<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Five days after I left my short stint heading news partnerships at X, a friend texted me with the details of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Assuming I was cooling off after a long period of eating, breathing and sleeping Elon Musk&#8217;s social platform, this note was intended as a simple ICYMI to someone who didn’t miss much – one that I am grateful to have received.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I didn’t know Charlie Kirk, but every aspect of my recent job was influenced by his work. X is the home of countless communicators aiming to follow Kirk&#8217;s pattern of boldness, eloquence, and clarity. I haven’t done the math, but my guess is for every 100 aspiring Charlies, none manage to fill the mold.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Opening X on my phone Wednesday afternoon ushered me into a world I feared was becoming extinct. Post upon post was an appeal to pray. Pray for Charlie. Pray for Erika. Pray for the children. Pray for the hearts, the minds of young people. Pray for a nation divided. Yes, there was a lot of other noise on X – there always is – but the call for prayers was overwhelming.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This was a different call to action than the one I remember witnessing when my Twitter use was beginning to take flight. In 2012, with a 6-year-old, 2-year-old, and 2-day-old at home, I scrolled through post after post after the December 14 shooting at Sandy Hook, encouraging us to shelve the thoughts and prayers and focus on solutions instead of platitudes. As an editor in the Wall Street Journal’s newsroom at the time, I tended to agree the thoughts and prayers line was getting a little old.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I relived that nine years later when a 15-year-old shot up Oxford High School, a short drive from my house. Ethan Crumbley&#8217;s bullets killed and injured classmates, including one who had sat in the backseat of my car on road trips to gymnastics meets. Prayers seemed like a slice of the equation, but damn we needed to do something about guns.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In our world, there is an urgent need for prayerful petitions and also a need for action. But, there is a pecking order.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith explained that pecking order Friday during a press conference. After running through the predictable lists of shoutouts to law enforcement and public officials, he paused before saying, “Most of all, I would like to thank the public and specifically I would like to thank the public who turned to prayers and who turned to positiveness for us … we needed those prayers. That’s what we needed to get through this.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If social media is, as Utah Governor Spencer Cox deemed it during the same event, “a cancer,” its rot lies in its stubborn insistence on trying to replace real life. These platforms can be a tool for good, enabling free speech and breaking down geographic, generational and socioeconomic barriers that limit or prevent physical relationships. However, these platforms – like most media – have little appetite for nuance and too often trick us into thinking that words only have meaning if they are shouted in a digital town hall.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This is delusional. And it is in delusion where evil most comfortably resides, camouflaging itself as anything it can to make its work feel less evil. Anyone who has been introduced to the advice C.S. Lewis’s senior devil Screwtape passes along to his nephew Wormwood, knows that evil is most content when it is considered banal and impotent.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Charlie Kirk’s assassination, specifically its aftermath, reminds us of two important things. One, even the best of us can’t always stand in the way of evil. And, the most effective way to confront evil is by doing the thing that feels most powerless in the fog of war: prayer.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While evil doesn’t walk around wearing a nametag saying “Hello, My Name is ____,” its influence and presence leaves an unmistakable mark in its wake. Cunning and relentless, evil tends to be as persistent as it is crafty. Evil will strike again and that strike will catch us by surprise like it did on 9/11 and nearly 24 years later on 9/10.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In this instance, we are wise to take advice ladled out on X in the wake of a martyr’s death. “Pray, fool, pray.” For our fight is not against flesh and blood but powers and principalities working to tear our union apart.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Imagine a world where social media, for all its ills, drives us to the increasingly unfamiliar spot of being on our knees in a relatively powerless position. That world gives us hope when we realize that being on our knees is actually the most powerful posture there is.</span></p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">John D. Stoll is a writer based in Rochester, Mich. He worked for 13 years at Wall Street Journal as a reporter, editor and columnist, leaving in 2020. He most recently ran news partnerships at X.</span></em></p>
<p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.</span></em></p>


US-POLITICS-SHOOTING-KIRK

X’s Algorithm At Its Best: A Push For Thoughts And Prayers

assassination

Charlie Kirk

Prayer

Social Media

Twitter

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Avowed leftist author Stephen King was forced to admit his error and apologize after being caught spreading lies about slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As other &#8220;progressives&#8221; on social media tried to justify the brutal assassination of Kirk at a free speech event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, King piled on by sharing a tweet that said, “He advocated stoning gays to death. Just sayin.’”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Multiple accounts swarmed the comments with evidence of Kirk being civil towards gay people while presenting socially conservative viewpoints and maintaining a biblical view of marriage in his personal life. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Kirk’s fans and friends went after King, sharing clips of the TPUSA founder speaking with gay people and welcoming them to the conservative movement.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Hey [Stephen King], you are more monstrous than any of the characters you ever came up with. Charlie was never anything but kind to me and my husband,” conservative commentator Dave Rubin </span><a href="https://x.com/RubinReport/status/1966299918202540515"><span style="font-weight: 400;">replied</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> on X.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We broke bread many times, and he never treated us with anything other than respect. He even came to our house not too long ago and plot twist, didn’t throw rocks at us. Write about that sometime, you hack,” he added.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Why would Stephen King post something so blatantly false?” X owner Elon Musk wondered.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Others shared screenshots of Kirk’s previous tweets, including one that said, “I believe marriage is one man one woman. Also gay people should be welcome in the conservative movement. As Christians we are called to love everyone. I will always stand against people who wish to establish their own personal values as a reason to kick others out of the movement.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The backlash and facts became so severe that King backtracked and apologized on Friday morning.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I apologize for saying Charlie Kirk advocated stoning gays. What he actually demonstrated was how some people cherry-pick Biblical passages,” the horror author </span><a href="https://x.com/StephenKing/status/1966474125616013664"><span style="font-weight: 400;">wrote</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p>


Stephen King

Stephen King Walks Back Lie About Charlie Kirk With Half-Hearted Apology

Christianity

<p>Irish comedian Graham Linehan said he was arrested in London on Monday over social media posts deemed “transphobic.”</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The 57-year-old celeb, who is best known for appearances in popular British comedies like “The IT Crowd” and “Father Ted,” said he was rushed to the hospital after being taken to jail due to high blood pressure likely caused by stress.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Linehan said he was greeted by law enforcement after he stepped off a flight from Arizona to London. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The moment I stepped off the plane at Heathrow, five armed police officers were waiting. They escorted me to a private area and told me I was under arrest for three posts on X,” he wrote in an op-ed for </span><a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/i-posted-on-x-the-british-police-arrested-me-free-speech"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Free Press</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. “In a country where pedophiles escape prison, where knife crime is out of control, the state had mobilized five armed officers to arrest a comedy writer for these three posts.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Linehan said many law enforcement officers he encountered during the ordeal exhibited “bafflement” and seemed to have “absolutely no idea” what his alleged crime was.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But then, during an interview with one of the officers, the tone changed.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“He asked about each of the posts in turn, with the sort of earnest intensity usually reserved for discussing something serious like. . . oh, I don’t know—crime?” Linehan wrote.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I explained that the post about punching a trans-identified man in a female-only space was a serious point made with a joke. Men who enter women’s spaces are abusers, and they need to be challenged every time.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The officer mentioned the term trans people. I asked him what he meant by the phrase. ‘People who feel their gender is different than what was assigned at birth,’” he continued. “‘Assigned at birth?’ I responded. ‘Our sex isn’t assigned.’ He called it semantics. I told him he was using activist language.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Irish comedian said a nurse checked his blood pressure, and it was in “stroke territory.” He was transported to the hospital and was put under observation. Linehan said the arresting officers offered him bail on the condition that he stop posting on X.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I was arrested at an airport like a terrorist, locked in a cell like a criminal, taken to the hospital because the stress nearly killed me, and banned from speaking online—all because I made jokes on X,” he wrote.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The UK has become a country that is hostile to freedom of speech, hostile to women, and far too accommodating to the demands of violent, entitled, abusive men who have turned the police into their personal goon squad.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The posts in question include one that says, “If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act. Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the balls.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Another has a photo of a trans activist gathering and includes the caption, “A photo you can smell.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The third one says, “I hate them all. Misogynists and homophobes. F*** em.”</span></p>


Graham Linehan

Irish Comedian Recounts Shocking Arrest Over Anti-Trans Social Media Posts

Crime

Freedom of Speech

London

Transgender

World

<p>On Saturday, veteran football commentator Lee Corso made his 430th and final “headgear pick” on ESPN’s College GameDay.</p>
<p>It’s been 38 years since Corso helped launch the flagship college football broadcast, and 29 years since he first <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/lee-corsos-last-show-beloved-member-of-college-gameday-dons-ohio-state-headgear-one-final-time-in-send-off/">donned a mascot head</a> to lock in a pick — picks that were right <a href="https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/46112766/lee-corso-picks-ohio-state-final-gameday-appearance">more often than not</a>.</p>
<p>His first-ever headgear pick was for THE Ohio State, so it was only fitting that, for his last prediction, he donned the head of Brutus Buckeye one final time.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">&#8220;Give me my first love!&#8221;</p>
<p>Lee Corso&#8217;s first-ever headgear pick belonged to Brutus and the Buckeyes and it&#8217;s only fitting that his last one is the same ❤️ <a href="https://t.co/A8Fgj8b3TR">pic.twitter.com/A8Fgj8b3TR</a></p>
<p>— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) <a href="https://twitter.com/CollegeGameDay/status/1961822393732673601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 30, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
Standing in the way of Corso&#8217;s pick were the Texas Longhorns, coming into Columbus behind Arch Manning  for the first road start of his career.</p>
<p>It had been 2,084 days since Arch’s uncle, Eli, played his last game for the New York Giants, bringing to a temporary pause the family legacy Peyton Manning began with the Indianapolis Colts in 1998. With a dynastic name on his shoulders and a <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/08/30/sports/arch-mannings-6-8-million-nil-value-revealed-as-texas-qb-takes-center-stage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$6.8 million NIL valuation</a> behind him, Arch Manning took the field in Columbus ready to make Lee Corso regret his last-ever headgear pick.</p>
<p>He did not succeed.</p>
<p>Manning, considered a strong contender for the first pick in the 2026 NFL Draft and a Heisman Trophy favorite, completed just 17 of 30 passes for a total of 170 yards. He threw for one late touchdown, and threw one crushing interception.</p>
<p>It was widely remarked on X and in group chats across the country that Manning threw fewer touchdowns than commercials he appeared in Saturday — for Raising Cane&#8217;s, the athleisure brand Vuori, and, for some reason, Warby Parker.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Arch Manning has more commercials than completions <a href="https://t.co/VdBjhErkBt">pic.twitter.com/VdBjhErkBt</a></p>
<p>— Hard Rock Bet (@HardRockBet) <a href="https://twitter.com/HardRockBet/status/1961842339766308979?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 30, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Haters will say that Arch’s performance on Saturday proves that he’s nothing but a nepo baby, and a disappointing one at that. They’ll say the only thing he inherited from his uncles is a penchant for selling car insurance and sandwiches. They’ll say that he should start preparing for a postgrad career at his dad’s real estate firm rather than in the NFL.</p>
<p>But I’m not a hater. It’s a long season, and Arch’s disastrous debut notwithstanding, he’s still a promising player who will likely fare better down the line when he’s not playing the reigning college football champions on their home turf.</p>
<p>On the other hand…I am a bit of a hater. And the tweets dunking on the Manning scion are simply too good not to share.</p>
<p>So, here are some of the best.</p>
<h3>The name is Rooski. Fumblerooski.</h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">“Arch it’s 4th down! We need you to make a play!” <a href="https://t.co/vGQ8ACCK98">pic.twitter.com/vGQ8ACCK98</a></p>
<p>— Old Row Sports (@OldRowSports) <a href="https://twitter.com/OldRowSports/status/1961856811218161671?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 30, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>It was fun while it lasted.</h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="zxx"><a href="https://t.co/MFJtXLgxuv">pic.twitter.com/MFJtXLgxuv</a></p>
<p>— Robert Behrens (@rcb05) <a href="https://twitter.com/rcb05/status/1961865346488377587?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 30, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<h3></h3>
<h3>Maybe his real gift is acting?</h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Watching Arch Manning reveal himself as nepo Jeff Driskel on national TV only for Fox to cut to a commercial with him every thirty seconds is fucking hysterical</p>
<p>— Barstool SEC (@SECBarstool) <a href="https://twitter.com/SECBarstool/status/1961863526928261628?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 30, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<h3></h3>
<h3>Not even the Failing New York Times is impressed.</h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Reviewing Arch Manning&#8217;s performance on the day.</p>
<p>Great in the Warby Parker ad.</p>
<p>Decent in Vuori and Raising Cane&#8217;s.</p>
<p>Football game against Ohio State? &#8230; Not great!<a href="https://t.co/OJHFUwqrmE">https://t.co/OJHFUwqrmE</a></p>
<p>— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) <a href="https://twitter.com/slmandel/status/1961887481554739629?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 30, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3> Many people are saying!</h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">“Arch Manning for Heisman” <a href="https://t.co/3I7Gasr0vG">pic.twitter.com/3I7Gasr0vG</a></p>
<p>— Transfer Portal (@NCAAPortal) <a href="https://twitter.com/NCAAPortal/status/1961864255394684935?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 30, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>I think I&#8217;ll just stay here and drink.</h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Arch Manning looks less comfortable than Luke Bryan trying to name 3 Merle Haggard songs without using Google.</p>
<p>— NotKennyRogers (@NotKennyRogers) <a href="https://twitter.com/NotKennyRogers/status/1961845540292804966?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 30, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<h3></h3>
<h3>This one&#8217;s just mean.</h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Ohio State defense has Arch Manning like this rn <a href="https://t.co/aHzQWP16dY">pic.twitter.com/aHzQWP16dY</a></p>
<p>— 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒆 🌩 (@Three_Cone) <a href="https://twitter.com/Three_Cone/status/1961863172949725324?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 30, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<h3></h3>
<h3>No disrespect to good ol&#8217; WCSU.</h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Arch Manning when he isn’t playing West Copperfield State University <a href="https://t.co/OYVedSuor4">pic.twitter.com/OYVedSuor4</a></p>
<p>— 𝘽𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙣 ✌🏽 (@BELIEVEBRAND0N) <a href="https://twitter.com/BELIEVEBRAND0N/status/1961841077754712198?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 30, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<h3></h3>
<h3>Would you call John Quincy Adams a nepo baby?!</h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Arch Manning if Peyton and Eli weren’t his uncles<br />
<a href="https://t.co/i6y4FDfDUs">pic.twitter.com/i6y4FDfDUs</a></p>
<p>— Le5-6 (@deepyy_) <a href="https://twitter.com/deepyy_/status/1961827027012530329?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 30, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<h3></h3>
<h3>Arch!</h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Arch Manning in the Manning family <a href="https://t.co/Wm4KLMICR5">pic.twitter.com/Wm4KLMICR5</a></p>
<p>— Wilson F. Ball, CFB Analyst (@WillyFoosball) <a href="https://twitter.com/WillyFoosball/status/1961843314606428634?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 30, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<h3></h3>
<h3>Shouts out to our boy Rob Schneider (real ones get it).</h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Arch in the Manning family <a href="https://t.co/92BNebqB78">pic.twitter.com/92BNebqB78</a></p>
<p>— Erik Andersen (@erikandersennn) <a href="https://twitter.com/erikandersennn/status/1961833662628188641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 30, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<h3></h3>
<h3>Ask not what your quartahback can do for you!</h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">JFK if Arch Manning was the shooter <a href="https://t.co/fXfAJdDd3h">pic.twitter.com/fXfAJdDd3h</a></p>
<p>— Joseph 🕊️ (@CaudilloXIV) <a href="https://twitter.com/CaudilloXIV/status/1961864035311214856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 30, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>Don’t worry, Arch — we’re laughing <i>with</i> you.</h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Me liking all the Arch Manning memes <a href="https://t.co/SE3YXky9Bd">pic.twitter.com/SE3YXky9Bd</a></p>
<p>— Three Year Letterman (@3YearLetterman) <a href="https://twitter.com/3YearLetterman/status/1961858119694205304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 30, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>


Texas v Ohio State

All The Best Tweets About Arch Manning’s Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Game

College Football

ESPN

Memes

Ohio State University

University of Texas

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Woke is on the run.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The cultural scourge has stifled free thought, promoted hard Left extremism and corrupted the arts. Now, the pendulum is finally starting to swing in the opposite direction.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As Justine Bateman eloquently <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/justine-bateman-feels-she-breathe-135914542.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAL59qaEAl5oQrn9Sbhjt_qu8fKo-iKLly0Qx1-59i0ZovkUgRNIkxBmkeb-90BXJs3RGFTKYXYPTw_0PpiYQZ4TC2vvcuf68E0zkXRjgeC_GgEgtbOqvca4Zg9u6iEw0q-H7gvODkFclXkVCbMI5yfWMT2bU8ni8NIdlhYRwH5Zd">put it</a>, it’s like we </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">can all breathe again</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Woke may have been destined to crash and burn on its own. It’s antithetical to the American spirit and goes against basic biology. Plus, it’s often meted out in a cruel, hypocritical two-tier fashion.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hunter Biden </span><a href="https://nypost.com/2021/06/08/hunter-biden-repeatedly-called-his-white-lawyer-the-n-word-texts-show/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">repeatedly texts</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">  the &#8220;n-word&#8221; — zero punishment. Morgan Wallen calls a white friend the “n-word” in a private moment caught on tape – his career implodes overnight. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Yet, over the past decade we&#8217;ve witnessed a number of brave souls stand up to the woke onslaught. While there are many on team sanity who deserve a shout out — including the voices at The Daily Wire — here are seven </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">culture warriors who hastened woke’s demise and deserve a curtain call.</span></p>
<h3><strong>Robby Starbuck</strong></h3>
<div id="attachment_901451" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-901451" class="size-large wp-image-901451" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Untitled-design-32-1024x576.jpg" alt="Conservative influencer Robby Starbuck prior to an interview in New York, US, on Wednesday, March 5, 2025." width="1024" height="576" /><p id="caption-attachment-901451" class="wp-caption-text">Bess Adler/Bloomberg via Getty Images</p></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The filmmaker/activist became the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-robby-starbuck-joins-heritage-foundation-to-continue-fight-against-woke-corporations?author=Spencer+Lindquist&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=EXCLUSIVE%3A+Robby+Starbuck+Joins+Heritage+Foundation+To+Continue+Fight+Against+Woke+Corporations">one person</a> woke companies fear more than anyone else. Starbuck’s crusade to expose corporate shenanigans, like excessive DEI policies, proved shockingly effective in recent years.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Just ask </span><a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/11/27/robby-starbuck-influencer-dei-walmart"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Walmart, Target, John Deere, Harley Davidson</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and more.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A single social media post from Starbuck could send company executives into damage control mode. Sunlight remains the best disinfectant.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Starbuck brings the receipts, too. His recent </span><a href="https://x.com/robbystarbuck/status/1958868634287161604"><span style="font-weight: 400;">exposé on Cracker Barrel</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, coming on the heels of the brand’s calamitous logo “update,” proved he isn’t done spotlighting woke on steroids.</span></p>
<h3><strong>Jennifer Sey</strong></h3>
<div id="attachment_457893" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-457893" class="size-large wp-image-457893" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/seyspring2022-0562-2-384x576.jpg" alt="" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/seyspring2022-0562-2-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/seyspring2022-0562-2-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/seyspring2022-0562-2-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/seyspring2022-0562-2-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/seyspring2022-0562-2-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/seyspring2022-0562-2-1360x2040.jpg 1360w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/seyspring2022-0562-2-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" /><p id="caption-attachment-457893" class="wp-caption-text">Courtesy of Jennifer Sey</p></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The former gymnast defied her woke overlords at Levi’s and lost, if only on the surface. Sey left her job as Global Brand President after speaking out against pandemic school closures. The woke company demanded she toe the line and not share her opinion publicly. She refused.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">She could have licked her wounds or stayed silent. Not Sey. The Colorado resident rolled up her sleeves and kept fighting. She assembled a team to create a documentary detailing just how punishing lockdowns proved for millions of kids, even as we weren’t always allowed to admit it aloud. That upcoming documentary, “Generation-Covid,” is just part of her anti-woke agenda.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">She also created XX-XY Athletics, a clothing brand designed for women, not biological men living as women. Her company speaks out against trans women in women’s sports, helping strike a blow against a movement that often shames citizens into silence.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Now, the tide is turning on the subject, with more Americans allowed to speak their minds. Sey helped make that happen.</span></p>
<h3><strong>Elon Musk</strong></h3>
<div id="attachment_902957" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-902957" class="size-large wp-image-902957" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2180240111-864x576.jpg" alt="A portrait picture of Elon Musk photographed in Krakow, Poland on January 22nd, 2024 and X, former Twitter, logo are screened for illustration photo in Krakow, Poland on October 25, 2024." width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2180240111-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2180240111-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2180240111-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2180240111.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /><p id="caption-attachment-902957" class="wp-caption-text">Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images</p></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">He may be “frenemies” with a certain world leader these days, but Musk struck a mighty blow against woke by buying Twitter. </span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-bought-twitter-over-free-speech-concerns-media-groupthink-2022-12"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Partly inspired</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> by the platform’s attack on The Babylon Bee and other free speech punishments, Musk took over and restored many censored accounts. His new, streamlined X let free speech reign anew. Suddenly, users didn’t have to self-censor for fear their unwoke opinions could cost them their digital voice.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The platform is far from perfect, but under Musk’s control, it’s a vastly superior product and a woke-free zone.</span></p>
<h3><strong>Christopher Rufo</strong></h3>
<div id="attachment_877257" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-877257" class="size-large wp-image-877257" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/Untitled-design-33-1024x576.jpg" alt="Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist and New College of Florida trustee, walks through protestors on his way out of a bill signing event featuring Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who signed three education bills on the campus of New College of Florida in Sarasota, Fla. on Monday, May 15, 2023." width="1024" height="576" /><p id="caption-attachment-877257" class="wp-caption-text">Photo by Thomas Simonetti for The Washington Post via Getty Images</p></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Starbuck may be corporate America’s worst nightmare, but Rufo offers a similar service for academics gone wild. Rufo’s relentless pressure campaigns, and fact-based measures, proved highly effective in recent years.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Rufo helped expose former Harvard President Claudine Gay’s </span><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/claudine-gay-who-resigned-due-to-plagiarism-allegations-to-teach-reading-and-research-class-at-harvard-in-fall"><span style="font-weight: 400;">plagiarism scandal</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, but that’s just a fraction of his recent activism. Here, he describes why he </span><a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/conservative-activist-christopher-rufo-on-his-push-to-scrutinize-higher-education"><span style="font-weight: 400;">focuses his attention</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> on Ivy League institutions.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“They&#8217;re promoting from their central administrations racial discrimination, scapegoating and even segregation.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In some cases, they “were” promoting all of the above. Rufo gets results.</span></p>
<h3><strong>J.K. Rowling</strong></h3>
<div id="attachment_913089" style="width: 828px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-913089" class="size-large wp-image-913089" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/JK-Rowling-818x576.jpg" alt="JK Rowling" width="818" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/JK-Rowling-818x576.jpg 818w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/JK-Rowling-300x211.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/JK-Rowling-768x541.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/JK-Rowling.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 818px) 100vw, 818px" /><p id="caption-attachment-913089" class="wp-caption-text">Samir Hussein/WireImage via Getty Images</p></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Many celebrities, even the biggest stars in the galaxy, stand down under intense woke pressure. Remember how </span><a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/07/rub-and-tug-tv-show-our-lady-j?srsltid=AfmBOooqto0TGS1QBSZKn_jSJCQPHkCoAhh3bv_wnxbTxhD4YsIThjEW"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Scarlett Johansson buckled</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> rather than accept a role playing a trans character?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Not Rowling. The “Harry Potter” author, an old-school progressive, began <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/j-k-rowling-hilariously-shreds-transgender-activist-over-bra-fitting-boast">questioning</a> elements of the trans agenda in 2020. That put her squarely in the Left’s cross-hairs, and she’s remained there ever since.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Death threats. Endless cultural cancelations. Serial attacks from the same Legacy Media outlets that once praised her ability to inspire young readers.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And Rowling refused to back down. That posture, combined with the work Sey has done on trans matters, allowed others to speak out against biological men in women’s sports.</span></p>
<h3><strong>Joe Rogan</strong></h3>
<div id="attachment_909823" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-909823" class="size-large wp-image-909823" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-07-PM-2073-1024x576.jpg" alt="Screenshot: Joe Rogan Experience #2303. Dave Smith and Douglas Murray. PowerfulJRE. YouTube.com" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-07-PM-2073-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-07-PM-2073-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-07-PM-2073-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-07-PM-2073-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-07-PM-2073-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><p id="caption-attachment-909823" class="wp-caption-text">Screenshot: Joe Rogan Experience/YouTube.com</p></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Rogan&#8217;s relentless curiosity, eagerness to let so many voices share his platform, and his dedication to an open, long-form conversation has given free speech a major boost. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Even more important, Rogan had a change of heart regarding one potential guest. Two years ago, Rogan seemed disinterested in chatting up former President Donald Trump.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Then, as he watched the Democratic Party stifle speech across the culture, he realized his platform could give Trump a boost in the 2024 presidential campaign. It’s likely why other rebel comics did the same with the Trump-Vance ticket, from Andrew Schulz to Tim Dillon.</span></p>
<h3><strong>President Donald Trump</strong></h3>
<div id="attachment_942191" style="width: 875px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-942191" class="size-large wp-image-942191" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/GettyImages-2222437639-865x576.jpg" alt="President Donald Trump speaks to the media before boarding Marine One outside the White House on July 1, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)" width="865" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/GettyImages-2222437639-865x576.jpg 865w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/GettyImages-2222437639-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/GettyImages-2222437639-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/GettyImages-2222437639.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 865px) 100vw, 865px" /><p id="caption-attachment-942191" class="wp-caption-text">Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images</p></div>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIF2rdXnpMo"><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Everything woke turns to s***,”</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> The 45</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">th</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and 47</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">th</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> president once said, slicing through the noise to make perfect sense. He’s right, of course, and he helped make woke retreat to its current, cornered state.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The president’s frank talk, blustery persona and eagerness to speak sans filter did more than burnish his brand. He gave us permission to do the same, to shoot straight and take the consequences.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Plus, he used his executive orders to protect female athletes against biological male competitors and doubled down on Rufo’s efforts to rein in woke colleges. His anti-DEI initiatives will be part of his legacy, no doubt.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Woke is far from gone, despite the work of these culture warriors. Some companies and schools are using sleight-of-hand techniques to keep on discriminating on the basis of race and gender.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The disgraced Gay is still teaching students at Harvard.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hollywood will keep making movies about five-foot-nothing women beating up men double their size. Gender and race-swapped stories won’t fade to black like 3D movies and found footage shockers.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Still, woke has taken body blow after body blow. And these powerful figures threw some of the heaviest punches.</span></p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p><em>Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of <a href="https://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://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.</em></p>


Robby Starbuck

Seven Culture Warriors Who Put Woke On The Run

Christopher Rufo

Donald Trump

Elon Musk

J.K. Rowling

Joe Rogan

Woke Culture

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Among his many promises along the campaign trail, President Trump vowed to take down what he and others have described as the “censorship industrial complex,” a global network of ideologically aligned governmental, nonprofit, media, tech, finance, and academic institutions that are colluding to censor vast swaths of legally protected speech by weaponizing terms like “hate” and “disinformation.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">From early in his presidency, President Trump’s actions have consistently aligned with his campaign promises. From Day One — beginning with executive orders that led to the dismantling of the Global Engagement Center, to Vice President JD Vance’s public condemnation of widespread censorship across the U.K. and Europe — restoring free speech has clearly been a top priority for the administration.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As Trump has landed a massive trade deal with the E.U., he has also taken multiple steps to combat global censorship. That includes zeroing in on the censorship regime in Brazil via a 50% </span><a href="https://x.com/SecRubio/status/1946349695221043669"><span style="font-weight: 400;">tariff</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and an </span><a href="https://x.com/secrubio/status/1946349695221043669?s=46"><span style="font-weight: 400;">order</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> to revoke visas for Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes and other members of the nation’s high court. In 2024, Moraes </span><a href="https://adfinternational.org/campaign/open-letter-x-brazil"><span style="font-weight: 400;">ordered</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> X to block accounts of journalists and political figures under the pretext of “misinformation.” As Trump highlighted in his letter announcing the tariff, X still faces millions of dollars in fines and a permanent ban from the country.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Brazil’s disregard for free speech is paralleled in the E.U. by the “Digital Services Act.” Threatening what it designates as “Very Large Online Platforms” such as X, Meta, Amazon, and Google with crippling fines for noncompliance, the DSA weaponizes vague terms like “hate speech” and “disinformation” to purge the digital landscape of views they deem offensive, inconvenient, or a threat to their power. The DSA also formalizes the kind of public-private collusion exemplified by the censorship industrial complex, empowering private organizations as “trusted flaggers” whose censorship demands platforms are required to prioritize — or face penalties. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Like Brazil’s Supreme Court, the DSA’s censorship directly impacts American citizens, whose accounts are subject to cancellation right along with our European cousins. We’ve already seen Americans censored under the DSA, as well as under the vague censorship policies that comprise it. These are the same policies at the heart of discriminatory debanking and financial surveillance that have targeted U.S.-based </span><a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/banking/article-12417653/Debanking-row-breaks-Bank-America-shuts-account-ultra-conservative-Christian-charity-serves-impoverished-Ugandans.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">overseas missions</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and </span><a href="https://adflegal.org/press-release/revealed-fed-govt-flagged-adf-domestic-terrorist-threat-target-surveillance-major/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">conservative groups</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> like Alliance Defending Freedom, where I work.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">They’re also the same policies that ruled the digital public square during Covid, when — often at the behest of the Biden administration and third party “flaggers” — major platforms censored and canceled users over views on public health, lab leak “theories” (since proven true), immigration, the Hunter Biden laptop </span><a href="https://nypost.com/2023/07/02/blowing-the-lid-off-the-coverup-of-hunter-bidens-cushy-plea-deal/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">story</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, gender ideology, and more. The DSA simply imposes this censorship regime on a global scale.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To the E.U. commissioners behind the DSA, the more governments work in lockstep to intimidate dissenting citizens into quiet compliance, the better. Just over a year ago, Canadian citizen “Billboard Chris” Elston </span><a href="https://adfinternational.org/news/free-speech-victory-in-australia-for-billboard-chris-as-x-post-censorship-overturned"><span style="font-weight: 400;">posted</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> his objections to a controversial WHO appointee on X, linking to a UK Daily Mail article. The Australian government then demanded that X censor the post under its DSA-style “Online Safety Act,” using the law to classify Elston’s speech as “cyber abuse.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">With ADF International’s help, Billboard Chris took on the Australian government at the nation’s high court and won. <em>But even that victory is unlikely to faze a technocratic cabal so committed to global censorship that it would enlist Australia to censor a Canadian speaking on an American platform and citing a British newspaper article.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Again, this multinational crackdown is a feature — not a bug — to those behind the DSA.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And that’s no surprise when you consider the actions and stated positions of DSA architects like Thierry Breton and Henna Virkkunen. It was Breton who, last summer, famously </span><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/eus-breton-says-musk-must-comply-with-eu-law-ahead-trump-interview-2024-08-12/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">demanded</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> that Elon Musk censor then-candidate Donald J. Trump </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">prior </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">to the duo’s X live interview.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">That incident apparently left Breton with enough egg on his face to </span><a href="https://nypost.com/2024/09/16/business/eu-official-thierry-breton-who-clashed-with-elon-musk-resigns/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">resign</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> from his post as an E.U. Commissioner, but it wasn’t enough to change Virkkunen’s mind. Virkkunen recently </span><a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-tech-tariffs-us-brussels-trade-commissioner-maros-sefovic/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">defended</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> the DSA as “based on our European values” — a claim that evidently refers to the Brussels elites rather than the everyday Europeans who face </span><a href="https://www.deseret.com/u-s-world/2025/04/27/why-has-there-been-a-crack-down-on-free-speech-in-the-uk/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">steep fines</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, years-long </span><a href="https://adfinternational.org/cases/paivi"><span style="font-weight: 400;">court proceedings</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and even </span><a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/europe-crackdown-free-speech-26d021b1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">jail time</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> for their online speech.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Fittingly enough, Virkkunen made those comments when she was asked if the DSA was on the negotiating table in ongoing trade talks with the U.S. With the DSA off the table, Virkkunen’s comrades in Brussels may have been negotiating with one hand tied behind their backs.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If that’s the case, it was a high price to pay for censoring peaceable citizens across the world, including in the U.S.</span></p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Jeremy Tedesco (@Jeremy_Tedesco) is senior counsel, senior vice president of corporate engagement at </span><a href="http://www.adflegal.org/?utm_source=wallstreetjournal&amp;utm_medium=oped"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Alliance Defending Freedom</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> (</span><a href="https://twitter.com/ADFLegal"><span style="font-weight: 400;">@ADFLegal</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">).</span></em></p>
<p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.</span></em></p>


Supporters Mobilize Following Bolsonaro Case

How Trump’s Tariffs Can Strike A Major Blow To Global Censorship

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)

Brazil

Censorship

European Union

Jair Bolsonaro

Marco Rubio

President Trump

Social Media Censorship

<p>Elon Musk announced on Monday that he would not cooperate with French authorities in their “politically motivated criminal investigations&#8221; against his social media platform, X.</p>
<p>The Paris public prosecutor’s office opened a <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/france-opens-probe-into-musks-x-over-algorithm/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">probe</a> against X in June in response to allegations by politician Eric Bothorel that the platform was performing “fraudulent data extraction” for “foreign interference purposes.”</p>
<p>A separate complaint said that X &#8220;now offers an enormous amount of hateful, racist, anti-LGBT+ and homophobic political content, which aims to skew the democratic debate in France.&#8221;</p>
<p>Musk has <a href="https://x.com/GlobalAffairs/status/1947213316331282504" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dismissed</a> the allegations as “completely false” and says the probe “egregiously undermines X’s fundamental right to due process and threatens our users’ rights to privacy and free speech.”</p>
<p>“For these reasons, X has not acceded to the French authorities’ demands, as we have a legal right to do.”</p>
<p>“French authorities have requested access to X’s recommendation algorithm and real-time data about all user posts on the platform in order for several ‘experts’ to analyze the data and purportedly &#8216;uncover the truth&#8217; about the operation of the X platform,” Musk wrote.</p>
<p>He claimed that two of the proposed experts are openly hostile towards X. One, David Chalaverias, leads a campaign called <a href="https://www.escape-x.org/Why-quit-X-Launch-of-Escape-X-campaign.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EscapeX</a>, which calls for a mass exodus from the platform, citing a biased algorithm and “Elon Musk&#8217;s influence in European democracies.”</p>
<p>“The involvement of these individuals raises serious concerns about the impartiality, fairness, and political motivations of the investigation, to put it charitably,” Musk wrote.</p>
<p>He also noted that while X is “in the dark” about the exact nature of the allegations, French authorities have labeled the company as an “organized gang.” This designation, which is usually reserved for drug cartels or mafia groups, gives police greater investigative power, including the authorization to conduct searches, wiretaps, and surveillance against Musk and his employees. Noncompliance could result in an <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/paris-prosecutor-contacts-police-probe-into-social-media-platform-x-advances-2025-07-11/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arrest</a> warrant.</p>
<p>“Based on what we know so far, X believes that this investigation is distorting French law in order to serve a political agenda and, ultimately, restrict free speech,” he concluded.</p>
<p>This comes amidst a broader European <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-meta-apple-x-fines-digital-antitrust-rules-digital-services-act-elon-musk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">movement</a> to crack down on tech companies in the wake of the European Union’s 2022 Digital Services Act, and increasing <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/does-europe-have-free-speech-problem-2034349" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disagreement</a> between the United States and Europe on the limits of free speech.</p>
<p>The European Commission has already fined Apple and Meta millions of euros. It is in the middle of a drawn-out investigation into X, and has already found that X violated the Digital Services Act on three accounts, including “the transparency of its advertising; data access for researchers; and the use of blue check marks that connote trust but can be bought — which could constitute deceptive design.”</p>
<p>Musk <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1811783320839008381?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> the EU tried to pressure X into censoring its users: “The European Commission offered X an illegal secret deal: if we quietly censored speech without telling anyone, they would not fine us.”</p>
<p>“The other platforms accepted that deal. X did not.”</p>


Elon Won’t Cooperate With France’s ‘Politically Motivated’ Investigations Into X

France

Investigation

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">X CEO Linda Yaccarino announced Wednesday that she was stepping down from her role at the social media platform, just over two years after Elon Musk selected her to run the company. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Yaccarino, who was previously the head of global advertising at NBCUniversal, described her time at X as “incredible.” She first became CEO of the company in May 2023. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“When [Elon musk] and I first spoke of his vision for X, I knew it would be the opportunity of a lifetime to carry out the extraordinary mission of this company. I’m immensely grateful to him for entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around, and transforming X into the Everything App,” she said. “I’m incredibly proud of the X team &#8211; the historic business turn around we have accomplished together has been nothing short of remarkable.”</span></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">After two incredible years, I’ve decided to step down as CEO of 𝕏.</p>
<p>When <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@elonmusk</a> and I first spoke of his vision for X, I knew it would be the opportunity of a lifetime to carry out the extraordinary mission of this company. I’m immensely grateful to him for entrusting me…</p>
<p>— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayaX) <a href="https://twitter.com/lindayaX/status/1942957094811951197?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 9, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The resignation comes one day after Grok, X’s artificial intelligence chatbot, made posts praising Adolf Hitler. Sources familiar with Yaccarino’s decision to step down said that the move had been in the works for over a week, and was not related to the Grok issues. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Yaccarino highlighted the changes introduced to X during her tenure, including a “Community Notes” feature —a crowdsourced fact-checking and context-adding tool designed to identify misinformation. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We started with the critical early work necessary to prioritize the safety of our users—especially children, and to restore advertiser confidence. This team has worked relentlessly from groundbreaking innovations like Community Notes, and, soon, X Money to bringing the most iconic voices and content to the platform. Now, the best is yet to come as X enters a new chapter with</span><a href="https://x.com/xai"><span style="font-weight: 400;"> @xai</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">,” she said. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“X is truly a digital town square for all voices and the world’s most powerful culture signal. We couldn’t have achieved that without the support of our users, business partners, and the most innovative team in the world,” she added. “I’ll be cheering you all on as you continue to change the world.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">During her time heading up X, the social media platform also faced pressure from other countries to limit speech on the platform. In April, the European Union was reportedly considering a $1 billion fine for X over alleged “disinformation.” X was also forced to pay a $5 million fine in Brazil after a dispute with Musk over content on the platform. </span></p>


Uber, X and The Free Press host Inauguration Eve

Top Executive At X Steps Down From Elon Musk’s Social Platform

Business

Celebrities

Linda Yaccarino

<p>House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is back in the news this week — but he probably wishes he wasn&#8217;t.</p>
<p>The New York Democrat on Sunday posted a photo of himself leaning against a park bench in Brooklyn, with the caption: “Home Sweet Home.&#8221;</p>
<p>The problem: the photo was obviously edited, as evidenced by the fact that the area around Jeffries&#8217;s legs was warped, as was the bench behind him.</p>
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<p><script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script></p>
<p>His followers quickly commented on how bad the photoshopping job was, speculating on whether he was trying to make himself look slimmer, or taller.</p>
<p>Soon, less friendly <a href="https://x.com/hollandcourtney/status/1942267253178917068" target="_blank" rel="noopener">X users</a> began wondering the same thing.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Yes, this is real.</p>
<p>Congressman Hakeem Jeffries Photoshopped himself so hard he bent the bench. <a href="https://t.co/WBifTUhp8y" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pic.twitter.com/WBifTUhp8y</a></p>
<p>— Courtney Holland 🇺🇸 (@hollandcourtney) <a href="https://twitter.com/hollandcourtney/status/1942267253178917068?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">July 7, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Hakeem Jeffries slimming himself in Photoshop is the most transparency we’ve seen from Democrats in years <a href="https://t.co/OFOiOm65OC" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pic.twitter.com/OFOiOm65OC</a></p>
<p>— Erin Maguire (@ErinMMaguire) <a href="https://twitter.com/ErinMMaguire/status/1942258860493766753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">July 7, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></p>
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Hakeem Jeffries is such a charisma black hole that it’s warping the fabric of spacetime <a href="https://t.co/X8se04ZiC8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pic.twitter.com/X8se04ZiC8</a></p>
<p>— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) <a href="https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein/status/1942256344414683624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">July 7, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></p>
<p>Jeffries posted the picture upon his return home from his <a href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/07/03/congress/hakeem-jeffries-longest-house-speech-00438933" target="_blank" rel="noopener">record-breaking</a> 8-hour and 45-minute speech in the House on Thursday, in which he attempted to delay the vote on the Big Beautiful Bill. The House passed the bill shortly after Jeffries finished speaking, and President Donald Trump signed the bill into law on July 4th.</p>
<p>Jeffries’ social media team seems to be defective when it comes to photoshoots. On Thursday, he posted a photo of him in his office with the caption “Protecting your healthcare is as American as baseball, motherhood, and apple pie.” In the photo, Jeffries is unsmiling, and stiffly holding a baseball bat.</p>
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<p><script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script></p>
<p>The top comment on the post: &#8220;who thought this photo was a good idea?”</p>


House Democratic Caucus Speaks To The Media

Hakeem Jeffries Roasted For Obviously Photoshopped Instagram Post

Hakeem Jeffries

House Democrats

Instagram

Photoshop

<p>The advertising industry “cartel” that existed to censor online speech in the name of &#8220;brand safety&#8221; was directly involved in organizing the corporate boycott of Twitter after Elon Musk bought it, even working with foreign regulators to orchestrate its pressure campaign against the social media platform, a bombshell congressional investigation found.</p>
<p>The House Judiciary Committee released emails on Friday showing that the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, a now-defunct coalition created by the World Federation of Advertisers that used its control of the global advertising spending to bankrupt conservative publishers, was working with regulators in Europe and Australia to force Twitter, now X, to fall in line with its censorship demands.</p>
<p>X is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/x-rumble-sue-advertising-cartel-for-allegedly-breaking-antitrust-laws-to-force-censorship">suing</a> the World Federation of Advertisers alleging that its coalition engaged in anti-competitive activity to facilitate boycotts and force tech platforms to censor content. The Friday report provides evidence that GARM was in fact intimately involved in organizing the boycott, and that it was being carried out for explicitly political reasons.</p>
<p>The head of GARM, Rob Rakowitz, expressed a desire in emails to stop President Donald Trump and the “contagion” he represents.</p>
<p>“My main thing is I need to see Trump … effectively sidelined but I am afraid the contagion is too widespread to protect infection overall,” Rakowitz wrote in a November 2022 email to an Australian official, as he was coordinating opposition to Musk’s changes at Twitter.</p>
<p>The report found that Rakowitz and GARM prepared statements for its members to publicly protest changes Musk was making at Twitter.</p>
<p>“The bird has gone from freed to fried,” Rakowitz wrote to all its members, stating that the “platform poses real risks.” The email, which describes the situation as a “crisis,” was an attempt to convey to GARM’s members that Twitter was now “unsafe” and they needed to “cease and desist” from advertising on Twitter.</p>
<p>“I’ve crafted a message that needs to be posted ASAP and distributed,” Rakowitz writes. “I have navigated the situation as best as we can in terms of our anticompetitive statues [sic] and have gone as close as possible as we can to saying ‘Twitter is unsafe, cease and desist.’”</p>
<p>The legal concerns appear to be well-founded. Trump’s Federal Trade Commission is actively investigating whether the advertising industry violated antitrust laws by coordinating through GARM.</p>
<p>On Monday, two of the world’s largest advertising agencies, both founding members of GARM, announced an agreement with the FTC to cease all coordination that was taking place to direct advertising dollars away from disfavored publishers. The firms, Omnicom and IPG, are also agreeing to cooperate with the Trump administration’s investigation into the coordination that took place while GARM was still in place.</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-trump-ftc-secures-landmark-agreement-to-end-political-collusion-in-advertising-industry?author=Brent+Scher&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=EXCLUSIVE%3A+Trump+FTC+Secures+Landmark+Agreement+to+End+Political+Collusion+in+Advertising+Industry">EXCLUSIVE: Trump FTC Secures Landmark Agreement to End Political Collusion in Advertising Industry</a></strong></p>
<p>The House Judiciary Committee, led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), had announced an <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/12/18/business/house-probes-ad-agency-mega-merger-over-ties-to-anti-conservative-cartel/">investigation into the two firms</a> for their involvement with GARM last November.</p>
<p>In emails previously unveiled by Jordan’s committee, Rakowitz says the goal of GARM was to “fund the voices we want to associate with, and close down the advertising ecosystem to bad actors.”</p>
<p>Those “bad actors” included outlets like The Daily Wire, which was put on a “Global High Risk” blacklist by the advertising coalition and flagged, without evidence, for spreading “conspiracy theories.”</p>
<p>His emails, revealed in the committee’s initial report last July, revealed stunning political bias by Rakowitz and other executives. Rakowitz in one email complained that the U.S. Constitution was written “by white men exclusively.”</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/garm-exposed-house-judiciary-report-says-ad-coalition-broke-law-to-silence-conservatives">GARM Exposed: House Judiciary Report Says Ad Coalition Likely Broke Law To Silence Conservatives</a></strong></p>
<p>The past emails also showed that GARM aimed to “stop all paid advertisement” to Musk’s Twitter, and “bragged about” its success. In emails it celebrated the fact that Twitter was “80% below revenue forecasts” after its effort to starve advertising dollars from it.</p>
<p>The new report sheds light on how that effort played out. Not only was GARM urging its members (which together controlled about 90% of global advertising) to yank advertising from the platform, but it was urging regulators in the European Union and Australia to pressure Musk’s Twitter to censor content in line with GARM’s demands.</p>
<p>The emails show that the European Commission was working “to push Twitter to deliver on GARM asks.” And in Australia, the head of the eSafety Commission was hailing GARM’s “significant collective power” to get GARM to bend the knee.</p>
<p>GARM also shared confidential metrics regarding Twitter&#8217;s compliance with its standards, as part of its effort to prompt ad boycotts. Though GARM changed its policy to make the metrics public for everyone, it was done right after Musk&#8217;s purchase and done explicitly to hurt Twitter.</p>
<p>We know that, because Rakowitz laid out his master plan in an email to his leadership team.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are doubling down on where our power is; standards and transparency and allowing advertisers to make informed<br />
decisions,&#8221; Rakowitz said, before noting that the transparency was done strategically. &#8220;This way it&#8217;s not singling Twitter out, but we know where eyes will be.&#8221;</p>
<p>After the change, all Twitter&#8217;s policy changes would be visible to its members, allowing advertising firms to say they changed their ad spend because Twitter changed its standards.</p>
<p>&#8220;This feels damn good,&#8221; Rakowitz wrote after laying out his plan.</p>
<p>All of these actions took place even as members in GARM knew its actions weren&#8217;t popular. Internal emails show awareness that the American consumers it was supposed to be advertising to valued free speech over censorship of potentially &#8220;harmful&#8221; content, but GARM executives went ahead with the effort nonetheless.</p>
<p>A June 2020 email showed Gallup polling was circulated to GARM executives showing that 66% of consumers prioritized freedom of speech over &#8220;risks of exposure to harmful content.&#8221;</p>
<p>The report highlights regret from major corporate participants that they were a part of the censorship cartel, which went &#8220;too far&#8221; in its efforts to restrict speech.</p>
<p>Gerry D&#8217;Angelo, a Proctor &amp; Gamble executive who helped lead GARM, says the effort undermined the &#8220;business objectives&#8221; of its clients.</p>
<p>&#8220;If you were to ask me and say, ‘Did we go too far in those first rounds of exclusionary restrictions?’ I would say yes,” D&#8217;Angelo said, in a quote highlighted by the report. D&#8217;Angelo adds that GARM required companies &#8220;to boycott too many websites&#8221; and that the negative consequences of brand safety &#8220;never actually materialized.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;GARM&#8217;s collusive activity not only hurt consumers, but all GARM&#8217;s members who sacrificed opportunities because they were led to believe that these brand safety precautions were both necessary and beneficial in promoting advertisers&#8217; core business objectives,&#8221; the report states.</p>
<p>The full report can be read below:</p>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" class="scribd_iframe_embed" tabindex="0" title="GARM Report 2.0" src="https://www.scribd.com/embeds/881434966/content?start_page=1&amp;view_mode=scroll&amp;access_key=key-TuNfEkYl3JkwmDWxRZ0x" width="100%" height="600" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" data-auto-height="true" data-aspect-ratio="0.7729220222793488" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></p>
<p style="margin: 12px auto 6px auto; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; display: block;"><a style="color: #098642; text-decoration: underline;" title="View GARM Report 2.0 on Scribd" href="https://www.scribd.com/document/881434966/GARM-Report-2-0#from_embed"> GARM Report 2.0 </a> by <a style="color: #098642; text-decoration: underline;" title="View Daily Wire Investigations Team's profile on Scribd" href="https://www.scribd.com/user/694252498/Daily-Wire-Investigations-Team#from_embed"> Daily Wire Investigations Team </a></p>


Jim Jordan/Elon Musk

EXCLUSIVE: Ad Cartel Colluded With Foreign Governments Against Elon Musk’s Twitter

Daily Wire

GARM

Jim Jordan

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Stop the fight!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Legacy Media and the Left (but we repeat ourselves) declared war on “Harry Potter” author <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/jk-rowling">J.K. Rowling</a> in 2019 after she questioned elements of the trans agenda.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Rowling, a certified progressive on cultural and political matters, </span><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/5-years-ago-j-k-rowling-took-a-stand-against-trans-activists-she-hasnt-backed-down"><span style="font-weight: 400;">refused to rubber stamp every aspect of the movement</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p>
<blockquote><p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real?</span></em></p></blockquote>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">For that, she was canceled in every way possible, over and again.</span></p>
<p><a href="https://thehill.com/video/jk-rowling-speaks-out-on-death-threats-from-pro-trans-activists-rape-murder-and-violence/10265832/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Some attempts proved literal.</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> She was the queen of the TERFS to the Left — Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Now, nearly six years later, she’s emerged as a leading voice for sanity in the trans arena. She repeatedly speaks her mind on X, fights back against her legion of critics and is a key player behind one of the most anticipated streaming shows of our time.</span></p>
<p>HBO Max&#8217;s new <a href="https://deadline.com/2025/06/harry-potter-tv-series-max-release-date-cast-1235323284/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Harry Potter” series,</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> due in either late 2026 or 2027, will retell the seven-book series captured in the epic eight-part film saga.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The battle rages on all the same, and she refuses to apologize. Still.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">She’s blasted </span><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jk-rowling-calls-out-trans-activist-creep-over-womens-bathroom-selfies"><span style="font-weight: 400;">a “creepy” trans activist</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> for bathroom selfies, slammed attempts to conflate the Pope’s name with an </span><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jk-rowling-says-shes-found-the-most-bat-s-gender-identity-argument-yet"><span style="font-weight: 400;">absurd trans argument</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and stated the obvious when it comes to casting the new “Potter” series.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">She responded to a journalist’s provocative narrative suggesting she wouldn’t hire an actor who </span><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jk-rowling-said-she-wouldnt-fire-actor-from-harry-potter-series-for-being-pro-trans"><span style="font-weight: 400;">disagreed with her trans issues</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p>
<blockquote><p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">I don’t have the power to sack an actor from the series and I wouldn’t exercise it if I did … I don’t believe in taking away people’s jobs or livelihoods because they hold legally protected beliefs that differ from mine.</span></em></p></blockquote>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">That likely would have been a staunchly liberal stance 20 years ago. Those comments sound positively conservative in 2025, even though Rowling has never identified herself as conservative.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Either way, it’s refreshing to see an author embrace free speech.</span></p>
<div id="attachment_503922" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-503922" class="size-large wp-image-503922" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-1193618855-864x576.jpg" alt="NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 12: J.K. Rowling arrives at the 2019 RFK Ripple of Hope Awards at New York Hilton Midtown on December 12, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-1193618855-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-1193618855-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-1193618855-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/02/GettyImages-1193618855.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /><p id="caption-attachment-503922" class="wp-caption-text">Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images</p></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Actors linked to the “Harry Potter” universe, either the existing films or the future TV show, are continually asked about Rowling’s views on trans issues. The media remains obsessed with Rowling’s willingness to speak her mind and share views considered mainstream by many.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Future “Harry Potter” star Nick Frost – he is tentatively set to play Hagrid in the TV series – blazed a </span><a href="https://variety.com/2025/tv/global/harry-potter-nick-frost-jk-rowling-trans-views-dont-align-1236423365/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">mature path on the matter</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p>
<blockquote><p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">She’s allowed her opinion and I’m allowed mine, they just don’t align in any way, shape or form.</span></em></p></blockquote>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Translation: A gig’s a gig, most likely. Frost still suggested in the same interview we need to “educate ourselves” on trans issues. The sight of too many trans female athletes dominating biological females may be all the learning we need, Hagrid 2.0.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Tom Felton, who played the wicked Draco Malfoy in the original films, sidestepped a leading question on the red carpet while throwing his support behind Rowling. He’s co-starring in a Broadway adaption of Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">He didn’t share his stance on trans issues with the scribe. He simply praised an author who made his </span><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2025/06/09/tom-felton-jk-rowling-broadway-harry-potter/84111570007/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">career shine impossibly brighter</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p>
<blockquote><p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">The only thing I always remind myself is that I’ve been lucky enough to travel the world. Here I am in New York … and I have not seen anything bring the world together more than Potter, and she’s responsible for that. So I’m incredibly grateful.</span></em></p></blockquote>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Compare that to the verbal brickbats thrown by the original Harry Potter and Hermione, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, at Rowling over her trans views.</span></p>
<div id="attachment_934305" style="width: 897px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-934305" class="size-large wp-image-934305" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/GettyImages-118421523-887x576.jpg" alt="LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 07: Actor Daniel Radcliffe, writer J.K. Rowling, actress Emma Watson and actor Rupert Grint attend the &quot;Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2&quot; world premiere at Trafalgar Square on July 7, 2011 in London, England. (Photo by Jon Furniss/WireImage)" width="887" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/GettyImages-118421523-887x576.jpg 887w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/GettyImages-118421523-300x195.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/GettyImages-118421523-768x499.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/GettyImages-118421523.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 887px) 100vw, 887px" /><p id="caption-attachment-934305" class="wp-caption-text">Jon Furniss/WireImage</p></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here’s the former Harry Potter </span><a href="https://ew.com/daniel-radcliffe-j-k-rowlings-anti-trans-rhetoric-really-sad-8641559"><span style="font-weight: 400;">taking her to task for her views</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p>
<blockquote><p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">It makes me really sad, ultimately … I do look at the person that I met, the times that we met, and the books that she wrote, and the world that she created, and all of that is to me so deeply empathic.</span></em></p></blockquote>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">HBO Max has had Rowling’s back for some time. The streamer also sees a shifting cultural landscape. The Warner Bros. Discovery platform might have chafed at joining forces with Rowling four or five years ago.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">That was before Riley Gaines struck endless blows on behalf of biological women and Matt Walsh’s groundbreaking documentary “What Is a Woman?” had yet to be released.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Remember the tiny role Rowling played in the 2022 “Harry Potter” reunion special on HBO Max? Rowling said she </span><a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/news/jk-rowling-harry-potter-anniversary-special-absence-explained-1235352807/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">declined an invitation to appear</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, but her archival footage proved brief and perfunctory.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Surely there’s countless footage of the author exploring the magical universe that transported countless children while teaching them to love reading?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Now, the streamer is desperate to stay in her good graces and wring every eyeball possible from the upcoming series. </span><a href="https://www.mensjournal.com/entertainment/hbo-makes-decision-on-relationship-with-j-k-rowling"><span style="font-weight: 400;">HBO CEO Casey Bloys</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> made that obvious earlier this year.</span></p>
<blockquote><p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">It’s pretty clear that those are her personal, political views. She’s entitled to them. ‘Harry Potter’ is not secretly being infused with anything. And if you want to debate her, you can go on Twitter.</span></em></p></blockquote>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Rowling never wavered through it all. One could argue she has enough money to ignore Cancel Culture and the media, but others with very deep pockets bowed to the progressive mob in short order.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Take Stephen King. The </span><a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-7936237/Stephen-King-apologizes-controversial-tweets-diversity-Oscars.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">horror maestro backpedaled</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> when progressives attacked him for suggesting merit matters more in the arts than diversity box checking. He even penned a mewling apology/essay in The Washington Post to keep the Cancel Culture mob at bay.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Scarlett Johansson, arguably the most popular actress in the country, similarly did the Hostage Apology routine after </span><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/scarlett-johansson-says-she-mishandled-transgender-casting-controversy-n1092131"><span style="font-weight: 400;">she briefly accepted a gig playing a trans person</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. That film, “Rub and Tug,” never got made sans the actress’ clout and star power.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Rowling has stayed true to her beliefs and has only grown bolder since the 2019 dustup. She trusted “Harry Potter” fans, or enough of them at least, would have her back.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">She was right.</span></p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p><em>Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of <a href="https://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://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.</em></p>


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