbergs” for <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/03/jeff-garlins-exit-from-the-goldbergs-was-a-long-time-coming-says-wendy-mclendon-covey#:~:text=The%20Goldbergs%20have%20been%20through,was%20a%20long%20time%20coming.%E2%80%9D">allegedly coarse comments and “unwanted hugs”</a> David professionally stood by him.
“Curb” delivered a quasi-“Seinfeld” reunion in season seven, one served up on the show’s unique terms. The sitcom’s main characters joined Larry David for a “new” episode, but we saw it all go down behind the scenes.
<div id="attachment_690213" style="width: 904px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-690213" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-690213" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-91286063-894x576.jpg" alt="NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 30: (L-R) Actors Larry David, Susie Essman and Jerry Seinfeld attend the &quot;Curb Your Enthusiasm&quot; Season 7 New York screening at the Time Warner Screening Room on September 30, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/WireImage)" width="894" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-91286063-894x576.jpg 894w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-91286063-300x193.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-91286063-768x495.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/GettyImages-91286063.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 894px) 100vw, 894px" />Jamie McCarthy/WireImage</div>
Plus, Larry used the plot to reunite with his ex-wife, played by Hines, lowering expectations for “Seinfeld” fans demanding a perfect reunion moment.
Like “Seinfeld,” “Curb” is leaving at the top of its game with no regrets or talk of “jumping the shark,” the phrase used for shows that outlast their welcome.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
* * *
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of <a href="http://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://twitter.com/HollywoodInToto?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@HollywoodInToto</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 12 Premiere

The Final Season Of ‘Curb’ Has Arrived. Not That There’s Anything Wrong With That.

actors

Comedy

Hollywood

Jerry Seinfeld

Larry David

Television

The October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks on Israel by Hamas revealed the Left’s free speech hypocrisy.
Progressives who sat by as the Biden administration teamed with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/meeting-between-state-department-and-facebook-axed-after-judge-warns-of-orwellian-relationship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">social media</a> giants to censor Americans <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/hamas-cancel-culture-free-speech-colleges/">suddenly howled</a> after Hamas apologists were “canceled.” 
The free speech battles within Hollywood have been even more hypocritical, with or without the Hamas atrocities. An industry which praised free speech during the Bush years went silent as conservative stars were <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/487640-hooray-for-hollywood-unless-youre-a-conservative/">repeatedly punished</a>, for their views, sensitivity readers ransacked beloved authors and comedians looked over their shoulders for sharing “problematic” jokes.
Yet two actresses have been “canceled” for supporting the Palestinian cause, albeit in extreme fashion.Was that right? Should stars be able to share potentially abhorrent views sans punishment? 
Rising star Melissa Barrera of “Scream” fame lost a role in the next film in the horror franchise after her pro-Palestinian views went public. She didn’t just call for a ceasefire or express empathy for an impoverished people. <a href="https://time.com/6338695/melissa-barrera-fired-susan-sarandon-israel-hamas-war-hollywood/">She shared a story on Instagram</a> suggesting pro-Israeli forces distort the Holocaust to boost the nation’s armed forces.
<div id="attachment_687127" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-687127" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-687127" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/GettyImages-1946297363-864x576.jpg" alt="PARK CITY, UTAH - JANUARY 19: Melissa Barrera attends The Vulture Spot at Sundance Film Festival - Day 1 at The Vulture Spot on January 19, 2024 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Vulture)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/GettyImages-1946297363-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/GettyImages-1946297363-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/GettyImages-1946297363-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/GettyImages-1946297363.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Vulture</div>
She also suggested the media is controlled by Jews and that Israel’s war against Hamas amounted <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/01/21/news/scream-actress-melissa-barrera-joins-disruptive-anti-israel-rally-at-sundance/">to “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing.”</a>
For that Spyglass Media Group, the studio behind the “Scream” franchises, cut her loose.
Oscar winner Susan Sarandon’s agent <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/susan-sarandon-dropped-by-agency-after-her-anti-semitic-remarks">severed ties</a> with the superstar after she crudely compared the raging anti-Semitism in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks to what Palestinians endure in America.
Both actresses hardly appear contrite.
Sarandon’s X account is now a non-stop wave of pro-Palestinian propaganda. Barrera stood by her comments, sans apology.
<div id="attachment_687131" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-687131" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-687131" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/GettyImages-1542362199-864x576.jpg" alt="NEW YORK, NY - JULY 19: Susan Sarandon walks the picket line in support of the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strike on July 19, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by JNI/Star Max/GC Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/GettyImages-1542362199-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/GettyImages-1542362199-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/GettyImages-1542362199-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/GettyImages-1542362199.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />JNI/Star Max/GC Images</div>
Barrera, who recently marched in a pro-Palestinian protest during the Sundance Film Festival, contends her comments reflect <a href="https://decider.com/2024/01/24/melissa-barrera-addresses-firing-scream/?utm_source=flipboard">mainstream views</a> on the issues in play.
“The people who know me in my family know the truth about me and where I stand, and I think most people in the world also do,” she said. 
Plus, Barrera has more gigs lined up, meaning her cancellation will be short-lived.
Sharing ardently anti-Israeli rhetoric also <a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/news/caa-maha-dakhil-resigns-board-israel-social-media-posts-controversy-1235764577/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cost CAA agent Maha Dakhil</a> her gig. Dakhil, who has represented Tom Cruise, Madonna, and more, resigned from the agency’s internal board after she accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza.
Other stars have shared aggressively pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli views without overt consequences. John Cusack promotes those views ‘round the clock on his X platform but no longer works as regularly as he did in days gone by.
<div id="attachment_687139" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-687139" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-687139" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/GettyImages-1170854370-864x576.jpg" alt="CHICAGO, IL - SEPTEMBER 24: Actor John Cusack speaks at a rally ahead of an upcoming potential strike on September 24, 2019 in Chicago. With Chicago teachers demanding increased school funding, pay raises, and more healthcare benefits, the rally also featured Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who praised teachers' work and called for dramatically increased support for public schools nationwide. (Photo by Scott Heins/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/GettyImages-1170854370-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/GettyImages-1170854370-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/GettyImages-1170854370-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/GettyImages-1170854370.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Scott Heins/Getty Images</div>
Other stars rallied to promote an Israeli/Hamas ceasefire, often with little attention to either the Oct. 7 atrocities or the hostages still in the clutches of Hamas.
A few media outlets suggested the Barrera/Sarandon cancellations amounted to a <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/melissa-barrera-scream-firing-sparks-fears-over-new-hollywood-blacklist-1845901" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new Hollywood blacklist</a>.
It’s worth noting other stars have been canceled for far, far less. Roseanne Barr lost her signature sitcom, along with her Hollywood career, for one gross, racially charged Tweet in 2018 for which she immediately apologized.
Actress Gina Carano’s cancellation proved even more cruel. The “Mandalorian” star lost her Disney+ showcase after suggesting American conservatives were being dehumanized in a similar fashion to Jews in Germany in the 1930s.
Agree? Disagree? Either way, it hardly mentioned a reprimand, let alone a pink slip. Carano joined The Daily Wire’s “Terror on the Prairie” western after her dismissal but hasn’t worked in mainstream Hollywood fare since.
And that’s the bigger problem afoot.
Hollywood’s stance on free speech is all over the map, emotionally driven and progressive to the core.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-divided-states-of-biden">WATCH: &#8220;The Divided States Of Biden with Ben Shapiro&#8221; on DailyWire+</a></h4>
Carano’s commentary pales compared to that of her “Mandalorian” co-star, Pedro Pascal. The actor <a href="https://boundingintocomics.com/2020/11/07/the-mandalorian-and-wonder-woman-actor-pedro-pascal-compares-donald-trump-voters-to-nazis/">compared Trump voters to Nazis</a> before deleting the post.
He suffered no consequences for his ghastly comparison. Slamming Republicans is encouraged, after all, in La La Land.
And let’s not forget the constellation of stars who wished for President Donald Trump’s death in recent years. The list includes Madonna, who dreamed of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/madonna-womensmarch-i-have-thought-awful-lot-about-amanda-prestigiacomo">blowing up the White House,</a> presumably with Trump inside, director Joss Whedon, Charlie Sheen, Johnny Depp and more.
None suffered any professional blowback for sharing those views. Only Kathy Griffin, who infamously shared a photograph of her holding a bloodied Trump ahead aloft, felt professional pain for her views.
Other repugnant celebrity comments also got ignored. Ellen Barkin pined for disgraced comedian Louis C.K. <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6543255/Outraged-Ellen-Barkin-lashes-Louis-CK-mocks-Parkland-shooting-victims.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to be raped and shot</a> via her then-Twitter account and nothing untoward happened to her career.
Bette Midler repeatedly <a href="https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/10/bette-midler-tweets-rand-paul-attack/325701002/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cheered on</a> the neighbor who attacked Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). The Republican gadfly suffered serious injuries as a result, but Midler kept on working (even for Disney+, for what it’s worth).
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Employers have the right to terminate employees who break the law or disgrace the company with their actions. No one is calling what Spyglass did to Barrera illegal in any fashion.
Hollywood’s lack of free speech logic, let alone moral clarity, is disturbing. Stand for absolute free speech or judge stars who say egregious things in something close to a reasonable, consistent manner.
Pick a lane.
The current mania regarding the Israel/Hamas war could have one result that has little to do with free speech or Cancel Culture. Will Jewish actors, or anyone who cares about the Jewish people, rush to work alongside someone like Barrera? What about Cusack?
The actor recently shared a post featuring “Egypt’s Jon Stewart,” Bassem Youssef, saying the Oct. 7 attacks <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/bassem-youssef-john-cusack-denies-hamas-torture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">didn’t happen</a>. That’s despite video after ghastly video, sharing across the globe, <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/hamas-terror-attack-video-los-angeles-new-york-city-screenings-1235637869/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confirming the atrocities</a>.
This goes beyond free speech. Actors can opt in, or out, of a given project for any number or reasons. Some may start choosing their co-stars more carefully.
* * *
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of <a href="http://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://twitter.com/HollywoodInToto?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@HollywoodInToto</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

FAN EXPO Chicago 2023

Hollywood, Hamas, And The Hypocritical Battles Over Free Speech

Censorship

Hamas

Israel

Social Media

Students and faculty at American universities attempted to censor Daily Wire host <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/author/michael-j-knowles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michael Knowles</a> more than any other campus speaker in 2023, according to a <a href="https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/campus-disinvitation-database#campus-disinvitations/?view_39_page=22" target="_blank" rel="noopener">database</a> compiled by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).
Knowles appeared three times in the free speech organization’s “Campus Disinvitation Database” last year as students and faculty at the University of Buffalo, the University of Pittsburgh, and Purdue University all tried to get the Daily Wire host’s speaking events canceled. The three cancel campaigns against Knowles were all in reaction to his views on transgender ideology. 
None of the censorship attempts against Knowles were successful, however, and the podcast host spoke at all three universities even as protesters stood outside of his events, calling him a “transphobe.” 
Daily Wire host Matt Walsh, women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines, and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk each appeared twice in FIRE’s “Campus Disinvitation Database” for 2023. None of the censorship attempts against Walsh, Gaines, or Kirk were successful either. 
Knowles’ <a href="https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/local/ub-president-michael-knowles-respond-to-backlash-about-thursday-speaker-event-transgender-lgbtq/71-36fac80e-7132-4738-9b7d-8dedbeec853c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">speech at Buffalo</a> in March caused a stir as he came to the campus for the event shortly after stating that “transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely.” LGBTQ activists took Knowles’ comment — where he simply called for the culture to reject trans “ideology” — as a genocidal threat. 
“No even mildly reasonable person could have interpreted my words as insinuating any sort of violence,” he said at the time, responding to the Left-wing outrage over his remark. 
The speech took place despite the calls for the University of Buffalo to cancel it after the university’s president said it couldn’t stop the student group from inviting Knowles since the group was abiding by university guidelines and state laws. 
Shortly after the Buffalo speech, Knowles attended an event at the University of Pittsburgh, resulting in more <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/university-of-pittsburgh-trans-community-petition-anti-trans-discussions-guest-speakers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">backlash</a>. Within a month of Knowles’ speech, Gaines and Daily Wire Senior Editor Cabot Phillips also spoke at events on campus, which upset some students and faculty who circulated a petition calling for the university to prohibit them from speaking. But Knowles’ speech, as well as Gaines&#8217; and Phillips&#8217; events at Pitt, went on as planned. 
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Knowles then spoke at Purdue University, where the commentator again addressed transgenderism. Some students at Purdue organized a <a href="https://yaf.org/news/purdue-leftists-organize-protest-against-michael-knowles-within-minutes-of-event-being-announced/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">protest</a> against Knowles while others <a href="https://www.wbaa.org/purdue-news/2023-03-22/purdue-students-prepare-for-michael-knowles-visit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hosted</a> a block party “to eradicate transphobia,” which included a drag show.
While FIRE does not claim that its database is exhaustive, the <a href="https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/campus-disinvitation-database#campus-disinvitations/?view_39_page=23" target="_blank" rel="noopener">list</a> showed that all but one of the 27 censorship campaigns against speakers on campuses were attempts from the Left to silence Right-leaning speakers. Other notable speakers whose events were targeted by leftists include Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, author James Lindsay, and conservative commentator Liz Wheeler. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
FIRE recorded 27 attempted (and sometimes successful) campus disinvitations last year.
All but one came from the Left. <a href="https://t.co/NKIYF7tL2t">pic.twitter.com/NKIYF7tL2t</a>
&mdash; Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) <a href="https://twitter.com/sfmcguire79/status/1747700981050011824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 17, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The FIRE list also included federal judge Kyle Duncan, whose speech at Stanford University last March was disrupted by students who shouted at him while he tried to present his prepared remarks. When Duncan asked for an administrator to get the situation under control, DEI administrator Tirien Steinbach <a href="https://twitter.com/EdWhelanEPPC/status/1634218660494548993?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1634314183079518211%7Ctwgr%5E0d6c135d58315315e556ff461017111a5d5c9920%7Ctwcon%5Es3_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thefire.org%2Fnews%2Fstanford-law-students-shout-down-5th-circuit-judge-post-mortem" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defended</a> the disruption, telling the judge that “for many people here, your work has caused harm.” 
In another <a href="https://twitter.com/johndsailer/status/1654508284785700864?s=51&amp;t=qzjGK2hvGE3WB6C8voqsPQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">instance</a> of campus disinvites documented by FIRE, an event featuring Rep. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and State Rep. Dave Murphy in May was canceled after petitions from students and faculty at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Michael Knowles

Campus Censorship Attempts Targeted Michael Knowles More Than Any Speaker In 2023

American Universities

LGBTQ

Transgender

U.S.

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/we-honor-faith-family-and-country-candace-cameron-bure-on-making-faith-based-films" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Candace Cameron Bure</a> dismissed attempts last year to &#8220;cancel&#8221; her over her comments about traditional marriage and said she sees it as a test of her faith, as she quoted a Bible verse which deals with seeing test of trials as a blessing.
During the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/its-hard-no-matter-what-candace-cameron-bure-says-cancel-culture-cant-force-her-to-back-down" target="_blank" rel="noopener">47-year-old</a> actress&#8217; latest episode on the &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7O01r0tg-Q" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Candace Cameron Bure Podcast</a>,&#8221; the &#8220;Full House&#8221; star talked about the backlash she faced in 2022 after she voiced her Christian and conservative views. (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7O01r0tg-Q" target="_blank" rel="noopener">7:07</a>)
&#8220;When I had a lot of these &#8216;bullets&#8217; kind of hit me in the last year or so, they&#8217;ve been a really big challenge to me personally, to my heart, to my character, to my relationships, to my jobs,  Bure said. &#8220;I remember being so upset over it, because it&#8217;s like how do you recover?&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;ll just say it, Cancel Culture is very real,&#8221; she added. &#8220;And they were trying to cancel me.&#8221;
Bure said her brother, actor Kirk Cameron, called her up at the time and welcomed her into the James 1 club. It was then that Bure looked up the verse and found a message about overcoming struggles, which she said was comforting.
&#8220;Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance, let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing,&#8221; Bure read the quote. &#8220;&#8230;But blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.&#8221;
In 2022, the &#8220;Fuller House&#8221; <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/it-absolutely-breaks-my-heart-candace-cameron-bure-responds-to-backlash-over-marriage-comments" target="_blank" rel="noopener">star</a> faced a backlash and was accused of &#8220;bigotry&#8221; and of &#8220;selling out&#8221; after she voiced her opinion about traditional marriage when asked about leaving Hallmark for the Great American Family network.
In the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/candace-cameron-bure-great-american-family-11668205295" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wall Street Journal interview</a>, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/more-celebs-pile-on-candace-cameron-bure-for-traditional-marriage-comment-while-daughter-defends-her" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bure</a> said that GAF storylines would &#8220;keep traditional marriage at the core.&#8221; Her departure from the network came after Hallmark&#8217;s programming and advertising started involving <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/lgbtq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LGBTQ-</a>themed stories. Bure develops, produces and stars in movies on GAF.
Immediately following the media attention from her comments, Bure shared a lengthy statement addressing the backlash, saying that she had never intended to hurt anyone and that the media&#8217;s apparent need to divide people was only continuing to feed the current &#8220;toxic climate.&#8221; &#8220;We need Christmas more than ever,&#8221; she said.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/youre-going-to-be-a-disciple-for-me-candace-cameron-bure-thanks-god-for-taking-her-out-of-acting-for-10-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8216;You&#8217;re Going To Be A Disciple For Me&#8217;: Candace Cameron Bure Thanks God For Taking Her Out Of Acting For 10 Years</a>

Candace Cameron Bure

Candace Cameron Bure Dismisses Attempts To ‘Cancel’ Her As A Test Of Faith

Candace Cameron Bure Dismisses Attempts To 'Cancel' Her As A Test Of Faith

Celebrities

Faith

The following is a transcript excerpt from Dr. Jordan Peterson’s conversation with comedian Matt Rife. In this segment, they discuss the criticism over Matt’s Netflix special, how he responded, and the lack of consequences for leveling an accusation. You can <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast/rife-for-cancellation-matt-rife" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listen to</a> or <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/rife-for-cancellation-matt-rife" target="_blank" rel="noopener">watch</a> the full podcast episode on DailyWire+.
Start time: 1:01:29 
Jordan: One of the things that I have noticed repeatedly, because I have gone through repeated attempts of people trying to cancel me, is that it can be quite an intense experience when in the immediate aftermath of its occurrence and that is somewhat off-putting and destabilizing because you do not exactly know how far out it is going to spread or what the consequences could be. But if you did not do anything wrong and you do not apologize, or maybe you make light of it in some creative way, then the probability that it will turn around and flip in your direction, if you can tolerate the weight, is extremely high. Part of the reason I am bringing this up is because I do not think the people who are in the throes of being canceled understand this.
You can imagine historically, if an angry mob of 40 of your neighbors showed up on your doorstep with pitchforks and flames, it would probably be a good time to think, “These people would not have gone to all that time and effort, in all likelihood, had I not done something wrong.” But now you can whip up a Twitter mob in no time whatsoever, with no effort at no cost to yourself and probably some benefit. So your instinctual responses to being mobbed are wrong.
Matt: Yeah, it doesn’t translate to the real world. I just walked through two very packed airports and did nothing but take like 45 pictures. Nothing but a positive response. 
Jordan: Have you had any negative responses? You said you had no negative responses to anything you have ever said so far at a live show and when you were actually on stage. What about out in the actual world?
Matt: Not once. Never once has somebody come up to me and said, “Hey, I didn’t like the thing you said.” That kind of — I don’t know if you want to call it — a mixture of social awareness and accountability doesn’t translate to the real world.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/rife-for-cancellation-matt-rife" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast</a></h4>
Jordan: It also takes a lot of gall to do that — to come up to someone and say, “You know that thing you said?” even though you don’t know who they are.
Matt: Imagine you see a street performer; they’re playing violin on a street corner, they’ve got their case out with cash. Say you f***ing hate violins. Violin drives you nuts. Maybe he’s not even good at playing violin. What do you do? You keep walking, right? No sane, decent human being stops and goes, “You’re f***ing awful dude. Kill yourself. What are you doing out here? You’re making my life miserable until I just look a different direction.” That’s an insane thing to do, and most people know not to do that. But obviously the internet creates this. This is what I would believe to be false confidence and believing that they’re safe behind this imaginary source of social media — that they don’t face any repercussions because their profile picture is an anime character and everything’s a private profile. There’s no consequence for saying what they say.
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Jordan: There is no consequence for leveling an accusation. Yes, it is really bad.
Matt: Versus the real world. You come up to me; I can have an intellectual conversation with you as to why I disagree with you.
Jordan: Or make a joke.
Matt: Yes. Or I could smack the s*** out of you. That is also a consequence that is viable. And that doesn’t weigh on anybody on the internet, so it’s easier for people to talk s*** on there versus the real world where people actually aren’t even bothered. And also, I had to figure, most people who talk s*** on the internet and actively try to cancel people and have no life, they’re not out in the real world. They’re in their house doing absolutely nothing, so you don’t have to worry about that.
Jordan: Yes, and they definitely have the mentality of mean girl high school bullies: We are going to shame, we are going to reputation savage, we are going to exclude.
Matt: Go ahead. Put so much energy in your life into thinking about me and how much you don’t like me. What a waste of your life.
Jordan: Now, you said too that when you posted your response to the criticisms, you posted something — I think that is wildly funny, by the way — so maybe you could explain that to this particular crowd. But you also told me in the intervening time between the two podcasts that that was not a calculated response — that you relied on your instinct for what was funny. So explain what you did.
Matt: So funny, you sound like a principal, who my parents came here — “Tell them what you did.”
Jordan: Right? That’s right. Exactly. Lay it out, man.
Matt: Basically, this thing happened. There was outrage over a joke that was wildly misperceived, and that’s fine. You’re allowed to like or not like a joke. Totally ok. And in response to that, I posted. When you get canceled or somebody is upset about a joke, you’re supposed to apologize. People want you to back down and shame you and recognize what you’ve done wrong. And I don’t believe I did anything wrong whatsoever. So it made me really feel like the people who were offended by this were, for lack of better words and to be quite frank, weak-minded. So I posted a photo of me on stage — I thought it was a good photo — with a link at the bottom of it, and the caption was saying if I’ve ever offended you with a joke, I’ve told, here’s a link to my official apology. And the link description should have been a dead giveaway. It said to click to solve your issue, and when you click on the link, it redirected you to an online store front.
Jordan: That is funny. “Click to solve your issue.” That’s funny. Because it is a little ambiguous.
<div id="attachment_661253" style="width: 291px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-661253" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-661253" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Rife-unnamed.png" alt="Matt Rife Instagram." width="281" height="512" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Rife-unnamed.png 281w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Rife-unnamed-165x300.png 165w" sizes="(max-width: 281px) 100vw, 281px" />Matt Rife Instagram.</div>
Matt: Of course. And then you click on the link and it redirects you to an online storefront for special needs helmets. I thought this was very funny and again, instinctually, people get triggered by a subject matter rather than what the joke actually is. Everybody took that as I was making fun of special needs people. No, I don’t have anything to say about special needs people.
Jordan: Well, you are making fun of people claiming special needs for their emotional fragility inappropriately.
Matt: Exactly. 
Jordan: And quite nicely.
Matt: I’m saying, you need this way more than they do. And the best part is that you clicked on it. 
Jordan: That is right. They could have special needs earplugs that they could wear to comedy shows where you actually could not hear the comedian.
Matt: They filter out all the words. It AI-generates what they want to hear. Oh, that’s so genius. 
Jordan: That will happen soon enough. That is right. You will be able to get an AI sensor. 
Matt: But that’s technically what your algorithm is. It shows you what you want to see. It tells you what you want to hear. The night that I was like the number one trending thing on Twitter, I texted my friend and I was like, “Yeesh.” And he sent me a screenshot of his; I wasn’t even top 25. He goes, “Nobody cares, dude. It’s in your circle because it’s your profile. You’re going to hear about it, obviously, but it’s not to the extent people think.”
So, yes, I posted this misdirect of an apology, and it couldn’t have went better. I was literally just sitting passenger seat in a car ride with my friend, and I just thought it would be a funny thing to do. It took me no more than 45 seconds to think of doing that. I go, “Hey, is this funny?” And he cracked up laughing, and I went, huh, f*** it. I also thought that most of the outrage was happening just on Twitter and TikTok. Like, Instagram’s a far more personal app I think. And so the fact that people even saw that and took it to other platforms I thought was insane, but also proved my point even more that people who don’t even like my comedy or have never even heard of me, saw the outrage and my response to it and went, oh, that’s actually funny. It actually gained me a lot of fans because most of the world, I would feel confident in saying, the majority of people are sick of this s***. 
Jordan: Well, most people are actually hoping that a comedian will be funny rather than politically correct. Right. Well, this is the problem. I think this is the misapprehension of people who apologize when they are accused because your case is, well, perhaps you irritated some people by not apologizing. But, first of all, there are people that you really don’t mind irritating, and they weren’t really irritated to begin with. So it is all a lie anyway.
Matt: Nor were they fans in the first place.
Jordan: Right. Exactly. So when you apologize, in principle, you signal to those people that you have kowtowed and bowed down. But you forgo the opportunity to appeal to a much broader realm of people, which you think would be more sensible if you were trying to protect or develop your career — the people who look at what you’ve done and think, oh, well, that is funny enough, so maybe I will go check out this guy who I have never heard of. I am sure you attracted like 10,000 fans for every person you turned off.
<div id="attachment_661239" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-661239" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-661239" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/GettyImages-1771546444-864x576.jpg" alt="THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON -- Episode 1871 -- Pictured: (l-r) Comedian Matt Rife during an interview with host Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday, November 8, 2023 -- (Photo by: Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/GettyImages-1771546444-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/GettyImages-1771546444-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/GettyImages-1771546444-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/GettyImages-1771546444.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images</div>
Matt: Oh, yeah. Analytically, I have gained more fans than I have lost across all platforms. The extremities of everybody involved in this “outrage” has been nothing but beneficial because, even if you didn’t like that — the domestic violence joke that I got in trouble for — which is fair, even I think it’s not the best joke I’ve ever written at all. It’s not. It’s probably the worst joke in the special, and that’s fine. I do other things. I have plenty other jokes that are for other people — the response being a perfect example of that. Even if people go, well, that’s not funny but that joke of his is, the extremities are so loud, so against each other, that once one group of people, whatever you want to call them — people love to make it about the Left or the Right; I’m a very unpolitical person; I don’t really use those terms, so they might not be correctly used here — but say the Left is so outraged about something, the Right instinctually goes, “You’re being so ridiculous about this. If you hate this, I’m going to support this because I see nothing wrong with it.” So in doing that, they’ve completely balanced each other out.
Jordan: Well, right. And you probably brought work to the attention of a whole demographic that would not have necessarily known who you were.
Matt: So many people commenting, “I didn’t know who this kid was. I actually didn’t like him before. But I like this joke that he told,” or “I dislike you so much that the enemy of my enemy is not my friend.” So it’s just an ever evolving process. People going back and forth: I love you, I hate you. And it’s going to be this way for the rest of my career and the rest of my life and I’m totally fine with that.
Jordan: Probably, if you are lucky.
Matt: I hope so.
* * *
To hear all of the rest of the discussion, continue by listening or watching this episode on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/watch">DailyWire+</a>.
<a href="https://www.jordanbpeterson.com/">Dr. Jordan B. Peterson</a> is a clinical psychologist and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. From 1993 to 1998 he served as assistant and then associate professor of psychology at Harvard. He is the international bestselling author of Maps of Meaning, 12 Rules For Life, and Beyond Order. You can now<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast"> listen to</a> or<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/watch/jordan-peterson"> watch</a> his popular lectures on DailyWire+.

2023 Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit

Comedian Matt Rife Remains Unapologetic For Having A Sense Of Humor

Jordan Peterson

Woke Culture

The following is a compilation of short excerpts from Dr. Jordan Peterson’s conversation with Matt Rife. In them, they discuss the intention behind Matt’s comedy, the critical aspect of timing, deflection as a defense mechanism, healing by exposure, cancel culture’s goal to garner attention, and laughter as evidence of help. You can <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast/rife-for-cancellation-matt-rife" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listen to</a> or <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/rife-for-cancellation-matt-rife" target="_blank" rel="noopener">watch</a> the full podcast episode on DailyWire+.
Start time: 2:33 [et al.]
<h2>The Intention Of Making People Laugh</h2>
Time: 2:59
Jordan: One of the things I have noticed is that people who are harassed by sensorial-minded nell wits almost always back down and apologize. My sense of that is that a mob comes after them first, for whatever hypothetical sin they have committed, and then they apologize, and the second mob comes after them for that. Then they lessen their own character by the false apology, and they embolden these idiot accusers. So when this blew up around you, why did you decide to take the strategy that you took? Why were you not wracked with guilt and apologetic?
Matt: Because it’s just comedy. I’m just doing what’s funny to me. It’s never any deeper than that, nor should it be for anybody. I’m saying things that my imagination drums up that makes me happy, releases endorphins in my head, and makes my life happier. And all I do is share those thoughts with other people in hopes that it makes their life easier.
Jordan: Well, I have been watching what you do on your specials, and you are continually interacting with the audience, which, correct me if I have this wrong, but a lot of the comedians that I have spoken to spend a lot of time preparing their sets and practicing. But what you are doing seems to be something that is much more akin to spontaneous wit. That is a dangerous thing to do because you could easily be not funny.
Matt: Oh, high risk, high reward.
Jordan: Well, and it is also that because you are doing that, you do not have a lot of time to exactly think through what you are going to say. If something strikes you as amusing, you pretty much have to go for it. And if your head is full of censorship-related thoughts, you are going to be not funny in about 15 seconds.
Matt: You have to let the intrusive thoughts win in comedy. You have to. If you’re a naturally funny person, the first thing that comes to your mind should be the funniest thing to you most of the time in a comedic situation. 
Jordan: It has to be the first thing. You know, if you are taking a multiple choice test, if you second guess your intuition about the right answer, you are more likely to be wrong with the second guess. 
Matt: Is that true? That makes complete sense. 
Jordan: Yes, that immediate response tends to be better. It is a weird thing because that thing that is comical inside you, that is providing you with the intuition for the jokes, it has to be in quick relationship with the audience.
Matt: Timing is everything.
Jordan: Yes, timing is absolutely everything. You want to say the most pointed thing at exactly the right time. So, first of all, how broad-scale do you think this rebellion against what you said actually is? How many people do you think are behind it? And why do you think it has become such a big deal?
Matt: It’s probably a few dozen thousand, which sounds like a lot until you remember there’s 8 billion people in the world. And I would say 90% of the small majority that is upset with me doesn’t go to comedy shows anyway or wouldn’t vibe with me as a person anyway, which is fine. … Whether you enjoy what I do or not, you don’t even have to know it exists. If I’m your problem — if you and I are face to face and you have a problem with my comedy that I tell that I admit to the world, right — if you just remove yourself from me, if you do something as simple as just turn around, there is an entire planet behind you for you to go explore and live the rest of your life. You don’t ever have to think about me. You don’t have to talk about me. I don’t like screamo heavy metal music. Guess how often I think about it and talk about it? Zero percent of the time. You just remove yourself from the situation. I see no harm in trying to make people laugh as a general intention.
<div id="attachment_660637" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-660637" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-660637" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Matt-Rife-4-1024x571.png" alt="DailyWire+. Jordan B. Peterson podcast." width="1024" height="571" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Matt-Rife-4-1024x571.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Matt-Rife-4-300x167.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Matt-Rife-4-768x428.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Matt-Rife-4-1536x857.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Matt-Rife-4.png 1908w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />DailyWire+</div>
<h2>Comedy As A Sophisticated Defense </h2>
Time: 27:22
Jordan: How do you keep yourself from focusing on whether or not you are being funny, for example, when you are interacting with the audience?
Matt: It’s purely confidence, whether it’s real or fake confidence. I think when I was younger, I did develop a fake confidence. I was bullied a lot in high school, not like getting shoved into lockers, but to the point where I wasn’t anybody in anybody’s group. You know, I was class clown. I was the butt of a lot of people’s jokes, which didn’t hurt, at least I tell myself. But I think that’s where you learn. You learn to deflect. Right? You have two options in a moment when somebody makes a joke at your expense. You can either laugh along and play into it and go with it, or you can be embarrassed and everybody sees you’re embarrassed, which is even more embarrassing.
Jordan: Yes, you are right. That just invites abuse. Yes.
Matt: So I think growing up I developed this sense of false confidence where I went, hey, if I also make fun of myself and I get in on your guys’ joke, it won’t hurt. Or people can’t tell that I’m upset. People think it doesn’t bother me.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/rife-for-cancellation-matt-rife" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast</a></h4>
Jordan: I am going to challenge your supposition that that was false — because the thing about being funny is that if you are false, you are not funny. And if you are not funny and you are being bullied, you are just going to get bullied worse. So it seems like you were able to generate responses that were witty and that were funny.
Matt: But purely a defense mechanism I think. It wasn’t for the point of like, oh, I hope I get a good joke off here. I think it was, I have to deflect them saying a mean thing with me saying a funny thing. 
Jordan: I would say that is a very sophisticated defense.
<h2>Playing With Disaster — And Not Apologizing For It </h2>
Time 32:17
Matt: I think comedy is purely down to intent. When people are bullying you, when high schoolers are making fun of something about you, that’s a totally different intent. Even though they are making a joke, their intention is that you’re going to feel a certain kind of way. That is what differentiates it from standup comedy. Every single thing I say on stage is said with nothing but the intention to make people laugh. And I understand it’s not going to make everybody laugh. Some people heal totally differently when it comes to certain topics. I get that and I accept that. I’m not for you.
Jordan: But getting touchy about that, even if you have been hurt, first of all, that is a sign that you still have some real work to do. And second, getting touchy about that and then shielding yourself from any exposure to that is not the way to being cured. Quite the contrary. You know, it is better if you have had a traumatic experience in your life not to protect yourself unduly from situations that might bring that back up, but to voluntarily expose yourself to situations where that is likely to be the case. So it might be understandable in that people have been hurt, but it is counterproductive even with regard to their own recovery. 
Matt: Oh, absolutely. 
Jordan: Comedy has this psychological function; it is sort of like a horror movie in some ways. It is a weird thing that people will voluntarily watch a horror movie because you might ask, why would you pay to be scared? But you are not. You are paying for the experience of the mastery of your fear. And then in comedy, you see the same sort of thing happening; the comedians are always toying with the forbidden. And in part, the reason the audience participates is because we often have to deal with the forbidden, and often some of the things we forbid are not things that we should be avoiding or forbidding. … The comedians have that function of putting forward unpalatable truths in a place where everyone is there to do that voluntarily. That is part of the game. How far can we push things? Then to get all bitchy about that and to try to cancel someone in consequence?
I saw this one guy on YouTube who was complaining about you. He said that you built your career as an ally of women. That was basically his point. Now you have betrayed them with your jokes about domestic abuse. So he was playing this, “I’m the friend of women” sort of game. But he is violating that contract, too, which is that everybody is there in a comedy club to play with disaster. And you know, you are essentially supposed to go along with that.
Matt: I just don’t understand how the environment isn’t taken into consideration. The environment is the context. Think of comedy like a restaurant. You go in there, the food’s not for you, you can leave. You didn’t have to stop in here. Comedy is such a niche field. I wouldn’t consider standup comedy a mainstream art form. It’s not film, it’s not television, it’s not music. It’s not as globally celebrated in every household, you know. It just blows my mind that people can’t just let it be. If it’s not for you, it’s not for you. 
Jordan: See, what is happening I think, even this guy that criticized you in the manner that I just described, I found what he had to say, and him for that matter, contemptible. I thought it was pathetic. But this is something social media does, is that his video, even though I do not think it redounds to his credit, has given him likely more exposure than anything he will ever do in his life. So one of the huge problems on the social media side is that we have put undue access to status in the hands of people who will misuse accusations to garner attention. … One of the massive problems with social media is that it provides people who are willing to do something like savage your reputation with way more attention than they could ever accrue, given their own status and abilities. What to do about that, I have no idea — although apologizing is a bad idea.
<div id="attachment_660641" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-660641" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-660641" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Matt-RIfe-1024x574.png" alt="DailyWire+. Jordan B. Peterson podcast." width="1024" height="574" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Matt-RIfe-1024x574.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Matt-RIfe-300x168.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Matt-RIfe-768x430.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Matt-RIfe-1536x861.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Matt-RIfe.png 1906w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />DailyWire+.</div>
<h2>Helping By Making People Laugh</h2>
Time: 45:15
Jordan: What you are doing, if you are a comic, is actually helping people, not hurting them. And you can tell you are helping them because they laugh. 
Matt: Oh, of course. And it doesn’t need to be for the masses. If you reach even just a few people, you’re doing the right thing. Like I said at the beginning of the podcast, everything I do is just to make people laugh.
Jordan: I am curious about that because the people who apologize for offending someone with their art or their comedy must have doubts about their own intent, right? So if someone comes along and jabs them and says, “Maybe you’re just a mean son of a bitch,” and they say, “Well, you know, maybe I should be more careful.” Maybe they’re feeling a bit depressed, but they do step back and doubt themselves. 
You could say that there are two reasons that someone called for their misbehavior might doubt themselves. One would be that they are narcissistic, and the other would be that they are actually confident in their intent. Now, you have indicated a number of times while we have talked that you are confident in your intent. 
Matt: Yeah.
Jordan: So if I was a persistent skeptic, I would say that you clearly offended 12,000 people — that was the number you came up with. Why are you so confident in your intent that your belief in your own goodness in relationship to comedy trumps the fact that 12,000 people are telling you that you said something offensive?
Matt: Because if 12,000 people are saying that, I would say 100,000 people are saying they loved it — and they’ve been through domestic violence situations and they found the joke very funny. But they are actually able to deal with that situation in a comedic light.
Jordan: Right. Right.
Matt: And I commend that bravery. I can only imagine what it takes to get through something like that. But if I can help in any way, even if it was on accident, I feel great about that. 
<h2>Keep The Funny Jokes</h2>
Time 51:15
Jordan: How do you determine which jokes you keep? What kind of response are you looking for?
Matt: The most amount of laughter is the best outcome.
* * *
To hear all of the rest of the discussion, continue by listening or watching this episode on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/watch">DailyWire+</a>. 
<a href="https://www.jordanbpeterson.com/">Dr. Jordan B. Peterson</a> is a clinical psychologist and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. From 1993 to 1998 he served as assistant and then associate professor of psychology at Harvard. He is the international bestselling author of Maps of Meaning, 12 Rules For Life, and Beyond Order. You can now<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast"> listen to</a> or<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/watch/jordan-peterson"> watch</a> his popular lectures on DailyWire+.

Matt Rife 5

Making People Laugh: A Conversation With Matt Rife

Psychology

&#8220;Reading Rainbow&#8221; star LeVar Burton said he would fight conservative group <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/moms-for-liberty-promises-legal-action-over-splc-hate-and-extremism-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Moms for Liberty</a> while hosting the 74th National Book Awards (NBA) ceremony in New York.
The 66-year-old actor on Wednesday used his opening monologue as the NBA host to call out the parental rights group based out of Florida — formed in response to the COVID restrictions in schools — that&#8217;s been labeled an extremist group by the <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/groups" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Southern Poverty Law Center</a> (SPLC), <a href="https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/levar-burton-opens-national-book-175001351.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yahoo.com</a> reported.
&#8220;Before we get going, are there any Moms for Liberty in the house?&#8221; Burton asked, while the audience laughed.
&#8220;Moms for Liberty?&#8221; he repeated. &#8220;No? Good. Then hands will not need to be thrown tonight.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8220;Before we get going, are there any Moms for Liberty in the house? No? Good. then hands will not need to be thrown tonight.&#8221;
Host LeVar Burton kicks off this year&#8217;s National Book Awards ceremony. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBAwards?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBAwards</a> <a href="https://t.co/tQtLj8azGS">pic.twitter.com/tQtLj8azGS</a>
— Publishers Weekly (@PublishersWkly) <a href="https://twitter.com/PublishersWkly/status/1724957754589061500?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 16, 2023</a></blockquote>
Burton, who hosted the children&#8217;s show &#8220;Reading Rainbow&#8221; on PBS for two decades, also talked about the group during his interview with <a href="https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a45825849/levar-burton-book-banning-interview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Esquire</a>, when he celebrated learning that &#8220;hardly any candidates backed by Moms for Liberty won their races&#8221; during the 2023 election.
&#8220;These are people who would rather children not know the truth,&#8221; Burton told the outlet. &#8220;Those kids will never know what they&#8217;re missing, but it&#8217;s our job to stand up for them, to be their voices and their advocates. That&#8217;s what being an elder in this society means to me.&#8221;
The &#8220;Star Trek: The Next Generation&#8221; star previously went on &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyGqnHMcgdY" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The View</a>&#8221; in 2022 to attack groups like <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/death-threats-to-moms-for-liberty-ramp-up-after-splc-lumped-them-with-kkk-taliban-in-minivan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Moms For Liberty</a> who have spoken out about books that contain <a href="https://www.momsforliberty.org/media/files/pages-page/6d92a117/10questionsparentsshouldask.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sexual content</a> in school libraries and certain <a href="https://www.momsforliberty.org/news/-parents-revolted-against-critical-race-theory-heres-how-they-won/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">racial</a> curricula in schools.
&#8220;We have this aversion in this country to knowing about our past,&#8221; Burton said. &#8220;And anything that is unpleasant, we don&#8217;t want to deal with.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/black-friday-gift-guide" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING GUIDE</a>
&#8220;This is not going away,&#8221; he added. &#8220;Nothing goes away, especially if you ignore it. So, read the books they&#8217;re banning. That&#8217;s where the good stuff is. If they don&#8217;t want you to read it, there&#8217;s a reason why.&#8221;
In the SPLC&#8217;s 2022 annual Year in Hate and Extremism report, it called the group an &#8220;extremist&#8221; coalition of &#8220;far-right antigovernment parents&#8221; known for &#8220;intimidating and harassing teachers and school officials.&#8221;
Moms For Liberty has since promised to sue the (SPLC) for defamation over being labeled an extremist group, as previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/moms-for-liberty-promises-legal-action-over-splc-hate-and-extremism-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/levar-burton-cancel-culture-is-consequence-culture" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LeVar Burton: Cancel Culture Is &#8216;Consequence Culture&#8217;</a>

CBS This Morning

‘Reading Rainbow’ Actor LeVar Burton Says He’ll Fight Conservative ‘Moms For Liberty’

'Reading Rainbow' Actor LeVar Burton Says He'll Fight Conservative 'Moms For Liberty'

October is upon us, which means it is time to think about Halloween costumes. This year, I’m thinking I’m going to be a special kind of witch: a modern #MeToo witch. With all that has transpired from the lawsuit that former MLB pitcher Trevor Bauer won, reflecting on the #MeToo movement’s toxicity fits with the season. 
Contemplating my Halloween costume got me thinking about the Salem Witch Trials, a moment in American history which is still shocking. Most of us learned about the Salem Witch Trials in school, but the story never ceases to amaze me. The trials included a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of being witches in colonial Massachusetts starting around February 1692 and running until May 1693. In the tiny town of Salem, Massachusetts, 200 people were accused, 30 were found guilty, and 19 were hanged. Those were actual occurrences, actual deaths. The majority were women, but five men and two dogs were also executed. At least one man died while being tortured, and five died in jail.
Accusations started out with someone claiming that an illness or a death was caused by witchcraft, and that’s all it took to get hysteria to spread. So someone who got the flu or became ill could claim a witch gave them that sickness, and if the local magistrate deemed the claim credible, the accused would be arrested and brought in for public examination, which was essentially a series of interrogations where the accused were pressed to confess. They were then put on trial and <a href="https://www.history.com/news/7-bizarre-witch-trial-tests">witch trial tests</a> ensued. It is incredible to consider that any of this actually took place in American history.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/candace">WATCH: Candace Owens</a></h4>
One of the witch trial tests was a swim test. A swim test required the accused witch to be taken to a body of water, and once there, stripped of their clothes (save their undergarments), and bound. Then, they were dropped in the water to see if they would float — or sink. The belief was that an innocent person would sink, while a witch, on the other hand, would remain on the surface of the water. Of course, this did not end well because if they were “innocent” and sank, many accidentally drowned.
Accused witches also underwent a prayer test. According to teachings from Medieval times, it was impossible for a witch to read Scripture aloud; they simply couldn’t do it. So this test required the accused to recite selections from the Bible, often being the Lord’s prayer. They could not, however, make any mistakes. A mistake could be fumbling a word, even if that was just because they were nervous — which, no doubt, they were. Having a lisp, being illiterate, and being nervous were all proof of witchcraft. And sometimes, even if the accused read without error, they were still hanged.
The touch test denoted that if the victim of witchcraft had a unique reaction to physical contact with the accused, then the sorcerer’s evil was proven. For example, if I was suddenly seized with fits of some sort, an accused witch would be forced to touch me. Had I been magically healed from their touch, my “healing” would have been evidence they had put me under some sort of spell in the first place. If I did not react to their touch, they could be considered innocent.
For the witch cake test, witch hunters would take some of the victim’s urine — that’s correct: urine — and mix it with rye meal, ashes, and ingredients for a cake. Obviously this isn’t the kind of treat you’d want to pick up while trick-or-treating at the house next door.
Then, the cake would be given to a dog, with the goal being that the dog would be put under a spell (from eating the cake) and reveal the witch.
One of my personal favorites is the witch’s marks test. Witch suspects often underwent being publicly examined for blemishes, birthmarks, or imperfections, as those were thought to be received when making a covenant with the devil. These blemishes were called the “Devil’s Mark,” and the accused were automatically believed to be working with the devil.  Since this was an easy test to fail, some of the accused attempted to get rid of these marks by burning or even cutting them off. But then a wound ended up serving as proof of a pact with the devil.
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These tests and trials seem completely bizarre, especially considering the fact that they took place in our fairly recent American history. Even so, these witch hunts don’t really feel like a relic of the past when we stop to consider today’s political landscape. Though they look different, we have our own form of these modern witch trials in today’s society. We all remember the black square test on Instagram when BLM was trending. If you were white and did not post a black square, you were immediately labeled a racist. It meant you didn’t stand with black people, and it meant you had been a racist your entire life. And if you were a celebrity and didn’t post a black square? You absolutely did not pass the black square test. You were guilty. You are a racist.
The one I have been reflecting on most recently is the #MeToo witch hunt. When that hashtag started trending, I almost lost my job as a conservative speaker because I refused to kowtow to the blanket rule that everything every woman said using #MeToo should be believed, even when the stories they were sharing kept getting more and more ridiculous. Women started crying that they had been hit on at work, that someone asked them on a date, or that they were uncomfortable next to the coffee machine. #MeToo. The big reckoning. No men in the workplace! Men are monsters! Ridiculous.
My stance on the movement never referred to rape victims. I only talked about the #MeToo  trend just like the BLM trend. It was trendy to perceive everything as racism, and with #MeToo, it was trendy to perceive everything as aggression by men. It was trendy to call everything assault, even if it was just a bad date. But none of that mattered; I was under fire.
I was working at TurningPoint USA, and young women were asking, “How can she still be the communications director if she doesn’t support the #MeToo movement?” They wanted me ousted because I did not understand the importance of this trending hashtag.
Except I did understand it. I understood exactly what was happening. I was watching men lose their jobs and be forced to step down from their careers based on accusations. All it took was one woman who used a hashtag without any further examination — women who were not actual victims. Some women wanted revenge on certain men, and they were all suddenly “empowered” to make up allegations. And for a while, those allegations went unchecked. But, I believe in due process. I do not believe that a tweet or a hashtag should condemn someone. Some men started standing up for this too, men who are fighting women in court and scoring some big wins.
Former MLB pitcher Trevor Bauer is one of those men. A woman named Lindsey Hill accused him of a violent assault in 2021, and this accusation instantly changed his entire life. It only takes an accusation to get a fire blazing. After two years in court, Bauer won against his accuser, and he has finally been able <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWf4vceSpXs&amp;t=320s">to share his side of what happened</a>. What we’ve all learned is that Lindsey Hill, his accuser, was a liar who was after money. Evidence in the form of text messages, Snapchat videos, and Google searches prove beyond reasonable doubt that Hill plotted this because she wanted a piece of his net worth.
Now, Hill has been making the rounds, apparently trying to clear her name, claiming various messages have been taken out of context — but she really doesn’t appear to be clarifying much. Her <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py1WwdNlMMQ">interview with Alex Stein</a> just confirms that if “my dog ate my homework” was an actual person, it would be Lindsey Hill. It’s hard to even keep up with the nonsense while she says absolutely nothing throughout the whole interview.
The #MeToo movement was a movement led by women who pretended to be weak but were, in fact, conniving. These women understood that in a movement with power and without checks and balances, they could make up allegations as they accused any and everyone.
Whether these women wanted fame or money or power or community with the other #MeToo witches to rally around them, it was toxic. It always has been toxic, and it always will be toxic.
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Candace_3b16x9 copy 16 (2)

Modern Day Witch Trials

#BelieveAllWomen

Candace Owens

MeToo

Imagine you&#8217;re an executive at The North Face, which is ostensibly an outdoor recreation company. It&#8217;s June of 2023, several years after the moral panic over BLM and George Floyd has subsided. You&#8217;ve run a few gender-bending <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/north-face-chain-angers-consumers-drag-queen-ad-inviting-customers-come-out-summer-pride">advertisements</a> for Pride Month to keep your overlords at Blackrock happy. Everything is normal. Everything is fine, you think.
Then one weekday, at 3:00 a.m., one of your &#8220;brand ambassadors&#8221; — someone you&#8217;re paying to represent your company to millions of people all over the world — suddenly freaks out on social media. He says he&#8217;s just been subjected to a flagrant act of white supremacy at a bar in Bozeman, Montana. He claims the culprit is a guy named John Talbot, who works at an apparel company called Outdoor Research. And then, to explain exactly what he&#8217;s talking about, your brand ambassador, whose name is Manoah Ainuu, uploads this footage to Instagram. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="North Face brand ambassador posts rant about Outdoor Marketing employee" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KgZYapL9YUY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Let&#8217;s recap this story you just heard. White guy John with Outdoor Research approached black guy Ainuu, who works for The North Face, and tried to introduce himself. Then, white guy John proceeded to ask too many questions. And then, to add insult to injury, he tried to shake Ainuu&#8217;s hand. He was too polite, which as we all know, is a telltale sign of white supremacy. Then, if you can imagine it, John refused to buy Ainuu a beer, saying he did nothing wrong. He denied that he was a racist, which is the purest possible evidence that he&#8217;s a racist. Put it all together, and this was a modern-day lynching in Bozeman.
But North Face&#8217;s brand ambassador wasn&#8217;t done there. For good measure, Ainuu also uploaded some more thoughts about this highly upsetting, clearly racist incident. In one of these posts, Ainnu wrote, “I hope there are repercussions … ideally an extermination.&#8221; Ainuu added that John had displayed “gaslighting, toxic masculinity, and white guilt.” He accused John of wanting to fight him. He also told his 15,000 followers on Instagram, “Reshare and tag [Outdoor Research] so this boy has consequences for his actions. &#8230; Our outdoor microcosm can’t have people like this.”
Again, pretend you work at The North Face, or Outdoor Research for that matter. You&#8217;re sitting in their corporate offices and you see that. What do you do, when you&#8217;re confronted with a rambling video like this, which doesn&#8217;t even come close to making any kind of substantive accusation at all? It&#8217;s just an incitement to harass some random guy. Do you fire this brand ambassador immediately, and tell all your other brand ambassadors to stop uploading unhinged videos at three in the morning? Do you feel shame that you invested $7 million in hiring brand ambassadors who are apparently delusional and unstable? Or, for some reason, do you try to &#8220;exterminate&#8221; this white dude who made the mistake of not buying Ainuu a beer?
As you might have guessed, The North Face went for that last option. They apparently decided that 3:00 a.m. rants on Instagram about awkward encounters at a bar really scream &#8220;outdoor recreation,&#8221; so they went to bat for their brand ambassador. Dave Burleson, who was The North Face&#8217;s senior athlete coordinator at the time, publicly called on John&#8217;s employer to punish him: “Outdoor Research, please hold your employee John that is in Bozeman right now accountable. &#8230; To the racists in the outdoor industry, we will find you and we will remove you.”
It&#8217;s like George Bush standing on top of the rubble after 9/11 promising to hunt down Al Qaeda. Except in this case they’re hunting down random white people who have socially awkward encounters with black men at bars. And it gets worse. When Dave Burleson at North Face posted that bizarre response on social media, he was apparently aware that Ainuu was a deranged and unreliable activist. Just a couple years earlier, a movie producer and ice climber named Ari Novak <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/231002-Complaint.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says</a> he alerted Burleson and North Face to Ainuu&#8217;s tendency to lie about racism. In one instance, at the 2020 Michigan Ice Festival, Novak says he had told Ainuu that it was dangerous to climb in an area that was closed at night. In response, predictably enough, Ainuu accused Novak of racism. Novak says he told The North Face about this episode, but they seemingly didn&#8217;t take any action whatsoever. 
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1236-the-matt-walsh-show">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
Here&#8217;s how Novak described Ainuu: &#8220;He’s always trying to create a situation where he can have a fight over race.” There are many other troubling examples along these lines, but the basic idea is that North Face had reason to know all of this. And still, despite everything they knew or should have known, they called on Outdoor Research to fire John Talbot.
A predictable result followed. Within hours, according to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-black-mountain-climber-ruined-a-mans-career-with-false-accusation-of-racism-lawsuit-states" target="_blank" rel="noopener">exclusive reporting</a> from The Daily Wire&#8217;s Spencer Lindquist, Outdoor Research responded. They ordered John to leave Bozeman immediately, like he was a diplomat being recalled after an international incident. And for good measure, Outdoor Research strongly implied that John was guilty of some unspoken act of white supremacy. They said their company, “&#8230; does not support or tolerate discriminatory conduct based on race or any other reason, and we take these matters very seriously.” 
Ultimately, even though Ainuu admitted Talbot hadn&#8217;t said anything racist to him, Outdoor Research <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/231002-Complaint.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">terminated</a> John Talbot. They caved to the mob and his reputation and livelihood was destroyed. That&#8217;s all according to Talbot&#8217;s new lawsuit against <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/231002-Complaint.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The North Face</a> and their brand ambassador. Talbot is fighting very hard in court to get compensation for what was done to him. If he fails, he&#8217;ll never work in the industry again. He&#8217;ll have a very hard time providing for his family.
This is what a single incoherent, unintelligible accusation of racism can do to someone in 2023. All it takes is an unhinged black guy, saying that a white guy didn&#8217;t buy him a beer, and his  career is ruined. If that surprises you — if that seems like something that should never happen in a country with due process and the rule of law — then you should know that it&#8217;s actually just the beginning. As bad as unfounded accusations of racism may be, the impact of accusations like that pales in comparison to what malicious accusations of rape can do to a man. Rape accusations don&#8217;t just end your career. They can put you in prison, whether they&#8217;re true or not.
Yesterday I went into some detail about the case of former Major League Baseball pitcher Trevor Bauer. He was a Cy Young award winner, and one of the best pitchers in the league. He was also a Trump supporter who said some things that trans activists didn&#8217;t approve of. Now, just a couple years later, he&#8217;s been exiled to Japan, because no team in the United States will hire him. How did that happen?
In the summer of 2021, Trever Bauer was publicly accused of brutally beating a woman he had slept with. Here&#8217;s how The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/06/30/trevor-bauer-restraining-order-sexual-assault-allegations/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> on the accusations at the time: &#8220;A temporary domestic violence restraining order filed against Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer and granted by a court Monday details graphic allegations about two separate encounters and includes photos of bruises and a bloodied lip suffered by the woman who obtained the order.&#8221;
This initial article from The Washington Post was mostly fair. It went on to explain that the restraining order was issued &#8220;ex parte,&#8221; meaning the judge never heard Bauer&#8217;s side of the story. The article included the fact that Bauer denied the allegations. The Post also reported that there were, &#8220;records of text messages between Bauer and his accuser &#8230; in which his accuser discusses wanting to be choked and slapped during sex.&#8221; Some of those messages were sent after Bauer supposedly abused this woman. Right away, those are red flags, which tell you that there might be two sides to this story. 
But very quickly, the news media and Major League Baseball dispensed with any pretense that Bauer was entitled to the presumption of innocence. Within days, the MLB <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/02/sports/baseball/trevor-bauer-dodgers-suspended-sexual-assault.html#:~:text=Trevor%20Bauer%2C%20the%20Los%20Angeles,Friday%20by%20Major%20League%20Baseball." target="_blank" rel="noopener">put Bauer on &#8220;administrative leave,&#8221;</a> which would turn out to be permanent. Then, a few weeks later, the Post ran a follow-up <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/08/14/trevor-bauer-ohio-protection-order/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article,</a> which claimed that Bauer had beaten up another woman several years earlier in Ohio. This article did not name the woman. It also didn&#8217;t include a <a href="https://x.com/BauerOutage/status/1426566920648544256?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">series of text messages</a> from this accuser, which Bauer had provided to the Post weeks before their article was published. In these <a href="https://x.com/BauerOutage/status/1426718041723707399?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">messages</a>, which were sent after Bauer allegedly assaulted this woman, we can see that the woman desperately wants to see him. She sends him hundreds of messages while he&#8217;s in the dugout at a game. He keeps telling her that he wants to end their relationship, but she keeps bombarding him with frantic messages that are frankly unhinged.
None of that mattered. The Washington Post didn&#8217;t bother to print those messages, because they knew the damage was done. Bauer would never play baseball professionally in the United States again. A few months later, the MLB formally suspended Bauer for two full seasons. The league said that it had conducted an &#8220;extensive investigation,&#8221; and concluded that Bauer had violated their &#8220;domestic violence and sexual assault policy.&#8221; But somehow, the MLB&#8217;s investigation apparently didn&#8217;t uncover the texts from Bauer&#8217;s primary accuser, which I briefly touched on yesterday. In case you missed it, here&#8217;s Bauer describing some of those messages:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Lindsey Hill&#039;s Concealed Texts Finally Exposed" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6SphfHJbsmk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Last night, in response to a post from Elon Musk, Trevor Bauer <a href="https://x.com/BauerOutage/status/1709372340902265044?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that it appeared that his accuser&#8217;s lawyers had access to all of this evidence the entire time. Bauer wrote that, &#8220;Speaking specifically about the video of her laying in bed next to me with no marks on her face the morning after she claims I brutally attacked her, an email containing that video was sent to her attorney Bryan Freedman before the hearing in 2021 and it was never turned over to us. Perhaps that’s why he insisted on adding his name to the released parties section in the settlement agreement.&#8221;
So, this appears to be a setup from a sociopathic gold digger and potentially her attorney as well. This woman admitted that she was going to rip off Trevor Bauer, repeatedly, in writing. In the interests of fairness, we should tell you that, as of this week, the woman in question is still coming up with innocent explanations for those texts. She&#8217;s appearing on podcasts saying she was being &#8220;sarcastic,&#8221; and that Trevor Bauer abused her, as she said he did. She says these texts are being taken out of context. At the same time, this woman agreed to drop her claims against Bauer, without receiving a single cent from him. That&#8217;s a pretty strong indicator that she doesn&#8217;t have any case. Either way, Trevor Bauer will be able to continue his career, such as it is, in Japan.
But this could have ended very differently. Trevor Bauer was also investigated by the local district attorney. And that&#8217;s something that doesn&#8217;t happen when you&#8217;re accused of offending a random black guy at a bar — at least not yet. Prosecutors in California were thinking of throwing Trevor Bauer in prison for the rest of his life, as they&#8217;ve done in many similar cases. Fortunately for Trevor Bauer, however, the evidence was completely nonexistent. So, the D.A.&#8217;s office ultimately concluded there was no case here.
This is why false accusations of rape are just as evil and just as dangerous to society as rape itself, and should be treated as such. Fabricated rape accusations have the potential to ruin lives and families forever. If you knowingly subject someone to that kind of hell, then you should face a lifelong punishment yourself. But, of course, that&#8217;s not what&#8217;s going to happen here. The woman who lied about Trevor Bauer will likely face no consequences at all. 
At the same time, as Trevor Bauer himself admits, this doesn&#8217;t mean that men are completely powerless. Here&#8217;s Bauer&#8217;s reflection on what he did wrong. This is from early last year, before he could go into detail about the specifics of the charges against him. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="The Truth" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GWf4vceSpXs?start=320&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
That&#8217;s some honest self-reflection, which is something you very rarely see anymore. What Trevor Bauer is saying is absolutely right. Men can choose not to hook up with random floozies. They can choose not to engage in this kind of degenerate sexual behavior with women they barely know. That&#8217;s the moral path. It also happens to be the smart path, from a purely self-interested perspective.
This isn&#8217;t to blame Trevor Bauer for what happened to him. He&#8217;s not responsible for this woman&#8217;s pathology. At the same time, we should acknowledge that sociopathic women out there, who will lie and smear innocent men in order to make some money. There are also sociopathic race hustlers, who have no compunctions about ruining the lives of people like John Talbot. No matter how well-meaning you are or what your politics are — keep in mind, John Talbot had literally worked on DEI committees in the past — you are vulnerable. The identity of your accusers will matter far more than the facts of whatever situation you&#8217;re involved in. So act accordingly.
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Matt Walsh 2

An Epidemic Of False Accusations

Corporations

Matt Walsh

Mountain climbing

Rape

Sports

If you decided one day to go on YouTube looking for old Howard Stern clips, you&#8217;d have a lot of edgy, politically incorrect content to choose from. Stern&#8217;s many segments with an intellectually disabled dwarf comedian named Beetlejuice, for example, aren&#8217;t hard to find. There&#8217;s also a bunch of compilations of people fighting on Stern&#8217;s set, in the style of Jerry Springer, usually over money or adultery. There&#8217;s enough degeneracy to last you weeks, if for some reason you were inclined to watch it.
But there is some recurring Howard Stern content that&#8217;s not so easy to view, because by and large, it&#8217;s been scrubbed from most major video-sharing sites. The segments I&#8217;m talking about involve Stern speaking about his sexual attraction to children, specifically Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Again and again, for several years, Stern described the Olsen twins as sexually attractive. &#8220;They&#8217;re so amazingly hot,&#8221; Stern says in one of the segments, referring to the underage girls. In several cases, Stern brings up the girls unprompted, leading to awkward moments with his co-hosts.
Because it&#8217;s not possible to truly eliminate any content from the internet, you can still find this footage if you know where to look. A small handful of anonymous accounts have defied corporate censors and uploaded some of Stern&#8217;s many disturbing comments about children he finds sexually attractive. Here&#8217;s one example, where Stern laments that the girls, in his estimation, aren&#8217;t as attractive as they were when they were 13-years-old:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Stern show with call in talking about not liking how they look anymore, preferred how they looked when they were 13/14. Disappointed because they were counting down to 18th birthday to have sex with them. <a href="https://t.co/JUyfOjS6rZ">pic.twitter.com/JUyfOjS6rZ</a>
&mdash; ProfitOfRegret (@ProfitOfRegret) <a href="https://twitter.com/ProfitOfRegret/status/1704600632819130742?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 20, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
There are many more clips like this that we could play. Some are even more disturbing than the one you just heard. This is a grown man, in his 40s at the time, repeatedly sexualizing children who are barely teenagers. Many people have had their lives destroyed and been reduced to groveling apologies for saying things that are not even a tenth as bad as what Stern says there. And that wasn’t even a tenth as bad as other things Stern said.
These clips were nauseating and creepy when he made them and they&#8217;re nauseating and creepy now. There was never a point in American history where it was acceptable to sexualize children like this. But for years, Howard Stern continued doing just that, right out in the open. No one stopped him. He didn&#8217;t seem ashamed of it at all. He tracked the Olsen twins from puberty to adulthood, commenting on their sex appeal, as he perceived it, at every turn.
But somewhere along the line, Howard Stern and his team decided that he had to stop talking about the Olsen twins. And more than that, someone decided that all of Stern&#8217;s past comments about the Olsen twins needed to be purged from the internet. All the other degenerate segments could stay online but the stuff where he lusts after young children — well that had to go. It was different from all of his other smut. It was just too damning.
With that evidence (mostly) expunged from the internet, Stern has embraced pretty much every agenda item of the Fortune 500. He is now officially a woke hall monitor, by his own admission. In fact this week Stern proudly identified as &#8220;woke.&#8221; Listen:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Howard Stern hits back at critics: ‘I am woke, motherf–ker, and I love it’" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/M_CQbIiQv2Y?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
As part of his new &#8220;woke&#8221; persona, Stern attacked Lauren Boebert for her <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/boeberts-estranged-husband-posts-statement-after-theater-incident-i-was-unfaithful-to-lauren" target="_blank" rel="noopener">inappropriate behavior</a> in a theater a few days ago. This is the guy who spent the first three decades of his career being a creepy, degenerate sex fiend. Now he&#8217;s playing the prude. He&#8217;s become a pathetic, old washed-up school marm but he&#8217;s now shielded by his new woke identity. He is immune from accusations of hypocrisy, just like he&#8217;s immune from accusations of being a dirty old man attracted to children.
It&#8217;s a revealing transformation, if only because it shows how little daylight there is between woke hall monitors and depraved pedophilic scumbags. Depraved pedophilic scumbags and woke hall monitors are not two destinations on opposite ends of the spectrum. They&#8217;re in the same neighborhood and there&#8217;s a lot of overlap. And they know it. Howard Stern knows it, which is why he&#8217;s sensitive about all those clips of him salivating over 13-year-old girls.
There are other old clips that are inconvenient for Stern, too, of course — clips that are particularly relevant after what&#8217;s just happened to Alex Jones. Jones, you&#8217;ll recall, was just ordered to pay something like a billion dollars to the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook mass shooting. It bankrupted him. Of course Jones was wrong in what he said about Sandy Hook; he admits that. But as far as we know, Howard Stern has never apologized for his decision to mock the victims of the Columbine school shooting. In fact, Stern didn&#8217;t simply mock these victims, he said their killers should have raped them first, before executing them. Listen:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
This was Howard Stern the day after Columbine.
Yikes. <a href="https://t.co/rPVMjCTF4q">https://t.co/rPVMjCTF4q</a> <a href="https://t.co/WanI7f5Pv6">pic.twitter.com/WanI7f5Pv6</a>
&mdash; ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) <a href="https://twitter.com/alx/status/1704323051427402184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 20, 2023</a></blockquote>
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That&#8217;s pretty much the most vile thing a human being could possibly say. I personally give people a lot of leeway for “jokes” made years ago, in a different time, when people weren’t as sensitive and edgy humor wasn’t as edgy. But this is way beyond the bounds of what would have been considered remotely acceptable even in the ’90s. This is, again, perhaps the worst thing I’ve ever heard anyone say, ever. He is not only joking about a school shooting right after it happened — a day later — but lusting after the survivors and saying that the shooters should have raped their victims. And keep in mind that said all of this when he was a grown man in his mid 40s. But Howard Stern has never been banned from every social media platform for these comments. He wasn&#8217;t ordered to pay a billion dollars. He didn&#8217;t have to pay anything.
That&#8217;s because, fortunately for Stern, he mocked the Columbine victims prior to this new era of woke enlightenment, where free speech is illegal as long as it&#8217;s sufficiently offensive. And now, just to cover his bases, Stern has completed his transition into the cult of wokeness soon enough to protect himself against cancellation. Now they&#8217;re not going to come after him because he&#8217;s on their team.
Meanwhile, Russell Brand is being demonetized based on accusations alone. Unlike Howard Stern, Russell Brand never publicly expressed his sexual attraction to 13-year-old girls. But he has expressed skepticism about big pharma and the war in Ukraine. And for that reason, this week a &#8220;culture committee&#8221; in the UK parliament sent Rumble a letter requesting that they demonetize Russell Brand. The letter reads: &#8220;I am writing concerning the serious allegations regarding Russell Brand &#8230; We would like to know whether Rumble intends to join YouTube in suspending Mr Brand’s ability to earn money on the platform.&#8221;
In the most passive-aggressive fashion imaginable, the U.K. parliament also sent a similar letter to TikTok: &#8220;We would be grateful if you could confirm whether Mr Brand is able to monetise his TikTok posts, including his videos relating to the serious accusations against him, and what the platform is doing to ensure that creators are not able to use the platform to undermine the welfare of victims of inappropriate and potentially illegal behavior.&#8221;
Let&#8217;s take stock of what we&#8217;re seeing here. This is the government of the U.K. effectively telling multiple social media platforms to demonetize one of the most influential commentators on the planet, solely on the basis of unproven allegations. There is no plausible deniability here; they&#8217;re being pretty much as explicit as they can possibly be. Before the Twitter files came out, this would have been dismissed as a wild conspiracy theory. You weren&#8217;t allowed to think that governments were colluding with big tech to censor unapproved voices. Now the government is just coming out and admitting that&#8217;s exactly what it&#8217;s doing. This isn&#8217;t just happening in the U.K.; the Biden administration does it too.
Unlike its competitor YouTube, Rumble emphatically rejected the request from the U.K. government, to their credit. But YouTube is the far bigger platform, and their decision to instantaneously demonetize Russell Brand sets a very worrying precedent. It&#8217;s also totally incoherent. As Elijah Schaffer points out, Cardi B is currently fully monetized on YouTube. This is in spite of the fact that she openly admitted to drugging and robbing men. It&#8217;s on tape. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Cardi B Admits To Drugging, Robbing Men" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9q7haE3tKNM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Cardi B confessed — bragged about — violent felonies. Her history as a confessed date rapist has not precluded her from major corporate sponsorships or monetization on YouTube. &#8220;Double standard&#8221; isn&#8217;t the right term for this. It&#8217;s really one standard: if you&#8217;re useful to the Left, you can essentially do what you want. That&#8217;s the standard, consistently applied. No one can really deny that anymore. This is not an arbitrary application of shifting sets of standards. This, again, is one standard. Leftists are immune. That’s the rule.
With that in mind, what&#8217;s the appropriate response? Pointing out hypocrisy isn&#8217;t going to do anything. We&#8217;ve learned that much over the past few years. What&#8217;s needed is some courage. We need more of what Rumble is doing. Rumble knows that Russell Brand might actually be guilty of what he&#8217;s accused of doing. After all, he was an admitted sex-addicted degenerate back when these crimes supposedly occurred. It certainly isn&#8217;t outside of the realm of possibility that he did treat the women the way he&#8217;s accused of treating them.
But the leadership of Rumble understands that it makes no sense to un-person Russell Brand based on mere allegations, when we know for a fact that Brand&#8217;s critics are entirely motivated by politics. They want to mete out punishments only to enemies of the regime while its allies and lackeys are given exemptions. Kowtowing to these wannabe strongmen is not a smart or sustainable strategy. All we can really do now is ignore everything that the system says and assume, for all intents and purposes, that everyone they demonize is innocent. If we&#8217;re being honest, that&#8217;s not always going to be true. Sometimes we will be wrong, and we will defend people who are guilty. 
Sometimes the system will say something true or villainize someone who actually is a villain. But they lie so often about so many things and are so blatantly driven by ideology and narrative and are so wildly dishonest all the time, that we have to ignore them completely at this point. By defending and promoting the most odious among us — by embracing ghouls like Howard Stern and Cardi B — they&#8217;ve left us no choice.
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