Aside from taking my word for it, there are a few different ways you can decide whether my new film &#8220;<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Am I Racist?</a>&#8221; is worth seeing in theaters. You can look at the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, where we&#8217;re sitting at 99% audience rating — what Rotten Tomatoes calls &#8220;Verified Fresh.” That means that 99% of the people who actually watched the movie — the verified audience — liked it. So, you can look at that or you can look at the box office returns, which put us in the top 5 of all films in the genre released in the past decade, and the top 4 this weekend. Or you could watch the interviews and trailers and behind-the-scenes videos.
But if you really want to know how effective the film is, there&#8217;s an even better, much simpler option. You can just take a look at what professional, mainstream movie critics are saying about the film. You can go to websites like Time and The New Yorker and IndieWire and Rolling Stone and The New York Times and the AP, head over to their movie reviews section, and search for &#8220;Am I Racist?&#8221;. And what you&#8217;ll find is … absolutely nothing. None of these outlets have said a word about the film. In fact, as of today, there is not a single mainstream movie critic who has reviewed &#8220;Am I Racist?&#8221;, two days after the film&#8217;s opening weekend.
As far as I can tell, &#8220;<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Am I Racist?</a>&#8221; is the only top-5 box office film that hasn&#8217;t had a single mainstream critic review by the end of its opening weekend. I am not aware of a single other case of this happening, ever. To get a sense of how unusual this is, consider a couple of other movies that also debuted in theaters this weekend — like &#8220;The Killer&#8217;s Game&#8221; for example. It was playing in 1,000 more theaters than our film. It also grossed 2.6 million dollars against a budget of $30 million. 
For comparison, &#8220;Am I Racist?&#8221; grossed more than 4.5 million dollars against a budget of $3 million. So our movie performed a lot better, despite having a smaller budget and appearing in fewer theaters. We also have a much higher audience score. And yet, &#8220;The Killer&#8217;s Game&#8221; has an official critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, coming in around 38%. There are more than 30 critic reviews for the film. 
Meanwhile, the film called &#8220;My Old Ass,&#8221; which apparently is not a Biden biopic, also came out September 13. It was only in seven theaters this weekend, as part of a limited release, and made $170,000. So it didn&#8217;t even rank in the box office top-10 this weekend. But it has an official Rotten Tomatoes critic score as well, with more than 85 critic reviews.
If &#8220;Am I Racist?&#8221; were a bad film — if we didn&#8217;t succeed in doing what we set out to do — then this wouldn&#8217;t be happening. We&#8217;d be getting panned by every mainstream outlet. They&#8217;ve done that to a lot of other media created by people outside the Hollywood bubble. Usually if they have an opportunity to rip a piece of “conservative” entertainment to shreds, they are more than happy to take advantage of it. But they&#8217;re not doing that here. Instead, they&#8217;re ignoring &#8220;Am I Racist?&#8221; entirely, as if it doesn&#8217;t exist. They&#8217;re terrified to even mention a film that mocks the DEI industry because they know that the DEI industry can only survive if no one is allowed to question it. 
<h4><a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Am I Racist? Is In Theaters NOW — Get Your Tickets Here!</a></h4>
Also, our movie is actually good. I think that’s what scares them the most. I know that sounds self-serving. Saying that critics aren’t reviewing my movie because it’s too good sounds like some grade-A, hardcore cope. But in this case it’s true. I invite any critic to challenge me on that point. 
So this is why they won&#8217;t write about our film, even to condemn it. It&#8217;s the same approach we saw with &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/videos/what-is-a-woman" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What is a Woman?</a>&#8220;, except it&#8217;s even more flagrant this time. They can&#8217;t hide behind the excuse that the film is only available on a streaming platform anymore. These mainstream reviewers, in this case, are deliberately ignoring a theatrical release in more than 1,500 theaters. 
At the same time, as I outlined last night on Twitter, we did receive a handful of reactions from independent critics when we sent out screeners for the film back in mid-August. And many of the responses from these critics strongly suggested that the mere presence of the screener in their inbox had triggered a full-on mental breakdown. 
One critic wrote, &#8220;You&#8217;d have to strap me to a chair like Malcolm McDowell to get me to watch this thing.&#8221; 
Another responded with this: &#8220;Ew. Take me off of this list.&#8221;
As for more mainstream outlets, some of them did indicate some potential interest in writing a review. One of those outlets was Variety — which actually wrote a pretty fair article covering our film&#8217;s expansion into 1,500 theaters about a week ago. But they still haven&#8217;t reviewed the film. In fact, they wrote in an article that The Daily Wire, “did not screen [the movie] for critics.” That&#8217;s an odd claim to make, especially since we sent Variety a screener of the film. We asked them to correct that error, and they didn&#8217;t. 
Meanwhile, Rolling Stone was one of the first outlets to request a screener all the way back in July. But they still haven&#8217;t published a review either, which is too bad, because I was really looking forward to their take. They went on a tirade about my last film, labeling it &#8220;transphobic,&#8221; so I can&#8217;t wait to see their meltdown over &#8220;Am I Racist?&#8221;. Maybe that&#8217;s coming. We can only hope.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1444-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
But there are some independent critics who aren&#8217;t this cowardly. Jeremy Jahns is one of them. He has a large fanbase on YouTube, with about two million followers. He&#8217;s the single biggest independent reviewer who&#8217;s reviewed our film. I encourage you to watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh3p_MsIW_A" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the whole thing</a>, because he makes a lot of smart observations. Here&#8217;s part of it:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Am I Racist? - Movie Review" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hh3p_MsIW_A?start=99&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
The introduction to that review is maybe the most interesting part. It&#8217;s clear that Jeremy Jahns understood that, by reviewing my film, he&#8217;d get a lot of backlash from the Left. That&#8217;s not because anyone on the Left has actually seen the film. It&#8217;s because activists on the Left can&#8217;t tolerate any kind of mockery of their ideology. They know that nothing they believe survives any scrutiny, and it certainly doesn&#8217;t survive satire. That&#8217;s the case with gender ideology, which is why they were so outraged by &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/videos/what-is-a-woman" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What is a Woman?</a>&#8220;. And it&#8217;s true of DEI as well.
The simplest thing to do, if Jeremy Jahns wanted to avoid this inevitable backlash, would have been to ignore the film like everyone else. Then he wouldn&#8217;t have a horde of angry, unhappy people attacking him on social media. But Jahns decided that the film looked interesting, so he reviewed it. 
In fact, he says that his hesitation about reviewing the film ultimately made it more interesting to him. And that makes sense. Forbidden topics are more interesting than the usual, rote corporate propaganda. For making that decision, Jahns has been subjected to a smear campaign over the last 48 hours. 
A guy named Jeff Zhang, for example, <a href="https://x.com/strangeharbors/status/1835727281131507978" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>: &#8220;Mainstream criticism is in pretty dire straits, but most critics can still recognize dog whistle tripe when they see it. Also, Jeremy Jahns hasn’t leveled-up his film analysis once in almost two decades.&#8221; 
For the record, Jeff Zhang calls himself a &#8220;film critic,&#8221; and here, he&#8217;s demeaning another critic for reviewing a film. Jeff Zhang has not seen &#8220;Am I Racist?&#8221;, but he&#8217;s calling it &#8220;dog whistle tripe,&#8221; and then he&#8217;s launching into a personal attack on someone who has seen the film. And then, for good measure, Jeff Zhang laments the state of &#8220;mainstream criticism.&#8221; It&#8217;s maybe the least self-aware post ever made on X, which is really saying something.
Zhang illustrates a major underlying problem with the movie industry very well, which is that the role of &#8220;film critic&#8221; has changed a lot in recent years. They now think that their job is to enforce ideological orthodoxy, not to review films. In that sense, film critics are no different from the swarm of online Left-wing activists who relentlessly attacked Jeremy Jahns all day yesterday. There were hundreds of posts accusing him of &#8220;embracing full-blown racism&#8221; and taking money from The Daily Wire and so on. Reddit was especially furious. There were posts saying Jahns was &#8220;openly racist and fascist&#8221; and was &#8220;preparing to become a right-wing grifter.&#8221; 
Matt Jarbo, who runs some kind of film podcast, <a href="https://x.com/mjarbo/status/1835382105909731515" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>: &#8220;Midlife crisis Jeremy Jahns is not the villain origin story I was expecting.&#8221; Yes, for reviewing a film, a film critic is having a &#8220;midlife crisis.&#8221; He&#8217;s become a &#8220;villain.&#8221;
This is how they&#8217;re enforcing the near-total blackout of mainstream reviews for &#8220;Am I Racist?&#8221;. They don&#8217;t want anyone to even mention the film. Fortunately, not every reviewer is going along with it. The folks at FilmThreat also just posted <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0wj0lJYgjI" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a lengthy and quite interesting review</a> of the film. Here&#8217;s part of it:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="002 Film Threat" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6MhSXo6VokI?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
It would be interesting to see what &#8220;Jeff Zhang&#8221; and &#8220;Matt Jarbo&#8221; think of FilmThreat&#8217;s review. Is everyone at FilmThreat having a mid-life crisis too, because they reviewed a movie? Are they also villains for liking it? Is that guy a fascist white supremacist for laughing about the Jussie Smollett scene? 
These kinds of mob tactics stop working the moment people stand up to them. As soon as people disregard the activists and actually watch the movie, or watch some of these independent reviews, then they immediately realize how absurd the smears really are. That&#8217;s why their real goal has been to prevent anyone from seeing the movie in the first place. They don&#8217;t want theaters to show this film — and at least one theater in Northern California relented a few days ago.
The Del Oro Theater / Prime Cinemas in California posted this message on September 12th. This is a paragraph that belongs in a museum of cowardice. It should be a monument to Left-wing censorship, to show to future generations how desperately the Left seeks to censor anything — even a film — that they find objectionable. 
<blockquote>&#8220;Due to the strong reactions from our community (for and against the film), and concerns for the well-being of our staff, we will not be playing the film Am I Racist as originally intended. Please know that it was not our intention to cause such division by playing this film. We noticed that many of the theaters in the Sacramento area were booked to play this film and quite frankly this reaction caught us off guard. The safety of our staff is our number one priority. Please accept our apologies.&#8221;</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
As reported by <a href="https://twitter.com/robbystarbuck?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@robbystarbuck</a>, left wing activists are bullying theaters into dropping our film. This theater just issued an apology. 
The only way to stop the Left from shutting down the film is to support the theaters that are showing it. Tickets here: <a href="https://t.co/iJv1cNRoWV">https://t.co/iJv1cNRoWV</a> <a href="https://t.co/JCpR7Ft8tf">pic.twitter.com/JCpR7Ft8tf</a>
&mdash; Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1834633679391408405?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 13, 2024</a></blockquote>
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So there&#8217;s the usual vague claim that people&#8217;s &#8220;safety&#8221; is in danger if they screen a film that Left-wing activists don&#8217;t like. And in this context, it&#8217;s a pretty ironic claim if you&#8217;ve seen the film. I won&#8217;t spoil anything but suffice it to say, this is such a stock complaint of insane Left-wing activists that it found its way into a prominent scene towards the beginning of &#8220;Am I Racist?&#8221;. And as usual, it doesn&#8217;t stand up to any scrutiny. It&#8217;s a laugh line, actually, because of how melodramatic and neurotic the claim is. No one on the Right is threatening anyone because of this film. This film does not endanger anyone&#8217;s safety. 
<h4><a href="http://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH THE TRAILER FOR &#8216;AM I RACIST?&#8217; — A MATT WALSH COMEDY ON DEI</a></h4>
What they&#8217;re really suggesting in that theater in Northern California, if that statement means anything at all, is that Left-wing activists might get violent if the film is shown. That&#8217;s the implicit statement that they&#8217;re making, whether they believe it or not. That&#8217;s how enraged these activists are, all because of our film.  They&#8217;re furious because of a documentary that allows the foremost fake experts in DEI to speak, at length, without any unfair editing whatsoever. And they&#8217;re enraged by this conceit for a few reasons. One of them is that the modern Left is intellectually bankrupt. They can&#8217;t defend any of their nonsense with an actual argument, so they have to resort to threats and hysteria.
The other reason they&#8217;re furious is that, right now, we are insurgents in the movie industry. The Left believes that it owns the entire art form of film. I’ve even gotten comments calling me a “grifter” for making this movie. In their world, any conservative who makes a movie must be a con artist running some kind of scam. It can’t possibly be that we love film, too, and want to use it to tell our own stories. That&#8217;s not something that these activists even consider within the realm of possibility. But it&#8217;s the truth. The film industry has been dominated by one ideology for so long that these people have come to expect that every film, and every artistic work in general, will mirror their world view. The Left in Hollywood have maintained a monopoly for a very long time. They&#8217;ve successfully pressured distributors and studios into producing the same narratives over and over again, all in the service of weeding out any semblance of competition. But after the success of &#8220;Am I Racist?,&#8221; it&#8217;s clear that — whether mainstream critics and publications want to hide from it or not —  competition has finally arrived.

MixCollage-15-Sep-2024-07-18-AM-8749

Why Critics Are Running Scared From My Movie

Am I Racist

Anti-Racism

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Documentaries

Film Reviews

Matt Walsh

Movie Theaters

Movies

Opinion

MixCollage-15-Sep-2024-07-08-AM-5558

Matt Walsh’s Personal Journey Through The DEI Industry In ‘Am I Racist?’

Matt Walsh's Personal Journey Through The DEI Industry In 'Am I Racist?'

interview

Morning Wire

Racism

Robin DiAngelo

Matt Walsh&#8217;s new movie, “<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/">Am I Racist?</a>” is out and causing seismic waves throughout the DEI community.
Apparently, there are members of the movie theater employee community who are attempting to stop people from actually seeing the film. One movie theater employee reportedly put out a post saying, “I will be making the transaction as difficult as possible for anyone seeing the Matt Walsh movie.” Another person said, “Can you take the good seats out of service without anyone noticing? Only sell the creatures that crawl out of the mud to see this thing the crap seats.”
The Left is doing its best to prevent people from seeing the film, even at the lowest levels. But it is not stopping the fallout.
One of the funniest scenes in the film is the scene in which Matt sits down with Robin DiAngelo. It is hysterical.
Robin DiAngelo is the author of an incredibly best-selling book titled “White Fragility.” In 2020, during the Black Lives Matter summer, Robin DiAngelo became a big item. Her book sold like hotcakes; it was at the top of the New York Times bestseller list for weeks and sold hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of copies.
And it is complete and utter tripe. It is an awful piece of trash.
I did a 30-minute <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWgnX84KD7A" target="_blank" rel="noopener">takedown</a> of it on YouTube, point by point, through her entire trash book. The book makes no sense. It is selfish. It is self-defeating. The entire book contradicts itself. It is logically incoherent.
It happens to be also particularly ugly because the basic idea is that if you are white, then you are inherently sinful and there is no way to escape that sin except for doing what DiAngelo wants you to do, politically speaking.
<h4><a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1726341993845000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2A3UDZrRtOzE-t4IwSC1SJ">Am I Racist? Is In Theaters NOW — Get Your Tickets Here!</a></h4>
So there&#8217;s a scene in the film where Matt and his producers somehow got DiAngelo to sit down with Matt. The premise of “Am I Racist?”is that Matt is a very woke guy who falls into the philosophy of DEI and chases it all the way down the rabbit hole. It’s kind of like a Nathan Fielder movie.
In this particular scene with DiAngelo, he’s sitting with her and let&#8217;s just say that he manipulates her into doing something so insane on camera that it should be career-ending — and she knows it, which is presumably why she has now basically deactivated her Twitter account.
DiAngelo has released <a href="https://www.robindiangelo.com/about-that-film/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a statement</a> slamming Matt Walsh. She vowed in a statement not to watch the film. Here&#8217;s what she said:
<blockquote>Back in 2023, I was contacted by a group who claimed to be making a documentary film called Shades of Justice, about efforts to address racism in the United States. They planned to interview anti-racist activists, authors and thought leaders in service of supporting the cause of racial equity. They offered me between $10-20,000 for an interview. I said let’s meet in the middle with $15,000 and agreed to participate (I have since donated that sum to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund).</blockquote>
I&#8217;m sure that she donated that sum after she found out she was in the film and realized, oh, boy, this is going to be bad.
And it’s weird that she only agreed to be in the film for $15,000, except for the fact that, as Matt&#8217;s movie exposes, this whole thing is a giant grift. DiAngelo has been picking up checks from some of the biggest corporations in America for years to teach absolute horse crap to people. In exchange, she receives the money and the credibility, and then she takes those credentials, “Hey, I taught at Google,” moves on to Apple, and picks up a big stack of cash from them.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2047-matt-walsh-destroys-the-dei-industry-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h4>
So she took $15,000 to sit down for the documentary “Shades of Justice,” an anti-racist documentary. 
<blockquote>When I arrived for the interview, a few things felt off. The grips would not make eye contact with me and the interviewer, who was introduced as “Matt,” appeared to be wearing an ill-fitting wig. Matt presented himself as someone new to antiracist work and seemed earnest, and his questions did not come across as adversarial. By the end, however, things got weird.</blockquote>
That’s the whole point: When doing something like what Matt did, the whole point of it is, what do these people say to each other behind closed doors? You can&#8217;t do that if you enter in an adversarial way. So he asked her questions, and she couldn&#8217;t tell what was going on.
<blockquote>Matt asked what I thought about reparations for Black Americans. I said that I agreed with reparations but that it was not my area of expertise. He then pulled up a chair and invited a Black crew-member who went by “Ben” to sit with us, took out his wallet and handed Ben some cash. He said that if I believed in reparations, I should also give Ben cash. While some Black people have asked white people to engage in reparations by giving directly to individuals, reparations are generally understood as a systemic approach to past and current injustice. The way Matt set this up felt intended to put Ben and I on the spot.</blockquote>
There&#8217;s a problem with this particular statement. Ben happens to be a producer on the film. So it didn&#8217;t put Ben and you on the spot; it put you on the spot because you&#8217;re a hypocrite.
<blockquote>Because Matt was pushing this on us, I expressed my discomfort and checked in with Ben, to be sure he was okay with receiving cash in this way. Ben reassured me that he was, so I went to my wallet and handed him my cash and the interview ended. I was so unsettled by the way Matt manipulated this last scene that I emailed the contact person – who went by the name of “Lee Hampton” – to explain that this scene was not an example of reparations and could mislead viewers. I asked that they not use it in the film and shared several resources overviewing legitimate systemic efforts for reparations. He assured me that he understood and that they had not yet decided whether to address reparations. He never again contacted me or answered an email.
After reviewing the sequence of events and discussing it with colleagues, I realized that they had lied about their agenda and I had been played. I spread the word on my networks. Unfortunately, last month I started receiving hateful and misogynistic emails. Some referenced the Daily Wire (Ben Shapiro’s website), which announced that the film is indeed being released. It is not titled Shades of Justice nor is it meant to support the anti-racist cause.</blockquote>
Yes, because you won&#8217;t speak to anybody who doesn&#8217;t support the anti-racist cause.
<blockquote>It is a Borat-style mockumentary titled Am I Racist? and designed to humiliate and discredit anti-racist educators and activists.</blockquote>
Yes, that&#8217;s accurate. That&#8217;s true.
<blockquote>Their deception was carefully planned and well-funded. The website they had sent me was fake, as were their identities, the project title used in the legal waiver, their description of the project, and the last name they gave for Matt. The interviewer was in fact, Matt Walsh, a far-right provocateur backed by Shapiro and Daily Wire+ (and yes, wearing a wig).
The co-CEO of the Daily Wire has stated: “I can’t think of a more appropriate film for the Daily Wire’s first original theatrical release than Am I Racist? What Is a Woman? changed the national conversation on radical gender theory, effectively killing the issue and DEI is the next pillar of the woke mind virus that’s about to topple. DEI culture is one of the most toxic plagues in American life.”
Am I A Racist? is not only about me and I was not the only one who fell for their deception. Sadly, many of those being mocked are women of Color.
I have not seen the film nor do I plan to watch it, so I don’t know what they have used of my interview or how they have edited it, but if you see clips or the full film, consider the source: Matt Walsh. So, who is Matt Walsh and what is his – and his backers’ – agenda? Luckily for us, he has clearly answered that question, without shame, time and time again. …
Shapiro and Walsh’s previous film Lady Ballers, is filled with misogyny, racism and transphobia. Shapiro also sponsored a film denigrating George Floyd. </blockquote>
Oh, wait, you mean that we said that maybe George Floyd wasn&#8217;t killed by Derek Chauvin, that maybe he died of a drug overdose that was induced by high stress? Wait, you mean like checking the medical evidence? Or maybe we pointed out that George Floyd, in fact, led a pretty checkered criminal life?
<blockquote>This experience has reinforced for me how critically important it is to do in-depth background research before making yourself vulnerable to people you don’t know, or believing and sharing what you see online. They will not prevail in their efforts to stop the work for racial justice.</blockquote>
Well, it seems like we prevailed just a little, since you deactivated your Twitter account. So that’s a little awkward for you.
Matt <a href="https://x.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1834351644198289717" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a>, “Robin DiAngelo has issued a statement denouncing our film. She claims the movie is ‘designed to humiliate and discredit anti-racist educators and activists.’ She couldn&#8217;t be more correct in that assessment. Thank you, Robin!” <a href="https://x.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1834351941717295182">Then</a>, “My favorite part of this wonderful statement is that she says she noticed my ‘ill fitting wig’ when she first sat down with me. And yet for some reason, she still did the interview.”
Maybe it was the $15,000. Matt also noted that people are very angry at him: “He used methods of deception.”
You mean in a mockumentary in which you expose people? So Matt <a href="https://x.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1834570026428375240" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a>, “Many on the Left are criticizing the tactics we use to make our film. Notice how they make no such criticisms about Borat. The difference is that Borat was meant to embarrass normal working class Americans. Our film embarrasses DEI, grifters, academics and upper class liberals. <a href="https://x.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1834571047502286951" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Even Nathan Fielder</a>, who I think is hilarious and brilliant, usually uses these kinds of methods to humiliate average people who haven&#8217;t done anything to deserve the humiliation. The Left is fine with that, too. With our new film, and our last film, we&#8217;re actually punching up. But somehow we&#8217;re the ‘unethical’ ones. Interesting.”
That is exactly right.
The film is already in roughly 1,500 theaters across the country. It has not been reviewed a single time at Rotten Tomatoes. Zero reviews. None. In fact, if you go to the Rotten Tomatoes page, brought to you by Fandango, they have a sort of scrolling wheel here saying, “New &amp; now in theaters,” and it lists every movie except for Matt’s movie. It’s not there. 
They&#8217;re going to try to ignore this the same way they tried to ignore “What Is A  Woman?”
Don&#8217;t let them ignore it.
Go out and see it.

MixCollage-13-Sep-2024-06-00-PM-700

Matt Walsh Destroys The DEI Industry

Ben Shapiro

White Fragility

Several prominent <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-dei">DEI</a> activists who were featured in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/matt-walsh">Matt Walsh</a>’s newest documentary, “Am I Racist?,” have deleted and deactivated their <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/twitter">X</a> accounts just ahead of the film’s Friday theatrical release.
The Daily Wire production features Walsh going deep undercover into the world of DEI and exposing the industry for the grift that it is. The podcast host spent time attending seminars and events, plus doing one-on-one interviews with some of the most prominent names in the field, including “White Fragility” author Robin DiAngelo.
DiAngelo has yet to publicly comment about her scenes in the film, including one where she pays a black producer of “Am I Racist?” $30 out of her wallet as reparations. However, Walsh pointed out Wednesday night on X that DiAngelo had deactivated her X account.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
This is a shame. I was hoping she&#8217;d stay here so we could celebrate the release of our film together tomorrow. She&#8217;s really the star of the movie. She should be proud of her performance. <a href="https://t.co/K9CBMwFu2D">https://t.co/K9CBMwFu2D</a>
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1834219996647399625?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 12, 2024</a></blockquote>
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“This is a shame. I was hoping she&#8217;d stay here so we could celebrate the release of our film together tomorrow. She&#8217;s really the star of the movie. She should be proud of her performance,” Walsh tweeted.
The post reactions gave Walsh massive props for making the film and for his influence on the culture.
“You trolled her into retreat. Well done!” one comment said.
“Talk about white fragility!” another social media user added.
“I’ll give her $30 to re-activate,” another said. 
“Matt Walsh is about to break the left with this new movie,” another user wrote.
Former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines posted about DiAngelo’s absence from X as well, noting several other DEI activists who also seemed to have deactivated their accounts. 
“As always, sunlight is the best disinfectant,” she <a href="https://x.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/1834250426322923686">wrote</a> alongside an image showing that “anti-racist scholar-practitioner and facilitator” Dr. Katie Slater, “anti-oppression consultant” Regan Byrd, and extremist activist Saira Rao had all were missing from the social media platform. 
“I love when the trash takes itself out,” one of the post comments said.
While DiAngelo hasn’t publicly said anything about the film yet, Slater did post a rant on Instagram, as The Daily Wire previously reported. 
“This piece of s*** film comes out on Friday,” she <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/activist-featured-in-am-i-racist-moana-clip-rails-against-film-piece-of-s">wrote</a> in the post, “and if you’re wondering why I’ve been off the radar, it’s because I have an inbox full of angry white men who are incensed that I don’t let my daughter dress as Moana for Halloween.”
“Am I Racist?” will hit theaters on September 13. Fans can purchase tickets to a showing near them at <a href="http://amiracist.com">amiracist.com</a>.

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon – Season 7

DEI Activists Delete X Accounts Ahead Of ‘Am I Racist?’ Premiere

Twitter

There’s no denying that Matt Walsh’s new documentary, “Am I Racist?” is hilarious. 
The Daily Wire podcast host uses his signature brand of deadpan delivery in cringy situations to keep audiences engaged and entertained. But when Walsh sat down with Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro for a “Sunday Special” episode, the pair spent a good amount of time talking about why this topic seriously matters.
They discussed how even though it’s funny that the DEI grifters are so ridiculous, deep down this social contagion has caused pervasive damage across the country. Shapiro pointed out how even though most Americans wouldn’t sign up for a “white guilt seminar,” DEI is still “deep rooted” in society. It’s baked into law, employment policy, and is a key tenet of Vice President Kamala Harris’s policies, according to her. 
Walsh agreed that this movie  matters precisely because most people aren’t sitting around crying over their white guilt. It’s Walsh’s comedic style that strikingly exposes the toxic view of the race hustling crowd.
“Most people are not true believers like this,” Walsh says. “They want nothing to do with this craziness. And yet the people you see in the film are the ones who are coming up with these programs that are then foisted on normal Americans at their jobs.”
He continues, “So maybe in your free time you&#8217;re not choosing to go to something like this. But the problem is that this stuff is brought to you in places where there&#8217;s no reason why it would be there. The fact that you just want to work, you&#8217;re working a job has nothing to do with any of this, and yet you&#8217;re being forced to at the very least, listen to this sort of lecturing, if not actively affirm it in a lot of cases. So this is why we have to care about it, because we really have no choice.”
Later, the pair discussed how the topic of DEI relates to the 2024 election.
“It&#8217;s obviously a big topic in this presidential election, and it&#8217;s the undercurrent to the presidential election that we are not allowed to speak about,” Shapiro said. He pointed out how hypocritical it is for the Left to make a big deal about Harris being black and a woman while simultaneously accusing people of racism who notice they’re saying it and acknowledge what they’re saying.
“When we call her the DEI president, as you said, we&#8217;re just taking them at their own word,” Walsh replied. “The most you could claim is that, well, she was the best black woman who was available —  and that I don&#8217;t buy either. But that&#8217;s the most you could say, because you announced ahead of time that you&#8217;re only looking in that particular category of people. So yeah, it’s a DEI president.”
Shapiro pointed out that the result of Walsh’s hit 2022 documentary “What Is a Woman?” led to a fair amount of activism. He asked the podcast host if he saw any solutions for fixing the DEI epidemic which the film could help inspire. 
“Well, there are political solutions, some of which, you know, Donald Trump has talked about. Outlawing programs that exclude people on the basis of race, which are already supposed to be outlawed,” Walsh said. “Most of that stuff is flagrantly illegal already. So shutting that down, which a lot of that could be done on a policy level.”
He continued, “A lot of the other changes I think could be made relatively easily with just lawsuits. But people that are affected by this stuff need to file lawsuits. And we&#8217;ve seen a little of that happening already.”
Walsh said even with the state of the court system, a lot of these policies only remain in place because they haven’t been challenged in court.
“But then there&#8217;s kind of the cultural level too. Similar with ‘What Is a Woman?’ that there were laws that needed to be changed, a lot of those laws have been changed, policies needed to be put in place, a lot of them have been put in place… but then there’s the cultural level… [people] need to not be afraid to say what they know is true.”
“Let’s have a culture that is totally intolerant to that kind of madness,” Walsh says of the impact he hopes to achieve with both films.
“I think we’re starting to see that kind of change culturally on the gender stuff. I think it needs to happen on the race stuff too,” he went on. “Because even if we make all the political changes that we need to make, you still have a problem if you have, like, white people walking around feeling burdened by guilt for things they didn&#8217;t do… it&#8217;s just a totally misplaced, ambiguous kind of guilt that a lot of these people just carry around, and we have to get rid of that. And it&#8217;s like it&#8217;s actually kind of a freeing message.”
The conversation ended with speculation on why so many people are tricked into paying large sums of money to DEI grifters. In the film, viewers see how much the “experts” charged for the workshops and seminars – often in the tens of thousands of dollars 
When Shapiro asked what the motivation could be, Walsh replied that sometimes it’s as simple as virtue signaling or trying to impress their liberal friends. Some of the people featured in the film probably had more complicated motives.
“You don&#8217;t sit around the table and pay money to endure that just as a virtue signal,” he said of the Race To Dinner event he attended with Regina Jackson and Saira Rao that was teased in the “Am I Racist?” trailer. 
“I think you&#8217;re there because at some fundamental level you really believe it,” Walsh said. “And so for those people, they are true believers. And I think that on this issue in particular, if I were to psychoanalyze, I think a lot of it does come down to guilt and people are carrying around a lot of guilt.”
He added, “Everyone carries around guilt. And part of the problem is that in the past we had a way of understanding the guilt that we all feel. And you understood it in a religious context. You understood it as a spiritual problem and there was also a remedy which changes from religion to religion. But every religion has a remedy for the guilt.”
“As we become a secular society, we don&#8217;t have that message anymore,” Walsh said. “People still have guilt, though. And so they&#8217;re looking around like, why do I feel this way?”
He said DEI grifters come in with the “answer” to the issue of guilt, offering to atone for it by charging people money. 
“Am I Racist?” will hit theaters on September 13. Fans can purchase tickets to a showing near them at <a href="http://amiracist.com/">amiracist.com</a>.

Sunday Special

Matt Walsh And Ben Shapiro Discuss Why The DEI Grift Matters To Everyone

Former sitcom star Roseanne Barr sat down to discuss Matt Walsh’s upcoming documentary, “Am I Racist?” 
The actress had nothing but praise for the film and for Walsh’s approach, which was to use humor to help people “step out of the tiny box&#8221; they’d been in and the brainwashing constantly happening in the media and corporate environments when it comes to DEI. Barr said the key to resonating with the intended audience is by telling an entertaining yet important story, which is not easy to achieve. But “Am I Racist?” does exactly this.
Walsh agreed that while there’s a lot of value in his daily podcast, there are many people you can’t reach through those avenues. This film was made to have broad appeal to a larger audience. Barr agreed, saying he was doing “the right thing by making a funny movie.”
“That’s really the way to reach people, by doing something funny that just happens to be exposing a grift,” she said.
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1724361346607000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1ZhyOQfEkxcMH_D1Ago3CQ">Tickets for “Am I Racist?” are on sale NOW! Buy here for a theater near you.</a>
Walsh also explained how the film wasn’t meant to “put the message before the story.” Instead, he sought to create something entertaining that also packed a powerful message about the extreme grifting in the DEI industry. 
“The story really matters, we have to put that first,” Walsh told Barr.
Walsh described one part of the film when he visited a biker bar in the South and also went to an impoverished area in New Orleans. In both places, he encountered people unfamiliar with the mainstream DEI language. 
“Of course, we didn’t know how these conversations were going to go. But we kind of suspected that we would hear really similar things from both of these groups. Even though we’re told by the media that these groups hate each other. What we found is that we heard exactly the same thing… almost the exact same words.”
Walsh went on to say that no one in either of those environments was very concerned with racial identities.
“Because you were talking to the working class, you weren’t talking to the operatives that graduated brainwashed from college,” Barr observed. “You know, the privileged.” 
Walsh also mentioned how those who don’t have corporate jobs aren’t influenced by the “DEI brainwashing” happening there. 
“The default position is that [race is] not a big deal,” Walsh said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8220;The Left is now making the mistake that Christian films have made for a long time, where they&#8217;re putting the message before the story.&#8221;<a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MattWalshBlog</a> talks with <a href="https://twitter.com/therealroseanne?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@therealroseanne</a> about how &#8220;Am I Racist?&#8221; brings back entertainment that&#8217;s actually entertaining. <a href="https://t.co/Izf2N8KN0V">pic.twitter.com/Izf2N8KN0V</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1831847708291952881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 6, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The duo talked about one of Walsh’s most-asked questions from fans after making this film and his 2022 smash hit “What is a Woman?” which had to do with keeping a straight face during interviews. He said it might seem funny in retrospect, but actually dealing with grifters who were immersed in the lie was more frustrating than funny. 
“The challenge isn’t not laughing, it’s not screaming at them,” he told Barr. 
Later in the conversation, Walsh spoke with Barr about how theaters surprisingly accepted the film&#8217;s content, but they cautioned that it would be harder to sell audiences on a documentary-style project. The Daily Wire host said he was happy to report that promising ticket presales allowed them to expand the release to double the theaters they originally had.
Finally, the “Roseanne” star gave her thoughts on the project. “I’m glad you made the movie,” she told Walsh. “You were game to get a laugh, and it was funny.” 
Barr compared Walsh’s tactics to those of Michael Moore and Sacha Baron Cohen in terms of style and talent, even if they have different messages. 
“I’m glad you’re doing it. I’m glad you’re funny. I’m glad God gave you the gift of humor,” she added. “I think you made a good film; I hope you’ll make more.” 
“Am I Racist?” will hit theaters on September 13. Fans can purchase tickets to a showing near them at <a href="http://amiracist.com/">amiracist.com</a>.

Roseanne and Matt Walsh

Roseanne Barr Talks ‘Am I Racist?’ With Matt Walsh: ‘I’m Glad God Gave You The Gift Of Humor’

Roseanne Barr Talks 'Am I Racist?' With Matt Walsh: 'I’m Glad God Gave You The Gift Of Humor'

Entertainment

Politics

Roseanne Barr

The Daily Wire

A new documentary about <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/abraham-lincoln">Abraham Lincoln</a> focuses on the former president’s sexuality, speculating that his private writings and certain actions prove he was most likely <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/homosexuality">gay</a>.
“<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/documentary">Lover of Men</a>” argues that the 16th president likely had several male lovers even after marrying his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln. Some historians have explored the subject, and it has become an urban legend in academic circles.
“We live in a homophobic society,” producer Rob Rosenheck said, per <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2024/09/06/abraham-lincoln-documentary-lover-of-men/75061112007/">USA Today</a>. “People keep talking about Lincoln&#8217;s queerness as a ‘theory’ or ‘myth,’ but you need to acknowledge the fact that it keeps coming up over and over and over again. The reason for that is because it&#8217;s part of our history and it won&#8217;t go away.”
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1724361346607000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1ZhyOQfEkxcMH_D1Ago3CQ">Tickets for “Am I Racist?” are on sale NOW! Buy here for a theater near you.</a>
“Do we really need to get into his personal life?” director Shaun Peterson said. “To me, there’s always a homophonic tinge to that. There have been thousands of writings about Lincoln and Mary having this fractured marriage. People are fine writing about a heteronormative relationship, but when it comes to the possibility of his love of men, it’s like, ‘Well, we shouldn’t dig that deep.’”
The documentary, which hit theaters on Thursday, claims Lincoln may have had sexual relationships with several men he shared beds with in the 1800s despite that being a common practice for heterosexual men of the time. 
The main suspected love affair presented in the film was between the former president and one of those bedmates, Joshua Speed. The two friends shared a bed for four years, and Lincoln spoke fondly of him after he moved away. Speed got married and stayed in touch with Lincoln by exchanging letters.
“You can see the passion on the page,” Peterson says. “Lincoln would write things like, ‘I miss you’ and ‘I’m jealous of your new wife, Joshua.’ He pours his heart out in these letters. Nowhere else in any of Lincoln’s work have you seen anything quite like it.”
The documentary also makes much out of the fact that Lincoln fell into a “suicidal depression” when Speed moved away, <a href="https://people.com/abraham-lincoln-documentary-biggest-bombshells-8706767">writing</a>, &#8220;I&#8217;m now the most miserable man living. If what I am feeling were distributed to the whole human family, there would not be a cheerful face on the earth.&#8221;
Another argument in favor of Lincoln being gay or bisexual stems from him and his wife having separate bedrooms in the White House. The couple had four children together. 
<a href="http://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1724211156439000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2xQ8bdTcpfdrPBAzczIuck">WATCH THE TRAILER FOR ‘AM I RACIST?’ — A MATT WALSH COMEDY ON DEI</a>
Presidential historian Tom Balcerski said Lincoln was likely “sexually fluid” and everyone needs to get on board with that concept. 
“This next generation of Americans that we call Gen Z, they’re more queer and fluid than ever. They get this argument,” he said, per the outlet. “But talk about hitting your head against the wall trying to have this conversation with older folks.”

Abraham Lincoln

New Documentary Probes Whether Abraham Lincoln Was A ‘Lover Of Men’

New Documentary Probes Whether Abraham Lincoln Was A 'Lover Of Men'

History

Homosexuality

Today – Season 71

‘Not Hungry, Starving’: Mike Rowe Discusses What Inspired Him To Make His New Film

'Not Hungry, Starving': Mike Rowe Discusses What Inspired Him To Make His New Film

Film

Mike Rowe

Readers Pass

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson released a documentary on DailyWire+ on Sunday featuring beloved Canadian journalist Rex Murphy highlighting the history and culture of Newfoundland and the people who call it home.
The DailyWire+ documentary, called “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/videos/a-tribute-to-newfoundland" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Requiem for Rex Murphy: A Tribute to Newfoundland</a>,” features Peterson and Murphy diving deep into the culture of Newfoundland as they travel around the Canadian province for a week. The documentary was released on Sunday as a tribute to Murphy, who died earlier this month after a battle with cancer.
“Newfoundland is a persona,” Murphy, who was born in Newfoundland, says in the documentary. “It is a presence. There is no place that has so magnetic a hold on the people who have grown up here. The fealty that Newfoundlanders have for their place, it mimics the emotional bond of family.”
Murphy became known to many Canadians through his writing for the National Post and work on Canada’s “Cross Country Checkup,” which he hosted for 21 years.
Peterson and Murphy began their tour by climbing up Signal Hill for a view of Newfoundland’s St. John’s Harbor. Murphy explained that Signal Hill was important because it was the point where wireless communication was first made between North America and Europe.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/videos/a-tribute-to-newfoundland" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH &#8216;REQUIEM FOR REX MURPHY: A TRIBUTE TO NEWFOUNDLAND&#8217; </a>
After visiting Signal Hill, Peterson and Murphy toured a variety of locations including small fishing towns and historic sites to speak with local tour guides and fishermen. They also visited the town of Bonavista, where European explorer John Cabot is said to have landed in the 15th century.
The two also visited the city of Gander, where many Americans were stranded after the air traffic stop that followed the terrorist attacks on September 11.
“For me, going to Newfoundland, where there&#8217;s an overwhelming experience of beauty to see the past alive and preserved and so beautifully done,” Peterson says. “And I&#8217;ve been thinking about that. You know that as there are more and more people on the planet and as the weight of the present and the future grows ever greater, the past becomes increasingly valuable, increasingly invaluable.”
In a tribute <a href="https://nationalpost.com/opinion/without-rex-murphys-scrutiny-our-politics-will-become-even-more-barren#:~:text=Rex%20Murphy%20was%20a%20man,those%20who%20are%20truly%20good." target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a> celebrating the life of Murphy for the National Post, Peterson described his experience filming the documentary. Peterson wrote that the weather was perfect for the visit with lots of sunshine, which was unusual for an area known for its cold and stormy weather.
“We could not believe our luck: a guided tour of the ports and towns of Newfoundland, that hidden gem, with none other than the man whom anyone with any sense would most devoutly hope for as a guide! Perhaps everyone will enjoy the trip as much as we did when it is released,” Peterson wrote.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/videos/a-tribute-to-newfoundland" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH &#8216;REQUIEM FOR REX MURPHY: A TRIBUTE TO NEWFOUNDLAND&#8217; </a>

Jordan Peterson/Rex Murphy

Jordan Peterson Releases Doc On Newfoundland Alongside Beloved Canadian Broadcaster

Canada

DailyWire+

Jordan B. Peterson

Paramount+ has acquired a documentary focused on the brutal <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/october-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">October 7th</a> Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel, featuring interviews with survivors who were present at the Nova Music Festival when the attacks began.
According to an <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/paramount-documentary-hamas-terrorist-attack-1235901192/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a> published Thursday by The Hollywood Reporter, the project — undertaken by See It Now Studios — features exclusive footage and eyewitness accounts of the Hamas attacks, including footage taken by witnesses and terrorists as the events of that day unfolded.
Susan Zirinsky, president of See It Now Studios, released an official statement regarding the documentary: &#8220;The human cost of what happened on October 7th in Israel, and the war in Gaza, has been catastrophic. We can’t tell everyone’s story. This film is about innocent young people, forced to fight for their survival. It is a painful story of unfathomable tragedy, and also of bravery, sacrifice and heroism.&#8221;
Deadline <a href="https://deadline.com/2024/05/we-will-dance-again-doc-october-7-terror-attack-bound-for-paramount-1235918352/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that the documentary follows the eyewitness accounts of &#8220;more than a dozen survivors, many of whom videotaped their experiences as the massacre unfolded.&#8221; Their stories, along with footage obtained both from the survivors and from Hamas terrorists, aim to show the world what happened on that horrific day.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1700760801843000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2PQrVSrJfhxNb4LcARqniG">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
The project, which was first announced just weeks after October 7th, was directed by Yariv Mozer.
&#8220;I have seen things in my life. I have lived through wars. I have fought in wars, and I have even filmed during a war. But nothing prepared me for the harsh images I have seen in the remains of the massacre that took place at the Nova Music Festival,&#8221; Mozer said of the project. &#8220;I see it as my duty as a documentary filmmaker to bring to the world the testimonies and horrific stories from the survivors of this slaughter. Young women and men whose only sin was their desire for music, and the passion to celebrate free love, spirit and freedom.&#8221;

Israel-Hamas Conflict Reaches Six-Month Mark

Paramount+ Acquires Documentary On October 7: ‘We Will Dance Again’

Paramount+ Acquires Documentary On October 7: 'We Will Dance Again'

Hamas

Israel

October 7

Paramount

World

“Growing Pains” star <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/kirk-cameron" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kirk Cameron</a> said the “dark,” “evil” and “twisted” revelations we’ve seen in the “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nickelodeon-star-melissa-joan-hart-responds-to-quiet-on-the-set-allegations-believe-them-100-percent" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Quiet on Set</a>: The Dark Side of Kids TV” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/former-nickelodeon-star-says-she-was-forced-to-kiss-30-year-old-man-as-a-teen-on-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">docuseries</a> have &#8220;been going on for a long time” in Hollywood.
Speaking to The Daily Wire, the 53-year-old actor said as a child working in Hollywood he definitely witnessed the “disturbing” behavior by those in the business, including his former personal dialogue coach on “Growing Pains” Brian Peck, the convicted sex offender named in the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-documentary-uncovers-child-abuse-at-nickelodeon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">series</a>. Peck was arrested, charged with sexual abuse crimes, and ordered to register as a sex offender, as previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/former-nickelodeon-star-drake-bell-details-alleged-sexual-abuse-by-dialogue-coach-it-was-extensive-and-brutal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
“So, the evil, the darkness, the twisted sickness of Hollywood has been going on for a long time,” Cameron told us. “I started acting when I was 9-years-old. I began ‘Growing Pains’ at 14-years-old. And I was suspicious that that stuff was going on behind the curtains even when I was working on ‘Growing Pains.’”
“And there were several young boys like us [Cameron and Leonardo DiCaprio] that he [Peck] interacted with on a regular basis,” Cameron said. “So, it’s shocking. It’s sickening.
In one of the episodes of the shocking documentary — which alleges abuse and a toxic work environment behind the scenes at Nickelodeon — a clip played from “Growing Pains” showing a young DiCaprio with Peck constantly rubbing the young star’s arms and touching him. Cameron said that’s exactly how he recalled Peck behaving and just remembered “that’s the kind of thing you would see and make you pause and go ‘there’s a little flag on the field,’ but not enough to prove something worse.”
<div id="attachment_720367" style="width: 876px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-720367" class="size-large wp-image-720367" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-93765382-866x576.jpg" alt="UNITED STATES - SEPTEMBER 28: GROWING PAINS - &quot;In vino veritas&quot; - Season Seven - 9/28/91, Jason (Alan Thicke) and Maggie (Joanna Kerns) grew worried when their wine started missing and all signs pointed to Mike's (Kirk Cameron) pupil, Luke Brower (Leonardo DiCaprio)., (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)" width="866" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-93765382-866x576.jpg 866w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-93765382-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-93765382-768x511.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-93765382.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 866px) 100vw, 866px" />ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images</div>
The Hollywood star shared that at the same time he worked on “Growing Pains” (1985 &#8211; 1992) with Peck, the executive producer and showrunner was Steven Marshall. In 2010, Marshall was arrested and convicted for possession and distribution of child pornography, the <a href="https://nypost.com/2010/03/16/growing-pains-producer-sentenced-for-child-porn/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York Post</a> reported.
He served 7½ years in federal prison after he was <a href="https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2010/mar/17/child-porn-gets-ex-tv-exec-prison-20100317/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arrested</a> by an undercover federal agent who was posing as a pedophile. In Marshall’s chats with the agent, the former TV producer would <a href="https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2010/mar/17/child-porn-gets-ex-tv-exec-prison-20100317/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">brag</a> about “child abduction, bondage, rapes and murders,” the outlet noted. It came out later in court that the exec. producer never actually had “physical contact” with any of the kids he bragged about doing vile things to, Cameron noted.
“Thank God I got out of there unscathed in the 1980s,” Cameron said. “Those people who did this stuff to these kids are the same kind of people in the industry today. Still making twisted, sick, perverted material that’s hurting children today. And they need to be completely rooted out and replaced.”
“But it’s too late,” Cameron continued. “These children, like Drake Bell &#8230; they have scars that they will carry with them permanently throughout their life.”
Cameron also mentioned he recently spoke with former producers and writers of the show about working with Peck and Marshall, recalling their behavior on set.
“And the consensus was these individuals were charming, they ingratiated themselves into their victims’ lives and were generally likable people when they were putting the ‘nice guy’ face on,” Cameron said.
“But there was … always something smarmy about them,” he added. “You know it was like your ‘Spidey-senses’ told you something’s not right. They were handsy and physical in a smarmy kind of way. But not so overt that you could totally detect what was happening.”
Cameron said he “absolutely” credited his parents with keeping him safe in the predatory environment, adding, “My mom was on the set every day when I was a minor on ‘Growing Pains.’” He also credited his former “cast and crew” who served as additional sets of “guardians.”
<div id="attachment_720403" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-720403" class="size-large wp-image-720403" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-1243176806-copy-384x576.jpeg" alt="WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 07: Kirk Cameron attends the Premiere of LIFEMARK at Museum of the Bible on September 07, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for LIFEMARK Movie)" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-1243176806-copy-384x576.jpeg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-1243176806-copy-200x300.jpeg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-1243176806-copy.jpeg 680w" sizes="(max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" />Paul Morigi/Getty Images for LIFEMARK Movie</div>
When asked if he thinks Hollywood protects the predator instead of the survivor, the longtime actor said what we are seeing now “ … is an industry that tries to indemnify, exonerate the very pedophiles that we say we want to get rid of, because they are the pedophiles.”
When asked about the letters of support written in defense of Peck by his former on-screen parents, Alan Thicke and Joanna Kerns, Cameron noted, “Nobody wants to believe that the fun, charming, dialogue coach who’s ingratiated himself into the lives of others — almost to the point of being a trusted family friend — would do something so wicked and evil.”
The letters were used by Peck’s attorneys before he was convicted of sexually assaulting a minor. Kearns has since walked back her letter of support. Thicke, however, passed away in 2016.
Following the documentary’s release, former child star Bell came forward and said he was the John Doe from a sexual abuse case from 2004 involving former Nickelodeon dialogue coach Peck. Peck pleaded no contest to the charges, was sentenced to 16 months in prison, and ordered to register as a sex offender, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/former-nickelodeon-star-drake-bell-details-alleged-sexual-abuse-by-dialogue-coach-it-was-extensive-and-brutal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
Docuseries contributors also spoke frequently about former Nickelodeon producer Dan Schneider, who they said perpetrated abuse by acting in a controlling manner and making sexually suggestive jokes, some of which were used in children’s programming. They also alleged that Schneider was filmed in a hot tub with then-16-year-old actress Amanda Bynes.
“I definitely owe some people a pretty strong apology,” Schneider said in a statement following the release of “Quiet on Set.”
<div id="attachment_720375" style="width: 1010px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-720375" class="size-full wp-image-720375" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/QUIET-Picture1.jpg" alt="Sony Pictures Television/Maxine Productions. IMDB." width="1000" height="563" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/QUIET-Picture1.jpg 1000w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/QUIET-Picture1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/QUIET-Picture1-768x432.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" />Sony Pictures Television/Maxine Productions. IMDB.</div>
The “Lifemark” star talked about the massive increase in LGBTQ programming targeting children from places like Disney, Cartoon Network and Netflix, and said they are no longer hiding their agenda.
“Openly sharing their agenda &#8230; giddy with excitement trying to add as much ‘queerness’ to their content as they can over time,” the actor said. “Before it was sort of hidden, under the radar. But now it’s wide open. They’ve gotten themselves intoxicated with their own perversion and they are so drunk on it that they don’t even know what’s wrong.”
Cameron said he “one hundred percent” thinks the lack of faith in Hollywood led to the darkness.
“The problem is when you take God out of Hollywood or politics they become corrupted.”
It is those experiences the actor went through and the things he’s learned since about the people he worked with that he said motivates him to be part of the solution, to create a safe working environment for kids and children’s programming like he had when he was growing up.
That’s why I’m working with Brave Americans saying ‘we’re not waiting for Hollywood to get it right,’” the “Fireproof” actor said. “We need to make this stuff ourselves.”
“God has exposed them,” he added. “He’s drug the evil out into the middle of the street in broad daylight and this is the time for brave Americans to take charge of their children’s entertainment and their education and start doing something about it.”
The longtime actor said he wants this to “&#8230; be a wakeup call, an incredible opportunity for parents and grandparents &#8230; to be the executive producer of our children’s future. Our generation&#8217;s version of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood&#8221; with his current project. More information can be found <a href="https://bravebooks.us/pages/the-adventures-with-iggy-and-mr-kirk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.
“I want to give them something to remind them what good wholesome family entertainment is like and what parents are looking for and children need.”

Kirk Cameron

Kirk Cameron On ‘Quiet On Set’ Revelations: ‘Been Going On For A Long Time’

Kirk Cameron On 'Quiet On Set' Revelations: 'Been Going On For A Long Time'

Child Abuse

Nickelodeon

Sexual Abuse

Television

The following is an edited transcript of a Daily Wire interview with Bill Whittle on his new, in-depth docuseries on the rise of the Soviet Union: &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/apollo-11-what-we-saw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What We Saw: An Empire of Terror</a>.&#8221; 
Daily Wire: Bill, you’ve now produced multiple “What We Saw” documentaries for The Daily Wire: “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/apollo-11-what-we-saw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Apollo 11</a>” and “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/apollo-11-what-we-saw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Cold War</a>.” Why did you choose the rise of the Soviet Union as your next project?
Bill: Shortly after the invasion of Ukraine I received a call from Jeremy Boreing at The Daily Wire. I just finished covering a fair amount of Russia with &#8220;The Cold War&#8221; series. Given the research for &#8220;The Cold War,&#8221; and my previous readings, I&#8217;ve always been kind of morbidly fascinated with the mechanisms of the Soviet Union — fascinated and disgusted and appalled and intrigued by governments that have to terrorize their people in order to remain in power, antithetical to the American system. And no matter how bad we think things get here, there&#8217;s nothing that&#8217;s happened or is happening now in this country that even approaches this scale.
DW: Why is it important to remember Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution?
Bill: Several years after World War I, Winston Churchill said that the Germans had transmitted a “Bacillus” into Russia in the form of Lenin. I think he got that exactly right. It (Lenin) was a biological weapon. And it was designed to destroy Russia as a great power in World War I. That&#8217;s why the Germans not only allowed Lenin to travel through Germany during the height of the war, but in fact paid his expenses for many, many years afterwards.
This regime is interesting to me for two reasons: the main reason is how intellectual it was — and I have a very low opinion of intellectuals. Intellectualism is for people who think they are intelligent and are so certain of themselves and so certain of what they believe that they feel the right to enforce their theories on other people.
What fascinated me about this horrific system was the theoretical aspect of everything. There was nothing about the system that was practical. There was nothing based on common sense, experience, reason, kindness, decency — nothing. It was all based on the theory of a German philosopher named Karl Marx. His writings appealed to people looking for some sort of justice, but they also appealed to people who had any sort of envy for the people in power but didn&#8217;t want to do any work in order to achieve it.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/apollo-11-what-we-saw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: &#8220;An Empire of Terror&#8221; on DailyWire+</a></h4>
The other remarkable quality about all of the Soviet leaders is just how useless they were. Prior to finding themselves in the middle of the system, none of them had jobs. Lenin’s only job was as a failed attorney, very briefly. As a lawyer he lost, I think, 13 out of 14 cases and never really worked a day in his life. Prior to the revolution, he sat around for 16 years, sitting in cafes in safe places like Berlin and Munich and London and Zurich, sipping tea and discussing theory. 
He developed in his massive forehead this idea of how a society should work and there was no real world evidence that would change his mind. If it turned out that there was a difference between the map he had in his head and reality, then the reality had to be well, he would then go about doing whatever he had to do with the lovers of state power to beat reality into line with the theory. And this is why the Soviet state was a terror state. They never had legitimacy. 
The Bolsheviks were a minority every single time they held a so-called “election;” they were a tremendous minority. And you can’t even accuse the Nazis of that.
<div id="attachment_714981" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-714981" class="size-large wp-image-714981" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/EOT-EP-2-Thumbnail-1024x576.png" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/EOT-EP-2-Thumbnail-1024x576.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/EOT-EP-2-Thumbnail-300x169.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/EOT-EP-2-Thumbnail-768x432.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/EOT-EP-2-Thumbnail-1536x864.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/EOT-EP-2-Thumbnail.png 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />DailyWire+</div>
DW: In &#8220;An Empire of Terror&#8221; you mention the leader of Russia’s provisional government, Alexander Kerensky. Why wasn’t he able to mount a good defense against the growing Bolshevik threat?
Bill: Someone once wrote that Lenin was “lucky with his enemies.” And that was exactly the case. I have very high regard for Alexander Kerensky’s principles and for what he wanted for the Russian people. But as an actor, Kerensky had two qualities that actors often bring to the world: First, he was spectacularly naive when it came to the real world. And second, he was tremendously vain. These two blind spots led him to believe he was in control when in fact, Lenin was ready to do everything up to and including murder when Kerensky was simply looking out the window at the daisies. He was a good man and history was kind to him but he was no match for Lenin’s ruthlessness. This is the thing about the Soviet state — it&#8217;s designed in such a way that you have to keep the population under control through terror. The people that end up running the machine, by definition, become the most ruthless and terroristic of the bunch.
<div id="attachment_714985" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-714985" class="size-large wp-image-714985" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/EOT-EP-4-Thumbnail-1024x576.png" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/EOT-EP-4-Thumbnail-1024x576.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/EOT-EP-4-Thumbnail-300x169.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/EOT-EP-4-Thumbnail-768x432.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/EOT-EP-4-Thumbnail-1536x864.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/EOT-EP-4-Thumbnail.png 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />DailyWire+</div>
DW: What were some of the challenges you faced making this new series?
Bill: All roads lead back to Lenin. When I began to realize the magnitude of the crimes that these people committed, I began to feel a tremendous sense of historical responsibility to the people who disappeared without photographs.
800,000 people were killed in one of the gulags called Kolyma. 800,000 people. That makes it second on the leaderboard from hell: Auschwitz is first, Kolyma is second, and Treblinka is third. So, more than anything, I wanted every single episode to have as many photographs of the faces of individual people. And most importantly, we can never use the same face twice. I just wanted faces because, as Stalin said, “One death is a tragedy, a million deaths a statistic.”
So my biggest challenge was to find a way to try and personalize this. Make people understand that this could just as easily be you or your family, and then try to give them some idea of what the size of 20 million people looks like.
For example, about 100,000 people attend the Super Bowl every year. Imagine that everybody had to exit the stadium, single file, through one gate and you had to stand there and look at every single face as they left the stadium. When you were finished, hours and hours and hours later, you would have only 199 more Super Bowls to look at before you reached 20 million and saw the face of every person killed by this “idea.” And if it&#8217;s killed that many people, maybe it&#8217;s not such a good idea.
DW: Did you come across any surprises in your research?
Bill: The most astonishing story in &#8220;An Empire of Terror&#8221; is a true story. I&#8217;ve worked exceedingly hard and long to make sure that not only everything I wrote was true, but that I also had the receipts for everything.
But the most astonishing coincidence in the entire series is this: Lenin and Stalin were both known to be extremely paranoid, and very, very private people. They kept a very tight circle and they were constantly on the lookout for assassination and betrayal. So when Lenin finally arrives in Moscow from St. Petersburg, and eventually gets himself a little mansion, he is living with his sisters, his wife, and two secretaries. He also has four bodyguards and a private cook named Comrade Spiridon.
Comrade Spiridon went from being the only person that lived with Lenin, who was not related to him, to becoming the only person who lived with Stalin. And he lived with Stalin for the duration of Stalin&#8217;s reign in the Soviet Union. The only person who shared the insight into the entire thing — from the rise from agrarian peasantry to nuclear superpower. Comrade Spiridon was the only man who was on the inside. He would serve dinner to people who were the heads of the secret police one night and then the next night they were gone. They&#8217;d been killed and replaced. The genuinely remarkable part of this story is that Comrade Spiridon’s last name was Putin. This was Vladimir Putin&#8217;s grandfather.
Vladimir Putin learned about the Soviet Union on his grandfather&#8217;s knee. And so the perspective Vladimir Putin received of the Soviet Union was the most elevated inside perspective that was possible to obtain. No one else in the entire history of the Soviet Union, ever, got that close to both of those men. And to think that it was possible for Vladimir Putin to turn out any other way is insane.
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DW: In light of the upcoming presidential election, do you see elements of communism at play in our politics?
Bill: Well, the first thing I think that stands out about the upcoming election is the lawfare that&#8217;s being conducted against Donald Trump. If these people who are committing these atrocities against him genuinely believed in democracy, if they genuinely believed that their democratic values were better than Republican values, they wouldn&#8217;t be trying to lock up Trump. They&#8217;d be doing everything they could to get him to keep talking. If you feel like your only way to win an election is by having your opponent put in jail, you are well on your way to this kind of totalitarian empire of terror. That&#8217;s number one.
Number two is cancel culture. The Left is using cancel culture as a strong-arm tactic to get people to shut up. And we all know the way it works: “You&#8217;re racist” or “we&#8217;re going to call your boss” or “we&#8217;re going to boycott your product” or whatever. But the point is that the only people who feel they need to shut up the opposition are people who know that their opposition has a better argument. And if they don&#8217;t shut them up, they&#8217;re going to win. One of my favorite sayings is that liberals want conservatives to shut up and conservatives want liberals to keep talking. And that&#8217;s the essence of the difference between these two parties.
I have seen a concerted effort in America over the last several years to silence people. This whole idea of cancel culture is as close as we&#8217;ve come so far to taking people out to the Gulag and shooting them in the back of the head. But there are people who do want other people silenced. And the one thing I did realize is that there comes a tipping point when too many people are too quiet for too long. The social proof is to be quiet. The longer everybody is quiet, the harder it is to speak up. Eventually, it will lead to a situation like the Soviet Union, or the Nazi state. With &#8220;An Empire of Terror,&#8221; I was determined to do my best to make sure that doesn’t happen.

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