Steven Crowder

From RationalWiki
Revision as of 04:31, 6 March 2021 by Plutocow (talk | contribs) (Reverted edits by 2601:1C2:1B7F:C830:A0D4:DD2:2512:7F48 (talk) to last revision by Gay Centrist)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Crowder speaking at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland.
Parroting squawkbox
Pundits
Icon pundit.svg
And a dirty dozen more
Were you looking for Steven Colbert, an actual comedian?
Crowder's pleasure with himself and his sadistic use of physical power is obvious, thanks mostly to his expressive gestures, facial reddening, shrill vocal manipulations, and erratic hand movements. But his glee belies the worrisome nature of his work. Steeped in bigotry and violent humiliation, the point of most of the clips seems clear: Liberalism is a threatening pathology in need of urgent, punitive extermination—by whatever means are at hand.
—Delaney Rohan[1]

Steven "Cold Feet" Crowder (1987–) is a professional asshole, commentator and self-described comedian who supports conservative and libertarian views. Crowder is prominent in the conservative establishment: he previously worked for Fox News,[2] wrote for Breitbart.com's Big Hollywood section,[3] and repeatedly appeared at the Conservative Political Action ConferenceWikipedia (CPAC). He regularly posts "comedy" on YouTube[4] and regularly posts "news" on his webshite, LouderWithCrowder.com (LwC for short[5]). Crowder's YouTube channel has over four million subscribers and over 900 million views.[6]

Political career

Crowder in 2009 on Neil Cavuto, opposing "socialized Obamacare"[7]
I'm not a micro political guy, but tend to lean more conservative and Libertarian. I've got no ulterior motive. I'm not pushing any agenda. I don't care as much about the local political races as much as I do the over-reaching direction of where this country is going, but I do care. People get to hear the world as I see it. I'm not a hyper conservative, but I am a conservative. I literally don't have any other agenda than wanting to make people laugh.
—Crowder, explaining that he's very concerned about the political situation in the US and wants to rile people up about it, but totally doesn't have an agenda[8]

Crowder produced his own comedic shorts until getting picked up by PJ Media in 2009,[2] which caught the eye of Fox News that same year. Crowder worked for Fox News from 2009 to 2013. During that time, he appeared on Hannity[9] and Cavuto.[7] In 2013, after a seven-month period where he was not televised, Crowder criticized Fox in general and Hannity in particular for getting "bulldozed like a child" on a radio interview.[10][11] Despite his public apology,[12] he was shortly fired.[2] After disappearing from Fox, Crowder started doing the speaker circuit rounds, apparently charging about $3,000-$5,000 per visit.[13]

One of Crowder's ideas of wanting to make people laugh is to play extremely racist caricatures of the Chinese as part of "cultural appropriation month".[14]

Oligarch Funding

Despite constantly promoting himself as an independent creator, Steven Crowder's show is actually part of the Glenn Beck and Mark Levin-owned Blaze Media[15], which is funded by billionaire Cary Katz, CRTV's principal investor and College Lending Corp. founder, which markets loans to university students [16].

Videos

I'm a young conservative Christian who’s pretty edgy but never dirty.
—Steven Crowder, interview with The Daily Beast[2]
Shut up, you old bag!
—Steven Crowder, while waterboarding Nancy Pelosi[17]

Some of Crowder's more egregious videos are documented below.

Same-sex marriage

In a video titled "GAY MARRIAGE!! (Featuring Gay Leprechaun)", Crowder begins by whining about being called a homophobe by "the left” for his homophobic views.[18]

The left uses it all the time. If you don't agree with the homosexual bully pulpit 100% of the time, you're homophobic. Forget about any logical objections or counterarguments to things like same-sex marriage. You're simply afraid of the gays.

What are these objections? Well, for one, his feelings would be hurt if we called it "marriage" and he believes it is not homophobic to force gay couples to get an obviously inferior version of water fountain marriage:

If gay people want to get married, or get together, they should have a civil partnership... . Heterosexual people get married. We can have civil partnerships.
—Elton John

[mock gasp] But he must be one of those self-loathing homos. Or maybe, just maybe, he's logical in his thought process in that giving same-sex partnerships the same the same status as marriage may have more serious repercussions than we thought.

Just how many Americans are opposed to gay marriage? [on-screen stats show about 4 in 10 support same-sex marriage, 6 in 10 oppose] Why is there a comparable majority of Americans that support same-sex civil unions? [on-screen stats show about 6 in 10 support same-sex civil unions, 4 in 10 oppose] I'm gonna go with they must be racist homophobic hate-mongers.

He's actually correct that people who oppose gay marriage are homophobic by definition as these people support restrictions of rights for a disadvantaged minority group only for being a disadvantaged minority group. We call that "discrimination" and we have tried "separate-but-equal" facilities, and they always end up unequal and fueled by bigotry. This counterargument may be where Crowder gets the whole "racist" thing from his opponents, by the way.

For another, same-sex marriage means that the government can force churches to gay marry people:

All right, let's assume for a second that you assume marriage a fundamental civil right for everybody. Well, then, what happens if a church decides that they don't wanna marry two dudes? You can't deny people their civil rights, it's the law! So technically, if a church were to follow its own doctrine, they'd risk losing their tax-exempt status. And without a tax-exempt status, a church would cease to exist. So essentially, the government would be infringing upon the church. Isn't that a violation of one of the amendments or something?

Crowder is either being ignorant or being malicious on this claim. Even the Family Research Council says that "there is no significant risk that pastors and churches can be compelled by a court to solemnize, host, or perform a same-sex marriage ceremony".[19]

Guantanamo Bay

In a video titled "The REAL GUANTANAMO BAY!!", Crowder asserts that Guantanamo Bay is a well-run beach community (he spends 2 minutes of 14 partaking in beach activities) where prisoners are treated fairly and provided numerous amenities. In contrast, Amnesty International has consistently found human rights violations (such as torture) and unjustified detention of civilians (without proper procedural or legal rights).[20] This video features Crowder's manipulative use of language and imagery on full display. For example, Crowder shifts from discussing the rights provided to detainees, to implicitly blaming "liberals" for 9/11, to flatly asserting that all Gitmo detainees are terrorists, in just 15 seconds:[21]

[W]hen you take into consideration that Gitmo once held more than 779 detainees and there are now only around 221 left, it would seem that more people are let free than actually detained. Which is of course a shame, as many of them, ah, actually returned to killing fellow Americans. Americans, liberals. Remember them? The victims in all of this.

[clips of 9/11 play with sad music in background for 15 seconds]

[Crowder as Crowder: ]It's important to remember that these detainees are terrorists, not prisoners. Terrorists, just like one of the 9/11 masterminds, Kaleef [sic] Sheikh Mohammad, who, thanks to Obama, is now enjoying an all-expenses paid trip to New York, as he awaits his American trial.

Gun control

After Barack Obama suggested that the Federal Assault Weapons BanWikipedia should become permanent, Crowder compared him to Hitler and Stalin in "GUNS, GUNS, GUNS! (Featuring Michael Moore)":[22]

Truth is, most of the guns on this ban list are nothing more than your trusty ol' semi-automatic. And for those sissies who don't know, nearly every handgun nowadays is a semi-automatic. This is just a part of the Obama Administration's multi-pronged approach to take away our 2nd Amendment rights. And they're not the first! Plenty of successful leaders have implemented gun control in the past. Hitler, Stalin, Che Guevara, and now we've got Pelosi and pals!

Of course, [1] Obama never took your guns, [2] Hitler expanded gun rights (for the "right kind" of citizens), although he did strip these rights from Jews and other so-called "undesirables," and [3] Ché Guevara, who was a literal armed revolutionary against a tyrannical government, only briefly held office in the following Castro regime.

Homophobia

In May of 2019, Carlos Maza made a Tweet shedding light on Crowder's homophobic remarks:[23]

Since I started working at Vox, Steven Crowder has been making video after video "debunking" Strikethrough. Every single video has included repeated, overt attacks on my sexual orientation and ethnicity. Here's a sample:
—@gaywonk[24]

Crowder described Maza as the following, with a stereotypical gay voice for some of them:[23]

lispy sprite

You're given a free pass as a crappy writer because you're gay.

little queer

gay Mexican

Sprite is a synonym for fairy, which is a known homophobic slur.[25] Meanwhile, queer can be derogatory depending on context,[26] which is obviously the case here. On June 5, 2019, Chris Dale of YouTube responded with a blog post, "Taking a harder look at harassment", that promised tougher policies regarding harassment and hate speech.[27] These policy updates were met with mixed reception, as many innocent channels saw a drop in ad revenue in what is dubbed the "Vox Adpocalypse".

As for Pete ButtigiegWikipedia, Crowder regularly calls him "Pete Butt Gig".

Change my mind

The original image that became a meme.

"Change My Mind" is a YouTube show where Steven Crowder debates with non-credentialed young adults on complex issues. Big surprise: Crowder argues for a wide array of conservative topics.[28]

  • There Are Only 2 Genders
  • I'm Pro-Gun (2nd Edition)
  • ‘Rape Culture’ Is A MYTH
  • Male Privilege Is A Myth (2nd Edition)
  • Male Privilege Is A Myth
  • There are Only 2 Genders (2nd Edition)
  • PROTESTER SCREAMS Then Rethinks : Change My Mind
  • Trump Is Not A Fascist: Change My Mind
  • I'm Pro-Gun
  • I’m Pro-Life
  • Hate Speech Isn't Real (2nd Edition)
  • Build The Wall (2nd Edition)
  • Hate Speech Isn't Real
  • I’m Pro-Life (2nd Edition)
  • I'm Pro-Life (3rd Edition)
  • Build The Wall
  • Pro-Abortion SJW LOSES IT ON CROWDER!
  • First Time Gun Buyer!
  • I'm Pro-Life (4th Edition)
  • America Is Superior
  • THE STUDENTS DEBATE! (Part 1)
  • Kwanzaa Isn't Real
  • Socialism is Evil
  • Gay Conservatives Speak Out! (BONUS)
  • 'CHANGE MY MIND' FOLLOW UP: Pro-Choice Student Returns
  • THE STUDENTS DEBATE! (Part 2)
  • Crazy MAGA-Hat Stealing Protester Shut Down by Cops!
  • TEASER: Trump is NOT A Fascist
  • [Private video]
  • [Private video]
  • [Private video]
  • Change My Mind Google Edition: Hate Speech Q&A
  • Hate Speech Isn't Real (Google Edition)
  • BONUS: America Is Superior
  • TEASER: Trump is Not Racist
  • Insane Anti-Trump Protester goes BERSERK on Crowder!
  • Trump Is Not Racist: Change My Mind
  • CNN is Fake News
  • TEASER: Thanksgiving Isn't Racist
  • Thanksgiving Isn't Racist
  • [Private video]
  • PROTESTER SCREAMS Then Rethinks
  • Trump Is Not A Fascist
  • [Private video]
  • [Private video]
  • Filipino Liberal and Crowder... Agree? (BONUS)
  • Affirmative Action is Racist
  • Affirmative Action is Racist (Part 2)
  • WHEN TRANSGENDERS[sic] ATTACK
  • Male Privilege is a Myth (3rd Edition)

Tweets

Epstein

And that's a wrap, folks! Thanks to all who tuned in!

We may keep security on the Clinton watch for a bit longer. Just to be safe.
#EpsteinDidntKillHimself

—@scrowder[29]

Homophobia

In June of 2016, Crowder announced the super "edgy" T-shirt "Socialism is for figs":

Updated "Socialism is for Figs" shirt coming to the #LwC merch store soon. pic.twitter.com/wgviKFMIHL
StevenCrowderHomophobicT-Shirt.jpg
—@scrowder[30]

Remember kids, it's not bigotry if you replace one letter in a slur!

Transphobia

#TransRightsAreHumanRights ? Let's see, how do I put this delicately? Ah. No they’re not.
—@scrowder[31]


Breitbart

Racism

In Crowder's article for Breitbart titled "Sarah Silverman: Fox News Is a Secret Racist Machine!", Crowder asserts that Silverman is not racist for using racist slurs:[32]

How convenient for a lady like Sarah who regularly uses words such as “chink,” “nigger” and “spic” as staples in her act. Don’t worry, though, the only reason Sarah uses such incendiary language is because, “the progressive messages out there today are more refined and sense-of-irony dependent.” Yes, really.

Listen, I don’t think that anybody has the right to prohibit Sarah from using those words and I don’t think that she’s a racist. I think she’s distasteful, unfunny and terribly ugly (both inside and out) with no redeeming qualities whatsoever… But not a racist.

Antisemitism

As a stopped clock, Crowder openly resents antisemitism:[33]

In the end, I guess I’m just hoping that folks don’t lump the off-putting “Hollywood Jews” in with the good, decent people of the Jewish faith. I’ve been seeing a lot of anti-Semitism lately from both the left and the far-right (Alex Jones anybody?), and I find it troubling. So the next time you hear one of the Weinstein brothers or Carl Reiner speak and find yourself disgusted, remember that they would have more in common with Sean Penn than with your local Rabbi.

Lies

Crowder has repeatedly lied or misrepresented evidence in his political commentator career, as you may have noticed from the above.

Potholer54 climate change debacle

In 2017, Crowder argued with British science journalist Peter Hadfield (aka Potholer54) over a Louder with Crowder episode titled "Top 5 'Climate Change' Myths". Crowder's arguments were hilariously bad:[34]

  • Crowder argued that climate scientists encourage support for Big Government by lying about AGW to guilt liberals.
  • Crowder argued that all climate scientists believe "gender to be a figment of the imagination", as if this were unscientific or discredited their work in climate science.
  • Crowder argued that NASA confirmed a global net gain of ice of 82bn tons and that this is evidence of cooling when in fact this figure was only for (parts of) Antarctica and that Greenland had lost 269bn tons in the same period.
  • Crowder argued that an increase of polar bear numbers (which followed a ban on hunting) as proof that climate change is not harming polar bears.
  • Crowder argued that climate change models are worthless because the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was unable to predict an exact number of hurricanes per year.
  • Crowder also cited Christopher Monckton's and Tim Ball's claims that NOAA is fraudulent as evidence that climate change is itself bogus.

Following this, Crowder challenged Hadfield to a debate. Hadfield refused because no topic or time of day was proposed and therefore a formal debate could not be prepared. Updates as to the debate discussions were brought up in subsequent Hadfield videos.[35][36] Haldfield agreed to participate in a livestream debate scheduled for April 27, but Crowder chickened out at the last minute.[37]

Sam Seder's Debate Challenge

Leading up to 2018 Politicon, Sam Seder challenged Steven Crowder to a debate. Politicon contacted Steven Crowder who in response, stopped responding to their emails. [38] Since then, Sam Seder has posted numerous challenges [39] and Crowder's own followers have asked why he won't debate Seder. Crowder has ignored the challenge but continued to "debate" random college students who aren't schooled on these subjects.

Ashley Judd's iPhone rape

At the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference, Crowder stated, "...Ashley Judd just tweeted that buying Apple products, again, is akin to rape. From her iPhone."[40]

Judd wrote a 2010 essay (not "just tweeted" by 3 years, and not Twitter at all) in which she expressed grief at learning that electronic products are manufactured in countries in conflict. In such countries, women are often sexually assaulted by militia members.[40]

Union thuggery and misleading editing

In December 2012, Fox News aired a video that would briefly obsess the conservative blogosphere. At a Right to Work rally in Michigan, one of Fox’s young contributors was punched in the face by a union member. It was evidence, a parade of Fox pundits stressed, of “union thuggery.” On Fox and Friends, anchor Steve Doocy wondered what his colleague had done “that so provoked the left.” But an extended version of the video, aired ironically on Fox News’ Hannity, revealed that the original clip had been edited, removing footage of the puncher being pushed to the ground prior to throwing a punch in return.[2]

Upon close inspection, it's clear that Steven Crowder used a throw to get the old man to the ground. [41]

Conspiracy theories

In the aftermath of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Crowder streamed a number of videos in which he falsely claimed that voter fraud occurred in several states in order to "steal" the election from the Republicans.[42][43][44][45][46][47][48] Notably, he neglected to comment after the (Republican-dominated) Supreme Court ruled that voter fraud did not occur.[49] Crowder also failed to mention that the GOP attempted to stop the count on multiple occasions.[50] When said conspiracy theories led to a riot in DC, Crowder declined to comment on his role, instead going on holiday.[51] When he returned from his much-needed hiatus childish attempt to avoid responsibility, he continued peddling the same conspiracy.[52]

Crowder believes that big tech companies are trying to silence him, despite having 5.25 million subscribers and most of his videos being monetized. He even went as far as to call it "the biggest issue of our time",[53] instead of, y'know, climate change or maybe the ongoing pandemic.

Alt-baiting

In September 2016, Andrew Anglin of The Daily Stormer started a "meme" smear campaign where he used fake Tweets to claim that Crowder is the leader of the alt-right and advocates for another Holocaust,[54][55] seemingly in the hopes of ruining what's left of Crowder's reputation à la Ben Garrison.[56] The "meme" was picked up by David Duke,[57] 4chan's /pol/,[58][59] and The Right Stuff, which released a fake podcast titled "White Power with Crowder".[60] Trolls on Twitter defamed Crowder on the hashtag #CrowderFacts.[61]

In reality, Crowder is passionately pro-Israel and opposes antisemitism,[62][63][64][65] despite him originally having good buddy and occasional substitute host Owen Benjamin being a fucking Holocaust denier and straight-up Neo-Nazi who he only cut ties with after Benjamin told him the Moon landing was a hoax. He also believes Barack Obama is antisemitic,[66] so don't feel too bad about him being slandered in the same manner. Crowder mocked the alt-right when Donald Trump appeared to be on good terms with Benjamin Netanyahu.[67] Alt-right organizer Richard Spencer asserted that "most of the stuff [Crowder] says is just off-the-shelf conservatism that isn’t remotely dangerous or new."[56]

Trivia

  • As a child, Crowder voiced the BrainWikipedia on the PBS animated series Arthur.Wikipedia
  • In 2012, Crowder married Hilary Crowder (née Korzon).[68]

External links

References

  1. Delaney Rohan, "Comedian Steven Crowder." Generation Progress: Dec. 17, 2009.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 The Unmaking of a Conservative Pundit[a w], The Daily Beast, Caitlin Dickson
  3. Big Hollywood: Steven Crowder
  4. YouTube: Steven Crowder
  5. https://mobile.twitter.com/hashtag/LwC
  6. About Steven Crowder at YouTube. 4.18 million subscribers and 902,988,534 views as of October 2019.
  7. 7.0 7.1 Steven Crowder talks Socialized Obamacare with Neil Cavuto[a w], YouTube
  8. Popular comic to help raise funds for county GOP women[a w], The Courier of Montgomery County, Russell Ledbetter (Chron link[a w])
  9. Hannity: Steven Crowder On Obamacare[a w], YouTube
  10. Fox ‘Comedian’ Crowder Slams Hannity: ‘Liberals Come In and Bulldoze Him Like a Child’[a w], Mediaite
  11. Exclusive-Fox News: Steven Crowder Attacking Hannity Confirms 'Decision to Part Company with Him', Breitbart.com
  12. Steven Crowder on Facebook[a w]
  13. Steven Crowder, Young America's Foundation
  14. Shaun (June 8, 2019). "here's a clip taken from youtube of steven crowder, who @TeamYouTube have said does not violate their policies. youtube are apparently happy to have this material on their website". Twitter. Retrieved July 12, 2019.
  15. "Glenn Beck Gets Bailed Out by Right-Wing Nutjob Mark Levin[a w]
  16. "Conservative feud: Right-wing pundit Mark Steyn sues after student-loan billionaire Cary Katz cancels his web show[a w]
  17. "The Dark Pelosi" (With Waterboarding!)[a w]
  18. GAY MARRIAGE!! (Featuring Gay Leprechaun), YouTube
  19. Can Pastors and Churches Be Forced to Perform Same-Sex Marriages?, Family Research Council
  20. https://www.amnesty.org.au/guantanamo-bay-15-years-injustice/
  21. The REAL GUANTANAMO BAY!![a w], YouTube
  22. GUNS, GUNS, GUNS! (Featuring Michael Moore)[a w]
  23. 23.0 23.1 https://time.com/5601302/youtube-vox-carlos-maza-steven-crowder-homophobia/
  24. https://twitter.com/i/status/1134264395717103617
  25. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fairy#Noun
  26. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/queer#Noun
  27. Taking a harder look at harassment.
  28. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3e1orPYt_4ZHGjuivZFsyJ81RL7j7_E1
  29. https://twitter.com/scrowder/status/1199142506212077568
  30. https://twitter.com/scrowder/status/742676198443122688
  31. https://twitter.com/scrowder/status/1207785528646492160
  32. https://web.archive.org/web/20100613082342/http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/scrowder/2010/06/02/sarah-silverman-fox-news-is-a-secret-racist-machine/#more-355886
  33. https://web.archive.org/web/20100615100128/http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/scrowder/2009/10/20/lonewolf-diaries-real-jews-vs-hollywood-jews/
  34. Response to "DEBUNKED: Top 5 "Climate Change" Myths" by Louder with Crowder
  35. The latest climate error from Steve Crowder.
  36. Steve Crowder gets it wrong again… and again... (and yet again!).
  37. Steve Crowder and potholer54 on Climate Change.
  38. "Sam Seder challenges Steven Crowder to a debate[a w]
  39. "Sam Seder challenges Steven Crowder to a debate at any time at any topic after Crowder chickened out of a PolitiCon debate with him[a w]
  40. 40.0 40.1 Tim Murphy, "CPAC: Where Ashley Judd Rape Jokes Happen." Mother Jones: March 18, 2013.
  41. "When Steven Crowder Assaulted an Old Union Man & Got Punched in the Face[a w]
  42. NO SURRENDER! Bill Barr Launches Voter Fraud Investigation
  43. LIVE UPDATES: Democrats Try to Steal Election!?
  44. HARD FACTS: How Voter Fraud Occurred in Michigan
  45. DOMINION SYSTEMS ELECTION FRAUD? Everything We Know
  46. Democrat SCUM Dox to Silence New Proof of Michigan Fraud
  47. NO RETREAT! America Is About To #StopTheSteal
  48. NEVER SAY DIE: More States Join SCOTUS Case!
  49. https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/trump-supreme-court-voter-fraud_n_5fd39185c5b66a7584147c7a?ri18n=true
  50. GOP asks Supreme Court to halt count of Pennsylvania ballots
  51. Steven Crowder Comes Out of Hiding For New Grift
  52. NO RETREAT! Exclusive PROOF of Voter Fraud
  53. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVolQF5oM7I
  54. Steven Crowder Seizes Leadership of the Alt-Right, Calls for “Total Extermination” of “Ratfaced Kike Vermin”, The Daily Stormer
  55. Has Alt-Right Leader Steven Crowder Gone Too Far?, The Daily Stormer
  56. 56.0 56.1 Love Your Fellow Hater[a w], TakiMag, Gavin McInnes
  57. It's always an honor when one of our own finally awakens to the final, yet unspeakable, truth, thank you Steven. #MAGA #AltRight #Pepe #USA[a w], Twitter
  58. Steven Crowder is the leader of the Alt-Right now?[a w], /pol/
  59. I'm part of the alt right, but Steven Crowder is just a little too much for me.[a w], /pol/
  60. WHITE POWER WITH CROWDER episode 14.88: RaHoWa Begins November 9th, The Right Stuff
  61. https://twitter.com/hashtag/CrowderFacts?src=hash
  62. https://twitter.com/scrowder/status/834402298101104640
  63. https://twitter.com/scrowder/status/129920081156251648
  64. https://twitter.com/scrowder/status/570572945548038144
  65. https://twitter.com/scrowder/status/765882646727655425
  66. https://twitter.com/scrowder/status/814600838954057729
  67. https://twitter.com/scrowder/status/831918745622716416
  68. Steven Crowder is Living a Happy Married Life With Wife Hilary Crowder, All About Their Love Life