Media top headlines October 29
In media news today, The Daily Beast gets thrashed for saying Ted Cruz defended Nazi salutes, Biden takes no questions before jetting off to Europe, and MSNBC's Chuck Todd and New York Times' Kara Swisher complain about Facebook's impact on the media
EXCLUSIVE – Kyle Mann and Joel Berry, editors of the conservative satirical site Babylon Bee, regret the phenomenon of cancel culture but also predict the more outrageous the trend becomes, the more people will be "falling off the woke wagon."
The latest public figure to be victim to "woke" critics and activists is comedian Dave Chappelle. His new Netflix special "The Closer" ruffled many feathers after he made what some liberal critics called "phobic" jokes about transgender people. A small group of Netflix employees even staged a walkout in protest of Chappelle's show. Unlike many of his fellow celebrities, the comedian did not comply with the complaints.
"To the transgender community, I am more than willing to give you an audience, but you will not summon me. I am not bending to anybody’s demands," Chappelle said, defending his sets.
FILE PHOTO: Comedian Dave Chappelle arrives to receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center in Washington, U.S., October 27, 2019. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo (REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo)
Mann and Berry, who have had their own taste of cancel culture after being flagged as "misinformation" by left-leaning outlets despite being a humor site, said they're not as worried about high-profile comedians like Chappelle as they are about everyday Americans being placed under the "woke" spotlight.
"To me, those guys who are celebrities is that they're always going to be OK," Mann told Fox News Digital. "You can't really cancel Dave Chappelle. They have that screw-you money."
DAVE CHAPPELLE'S LATEST NETFLIX SPECIAL PANNED BY LIBERAL CRITICS: ‘TERRIBLY SAD AND DISAPPOINTED’
What really drives him crazy, Mann said, is the cancellation of everyday people. He singled out one such case from 2019, when 24-year-old Iowan Carson King raised $1 million for charity after making a viral plea for beer money at a football game. He was hailed as a hero, until journalists uncovered a few racist tweets he sent when he was a teenager. Mann pointed out that his jokes were reportedly in reference to an old episode of "Tosh.0."
"That's always the most insane thing to me, that journalists have nothing better to do than to sit around and search Twitter for old jokes from these randos," Berry said.
FILE PHOTO: A man holds a placard as he attends a rally in support of the Netflix transgender employee walkout "Stand Up in Solidarity" to protest the streaming of comedian Dave Chappelle's new comedy special, in Los Angeles, California, U.S. October 20 2021. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo (REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo)
BABYLON BEE CEO SAYS SATIRICAL SITE ‘PUNCHING BACK’ AGAINST LIBERAL MEDIA, BIG TECH CENSORSHIP
The pair sensed a cultural reawakening of sorts. HBO "Real Time" host Bill Maher who is staunchly liberal, has gained the respect of many conservatives for his take on cancel culture. And in turn the host has noticed the changing demographics of his audience.
"I was in Nashville about a month ago, and the audience was about 60-40 liberal to conservative," Maher said on "The Joe Scarborough Podcast." "That never used to happen, never. And I think it's because 10 years ago, in my opinion anyway, the left did not have a crazy section. There was no such thing as woke, and now they do have a crazy section, which I call out as a liberal. I think I'm kind of one of the only people doing that, so there's a hunger to hear that."
"Yeah, seems like we're starting to see that, right?" Berry said of the apparent trend against wokeness. "You have Bill Maher, and Dave Chappelle, who's also a leftist."
"There's only so far that you can suppress the truth before it comes bouncing back up to the surface," he continued, comparing it to trying to submerge a beach ball in water.
"It does seem like there's more and more people falling off the woke wagon," Berry said. "And Bill Maher, and some of these other voices are definitely contributing to it."
(HBO)
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Mann and Berry are releasing a new book called "The Babylon Bee Guide to Wokeness" next Tuesday.