Comedian Steven Crowder and fellow conservative Ben Shapiro are having a public dispute with Crowder accusing Shapiro of being in bed with Big Tech. The popular YouTuber, Steven Crowder says Shapiro and his empire are colluding with Big Tech to silence right-wing content.
“Big Tech is in bed with Big Con,” Steven Crowder said in a video this week, complaining about a contract offer he’d received from The Daily Wire—without specifically naming Shapiro’s company, Daily Wire.
The Daily Wire’s chief executive Jeremy Boreing published an hour-long response video detailing the negotiating offer that the conservative media empire sent to Crowder’s agent
Boreing claimed they offered him $50 million.
Crowder’s show Louder with Crowder on the Blaze was very popular, and he left on friendly terms after four years. He has an independent site on YouTube that has six million viewers and a Rumble site with one million viewers.
Crowder complained that the contract included penalties if he was suspended, demonetized, or removed from any major hosting sites or platforms. His contract would be reduced quite a bit if that happened.
Big Con is in bed with Big Tech… pic.twitter.com/nH7AitP5Oe
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) January 17, 2023
Ben Shapiro responded with details about the contract and wished Crowder the best. Crowder feels that the contract supports Big Tech censorship. Shapiro might be concerned about the loss of money if Crowder’s taken down from these sites. It seems that Crowder felt he’d be forced into self-censorship by the contract and would have none of it.
Watch Jeremy’s video, in which he reads word-for-word the entire non-binding term sheet DW+ offered my friend Steven Crowder ($50M over 4 years), explains every contract term, and encourages people to subscribe to whatever Steven does next.
We all wish him nothing but the best. https://t.co/rhd97fLgY6
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) January 19, 2023
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I’ve had the impression that Shapiro considers himself the modern William F. Buckley, but has neither the intellect nor the wit of Buckley. Shapiro could never compete with Firing Line. He’s famous for his facts over feelings remark, but that’s not engagement with the opposition. Instead, it’s a means to cease further dialog.
I’m not much of a fan of either. After a few episodes I found Crowder to be quite sophomoric in style and substance.
The purpose of those platforms is to drive those viewers to a subscription of the Daily Wire and thus generate revenue. If any platform removes Crowder then the pool of viewers is substantially diminished and thus affects the bottom line. If Crowder’s current channel on YouTube is cancelled where would he be then. He would have nothing, but with a Daily Wire contract he could survive with other means.
The “contract” was nothing more than a preliminary agreement between the parties. Apparently this is typical in the entertainment industry. It’s unheard of that one party would go public and attack the other party, especially after shopping around the show. It seems quite odd that Crowder didn’t evidently want to negotiate further. I would say this doesn’t look good for Crowder.
Viva Frei’s commentary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoZhaTyABFI