Rebel News Podcast - Vancouver-based hip hop recording artist (and new Rebel!) Matt Brevner

00:00:00.460 Oh, hello, Rebels. It's Sheila Gunn-Reed and you're listening to a free audio-only recording

00:00:05.360 of my weekly Wednesday night show, The Gunn Show. Tonight, my guest is someone that I

00:00:09.660 think many of you already know a little bit about, but I don't think you know the whole

00:00:17.060 story. My guest tonight is my Vancouver-based colleague, Matt Brevner, and he's got a crazy

00:00:26.280 story of being cancelled because he was Christian in hip-hop. It's wild. Now, if you like listening 0.98

00:00:35.620 to the show, then I promise you're going to love watching it, but in order to watch, you need to

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00:01:07.920 Just go to rebelnewsplus.com to become a member today. And now please enjoy this free audio-only

00:01:15.740 version of my show. A Juno-nominated hip-hop artist was cancelled for being Christian. Now 0.97

00:01:36.820 he works for Rebel News. I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed, and you're watching The Gunn Show.

00:01:45.740 Oh hi friends. Despite the unfamiliar surroundings, I'm actually not out on the road today, but

00:02:04.500 I am having camera problems in my home studio. Nothing's working. So I thought I would come

00:02:09.220 outside and take a bit of a break from the frustrations of failing technology. Today I want

00:02:15.620 you to meet someone who has been a work colleague for me for, I guess, a couple of months now. His

00:02:21.240 name is Matt Brevner, and he's a video journalist based in Vancouver. He works a lot with the

00:02:28.100 incredible Drea Humphrey out there on the West Coast. You know those gorgeously cinematic videos 1.00

00:02:35.680 that Drea makes? Well, Matt's the guy behind all that. And you might have noticed that he's even

00:02:40.940 coming out from behind the camera a little more often to do some journalism of his own. Now I know

00:02:47.420 Matt because of his great work for us. What I didn't know is that he's a survivor of a cancellation

00:02:53.900 mob. Matt is a Juno-nominated hip-hop artist who was maliciously cancelled and had his career

00:03:01.700 basically ruined by a social justice mob, largely because of his open Christian beliefs.

00:03:07.180 So Matt Brevner is my guest on the show tonight to tell his story of how he was cancelled and how he's

00:03:14.300 come out the other side. Here's the interview we recorded yesterday morning.

00:03:19.180 So joining me now is one of the newest members to our team, Matt Brevner from his home in Vancouver.

00:03:39.180 Matt, you have a story that I don't think a lot of people know about. People are learning more about

00:03:47.180 you as you come out from behind the scenes and in front of the camera, but how you came to us and how

00:03:54.300 you sort of ended up sort of in the world of Rebel News. It's it's a lot, isn't it?

00:04:01.260 Yeah, it's interesting. My story on how I came to Rebel is it's almost out of prudence. You know,

00:04:09.020 I've been a fan for a long time and I always liked how, you know, not to sound cliche, but

00:04:16.140 you know, Rebel covers the other side of the story, which to me means, you know, gives a voice to the

00:04:20.620 underdog. So after I went through, you know, a very, a very grand media debacle in Vancouver,

00:04:32.220 uh, thanks to CTV and social media rebel reached out and they wanted to do exactly that, which was,

00:04:38.780 you know, tell the other side of the story, hear what happened to me. And it's, it was kind of

00:04:43.580 interesting because there's not too many, at least in Canada, there's not too many media outwork or

00:04:48.380 outlets that are at least friendly and unbiased towards Christians and Christian stories. So that

00:04:54.700 was just like, it was weird for me to get used to because my, I'm just so guarded walking through the

00:05:00.460 world that it was like really cool to, you know, like when I met Trey, you know, the first thing

00:05:05.340 we, we prayed before we even sat down to talk and I was just like, wow, okay. There are like-minded,

00:05:10.300 you know, folks out there. And that was, I guess the first step in, you know, rehabilitation and,

00:05:17.660 and, uh, yeah, it's been pretty amazing. Yeah. I think that's one of the great things about Rebel

00:05:23.100 News is that while we're not specifically a Christian news network, we have people from all different

00:05:29.180 faith backgrounds who are with us, but because we advocate for Christians in the public square,

00:05:35.100 it's okay for people like you and me to preface our videos with, I'm a Christian. So I see things

00:05:43.020 through a very Christian worldview. And, um, I, there's an honesty with the viewer when you do that

00:05:48.780 sort of thing. Um, but let's go back a little, tell us, I mean, you're the same guy, but tell us what you

00:05:56.700 were doing in your life sort of became before you came to, um, I guess you were canceled,

00:06:02.700 then you came to us. So go way back to the beginning, I guess. So what was, what was cancel worthy,

00:06:08.380 I guess. Yeah. Um, so I'm, I'm a musician. Um, it's basically music has been how I've been providing

00:06:15.900 for myself and paying my bills since I was about 18. Um, I was fortunate enough to, you know, to tour

00:06:21.580 the world and, and, uh, uh, get a few, uh, you know, Juno nominations and much music award nominations

00:06:29.180 and Leo awards and all the cool things in the process. Um, hip hop on the west coast of Canada,

00:06:36.300 outside, historically outside of a couple of groups, like the rascals or solo members.

00:06:41.500 Um, I came up in a generation where it wasn't really big here. It was more, uh, rocket, like,

00:06:46.540 you know, soft rock and country. Um, so we definitely had to like carve out our own, our

00:06:51.900 niche and our own lane. Um, because of that, I didn't reach the level of international success.

00:06:57.500 I had a few singles that did not bad, uh, in North America. Um, but you know, when you are a bit of a

00:07:04.060 trailblazer in a community, you become a bit of like a big fish in a small pond. And I don't say that

00:07:10.140 to toot my own horn. Um, but just people held me to a certain status and, uh, regard in the community.

00:07:17.340 Um, and the difficult thing is, especially in the arts, you know, it's, it's historically very liberal

00:07:26.620 now, very left. So, you know, if you don't tow, you almost have to tow the line by default, even if

00:07:33.980 these aren't necessarily your beliefs. I wasn't ever someone to shy away from what I believe, but

00:07:39.180 I noticed it and, you know, family and friends in the industry that you kind of just like keep your

00:07:44.860 ideas to yourself and keep quiet, um, for the sake of, you know, your career. Um,

00:07:51.900 yeah. So I was always that, you know, I, I wrote about, I wasn't, I was by no means a, a Christian

00:07:58.220 artist. Um, I would say that, you know, up until maybe four years ago, you know, Jesus was my savior,

00:08:06.220 but not my Lord. Um, but I didn't shy away from speaking about him in press or, uh, in my music.

00:08:15.900 Um, so, so I was always that Christian, sorry. I was always that Christian that

00:08:22.700 they have a Christian artist that was like, oh, well, I don't really like Christians, 1.00

00:08:25.660 but Brevner's cool. Like I was that guy in my community. And then when they realized, oh, wait,

00:08:30.540 I don't know. That's, I guess that's kind of a bit of a jumbled, uh, that sets the stage anyways.

00:08:37.820 Right. That sort of takes care of my next question. I was going to ask, what is it like,

00:08:43.900 uh, being a Christian in an industry that is often, you know, uh, proponents of hedonism or,

00:08:54.660 uh, materialism? Um, I guess, how were you able to sort of maintain your, uh, Christianity

00:09:02.780 when you're swimming in that world, or do you sort of make yourself a missionary to that world?

00:09:09.380 Um, I think, well, when you're born again, it's a transformation from the inside out.

00:09:16.980 So I didn't set out to, okay, I need to completely rearrange and shuffle these structures.

00:09:23.660 Um, but you know, when given opportunities to have conversations with people one-on-one

00:09:29.380 or to be kind to people who maybe aren't kind to me or speak some truth into someone's life,

00:09:35.220 I'm taking that opportunity a hundred thousand percent every time. And, and that's again, you

00:09:40.020 know, people, you know, that's, I guess that's why I got that label of like, oh, I don't really

00:09:44.580 like Christians, but Brevner's cool. But they didn't realize that it was like the Lord working 0.89

00:09:48.180 in me that were that, you know, those were attributes that were making me appealing to

00:09:53.540 these other people, but they just don't know that they don't know God and they don't know the

00:09:56.500 gospel. So it's that like, uh, that unconscious draw that people have to the things that are,

00:10:01.540 you know, um, just pure and decent. Um, even if society is saying that that's not the way it's

00:10:08.580 supposed to be. So, yeah, it was definitely difficult though. I had to, you know, I felt

00:10:13.300 convicted and there's definitely like a, and you know, I'm not perfect. So there were times where

00:10:19.860 I felt like I had to toe the line in my own way. Like that doesn't mean that I was necessarily

00:10:23.860 screaming for certain social issues that were popular, but certain, you know, tropes within the

00:10:28.420 genre that I would write about or whatever, that I felt like not only like they were real to me,

00:10:33.140 but I also felt like if I glamorize them, they would be popular. And I mean, they were,

00:10:38.900 you know, some of my most commercially successful music is some of the most, uh, damning,

00:10:43.620 you know, and that's something that I want to make right now with my life. Um,

00:10:49.380 so let's move ahead to how you ended up being as a musician with some commercial success. I mean,

00:10:57.460 you spoke about the Junos, um, how do you end up being canceled? How does that happen? It seemed

00:11:05.220 like you, according to your story here, you were like an up and coming star in Canada. I bet you

00:11:11.700 were probably headed towards at least some success in the United States. How do you end up being

00:11:17.620 completely stripped of all of that? Um, I guess you could say it's conviction, but I'll give you the,

00:11:24.180 I'll give you the nitty gritty of it. So I don't know if maybe you can share this sentiment to me

00:11:31.460 with me, but last June, uh, everybody thought the world was going to end and the sky was falling and

00:11:40.820 folks who had no interest in Jesus or the gospel ever were suddenly curious about what the book of

00:11:46.740 revelations is about, you know, and I'm not a theologian by any means, but you know, people,

00:11:53.780 that piece that surpasses all understanding, you know, I would, I would run into friends or family

00:11:59.460 that, you know, don't know the Lord and they would just be, they could, you could see the pain and the

00:12:04.740 fear on their face, you know, and, and I would be like, Hey, you know, and not to, not to make light

00:12:11.060 of anybody's difficult situation in the pandemic. You know, I wasn't working either. I'm a touring,

00:12:14.980 I'm a touring musician, but I was so go, go, go. I was like, wow, I finally have time to work on my,

00:12:20.820 my relationships. I have time to read more Bible, to pray, to worship, catch up on projects that were

00:12:27.220 like passion projects to me. It was like a really fulfilling moment for me. And, and I don't, I've never,

00:12:32.820 since I've accepted Christ into my life, I have never felt alone. There's been moments where maybe

00:12:41.060 I felt a little lonely, but never, never, ever alone. So I think you had mentioned like a hedonistic

00:12:47.460 lifestyle. I think North America is a hedonistic society. So we, you know, our pursuit of joy and

00:12:55.060 pleasure is not joy. Our pursuit of pleasure is their main, that's why everyone, that's where everyone

00:13:00.020 gets their, their worth from. Right. That's the meaning of life. If it feels good, do it. And

00:13:05.100 instead of if it does good, do it. Right. So people put their identity in their heat and in their

00:13:11.560 hedonism. So, you know, when, when everything's shut down and you can't fill that crevice in your

00:13:18.140 chest with vapid things like sex, drugs, and alcohol, and whatever else people have literally an

00:13:24.440 identity crisis. And I think that's what we've seen over the past year. People may be making rash

00:13:29.560 decisions or acting out of character. It's just because fear, they don't know who they are.

00:13:33.720 So, you know, you dangle that carrot and they want to get back to, you know, hopefully that's a way to

00:13:38.100 get their sense of self back. So anyways, like I saw this as an opportunity to be more, more

00:13:43.520 forthcoming about my beliefs, because for the first time really in my life, you know, I felt like, okay,

00:13:48.020 well, God gives us all free will. You know, I'm not, I'm not erring to the Calvinist mindset. I do

00:13:54.280 believe that God gives us free will. Um, so with that being said, you have a whole, I don't know

00:14:00.200 what kind of seeds God's planting in someone's life and they have a whole lifetime to get to know

00:14:03.780 the Lord. But when this was the first time where I felt like there was a massive sense of urgency,

00:14:07.980 like I, for the, I really have something that you need now, because like, look at you, look at your

00:14:13.500 life. Like, it's not, it's not all bad, you know? So I started having conversations with people

00:14:18.420 about God in a way that I hadn't before. And it was really good. You know, my best friend who

00:14:23.520 had struggled with, uh, uh, fentanyl addiction for over a decade, he gave his life to God after

00:14:30.560 we've been talking over a decade about, you know, he's a staunch atheist. He gave, you know, he gave

00:14:35.520 his life to the Lord. Amazing things were happening in my life. And I could see like, without a doubt,

00:14:40.100 God was moving through it. And I was just like, wow, this is so cool. This is like, you know, so there's

00:14:45.200 a, Vancouver is kind of, and I don't mean to, um, I'm not trying to like stumble my community or

00:14:51.760 stumble my brothers, but we're very, the church here is very small and very quiet and not very

00:14:57.060 involved socially. Um, so there's a, there's a pastor from Toronto, his name's Dore love.

00:15:05.460 And he speaks, he, he preaches that. I think it's like Eaton's Eaton center. Is that right?

00:15:11.140 Young and Dundas. Young and Dundas. Yeah. And the thing that was interesting

00:15:15.040 to me about the culture there is, you know, Young and Dundas, you have preachers, you have

00:15:20.140 imans, you have rabbis, you have atheists, you have Darth Vader, you have a juggler, like, 0.98

00:15:24.900 you know, and everybody is just entertaining and sharing their beliefs and just talking.

00:15:28.980 And it's, you know, I started watching some of his videos, um, along with, you know, other

00:15:33.860 evangelists and street preachers and just people that were bold for the Lord, which I felt like was,

00:15:38.960 you know, I I'm encouraged by that. Now everybody has a different flavor and I'm not saying you're

00:15:43.180 supposed to, you know, but the thing that I felt found interesting about these videos is it wasn't

00:15:48.820 so much about, about his conversations with the person standing right in front of him. It was how

00:15:53.820 the people who were watching were reacting and receiving what was being said. And I thought that

00:15:58.440 that was really interesting because I live in a very diverse city and I was trying to sharpen my

00:16:03.560 skillset as to how to have conversations and how to evangelize to different people from different

00:16:08.980 walks. So it was just, it kind of, you know, I'd watch him and, and, uh, David Lynn. I was like

00:16:15.800 listening to Billy Graham every morning. Like I was just trying to get like a wide gamut,

00:16:20.120 you know, cause I look at someone like Dore, like, uh, he's one of the watchmen, you know,

00:16:26.540 it's like, woe to Israel. If I don't, if I don't pass this message on, it's on my shoulders. The yoke is on 0.78

00:16:32.160 me. So I have to tell you, you know, so out of the sense of urgency. And I respect that because

00:16:36.540 whether they're popular or not, you know, anyone who's willing to live fearless for the Lord,

00:16:41.600 it's like all the world to you, because like, that's not easy to do. You know, I imagine John

00:16:46.400 the Baptist wasn't extremely popular in his time. Right. So he was not, no, definitely not.

00:16:54.980 So I sent him a message just through his YouTube channel. I was like, Hey man, uh, just want to

00:17:00.340 encourage you. If you're ever in Vancouver, let me know. I would love to come out and just watch,

00:17:04.380 you know? So I thought nothing of it. And then a few months later I got a message,

00:17:09.220 an email and he's like, Hey, we're going down to Maine and Hastings just to pray for folks and

00:17:13.580 hand out water bottles come through. And I mean, I mean, I don't have to tell you about Maine and

00:17:18.320 Hastings. It's, it's world-class. And to me, I was like, wow, that's amazing. This guy's first time

00:17:22.880 in Vancouver and he's going straight to Maine and Hastings. Like, why isn't my, you know, why aren't we

00:17:27.440 doing more of that? And I get it. You know, you'll always have the needy among you. I understand,

00:17:31.520 but still it's just like, yeah, this is like the, I think, feel like we need to,

00:17:36.120 we should be doing that. Like putting our money where our mouth is. Like, I really feel like,

00:17:39.980 you know, even if in just our community and in our city, if, you know, if tie this 10% and not

00:17:46.320 everyone gives 10%, but a tie this 10% and this, and half of that was put towards community outreach,

00:17:52.140 especially when the churches are closed, like you wouldn't, you would know us by our love for one

00:17:56.880 another. Like the impact on the communities would be undeniable, far greater than any social program.

00:18:02.540 Like you, you know what I mean? So this is a personal conviction of mine anyways. So we went

00:18:08.160 down there, there wasn't much preaching. It was mostly just having conversations with folks. And

00:18:12.800 the thing that was like really beautiful about it was making eye contact with people that are not

00:18:19.360 often, you know, they're often overlooked. And just the amount of like dignity,

00:18:24.180 like recognizing somebody, looking them in the eyes and saying, you have worth because God loves

00:18:29.480 you and you're, you know, you're created for a purpose. It's just like, it's such an empowering

00:18:35.020 thing more than giving someone 20 bucks or like whatever else it's like. So just to be able to

00:18:39.420 hear people's stories. And it was just so amazing, you know, like, uh, there was a, uh, who's now a friend

00:18:48.380 of mine, uh, a young man who was sitting on the corner of Carnegie hall. And, uh, he's about my

00:18:56.020 age, blue hair, leather jacket. And I could tell that he was like listening to what, you know, I was

00:19:02.160 talking about with one of the preachers, but whenever I'd make eye contact with him, he would

00:19:05.960 kind of look away. Like he was afraid. Uh, so I just kneeled and I like went up to him. I was like,

00:19:10.180 Hey man, like, what's your story? How's it going? And he's just like, honestly, like terrible.

00:19:14.840 I'm out here from Toronto. I'm addicted to crystal meth. I came out here with my,

00:19:19.320 my girlfriend. She left me in the NIMO. I don't know if she's dead or alive. Um, I'm down to my

00:19:25.480 last 50 bucks and something was telling me to just come hang out here. So I've been sitting here,

00:19:30.620 listen to you guys talk about Jesus. And I've never heard anyone talk about Jesus the way you

00:19:34.600 guys are talking about Jesus. And I'm just like, he's like, you know, tears in his eyes. And I'm just

00:19:39.000 like, well, can I pray for you? Like, why not? You know, like, I feel like the Holy spirit is on a roll

00:19:44.320 of my life right now. So I'm like, Hey, let's lay hands on this guy and like, see what happens,

00:19:47.820 you know? So we pray for him. And it's just like his countenance and his disposition is just a

00:19:52.260 complete one, eight, you know, like almost instantly, like this weight had been completely

00:19:56.160 lifted off his shoulders, you know? So he's like, it's so funny that, you know, you're here right

00:20:00.720 now because I got a message on messenger from a friend of mine who I haven't spoke to for three

00:20:05.700 years. And she found out that I was at Maine and Hastings. So she rented a car and she's driving

00:20:10.180 from Calgary right now to pick me up. And if this can't be for accident, you know, I had my last

00:20:14.840 50 bucks, it's been burning a hole in my hole in my pocket. Like, I really don't want to use.

00:20:19.520 So I don't want to be left alone. So I'm really grateful to like be here right now. So I'm like,

00:20:24.220 okay, well, you know, if this is about, this is the end of the night, it was about like 12 or one

00:20:28.360 o'clock. And I'm like, okay, well, what can we do? Your friend should be here around like seven or

00:20:32.540 eight. I was like, okay, there's a Tim Hortons up the block. We'll go to Tim Hortons.

00:20:37.940 You know, they have Wi Fi, there's it's warm there, whatever you can hang out, it'll be all

00:20:42.700 good. But then of course, because of the pandemic, Timmy's is closed. Right? So I'm like, okay,

00:20:46.880 what do we do? And there's, you know, what would Jesus do in the situation? Well, Jesus met people

00:20:51.680 at the kitchen table. So let's go eat. There's an Indian restaurant that's, you know, on the other

00:20:56.180 side of town. I know they're open. Like, when's the last time you ate? And he's like, dude, I'm

00:21:00.180 addicted to meth. Like, I don't, I don't eat. But he's cracking these jokes, right? And I can tell like

00:21:06.460 his mood's changing. So anyways, we go to this Indian restaurant, and he begins to tell

00:21:11.360 me about like, where things kind of derailed in his life, and how like, he can't wait to

00:21:15.720 get back to Toronto so that he can make things right with the people that he's wronged in

00:21:19.020 his life, like his dad who served in the Gulf War. And you know, that left him emotionally

00:21:23.860 cold. And he feels like he doesn't connect with his dad, because you know, and he's talking

00:21:28.000 about how his grandpa, you know, he fought in the Irish resistance. And, you know, he's like,

00:21:32.820 he can't wait to get home and talk about Jesus with his grandpa, because his grandpa just

00:21:36.460 loves the Lord so much. Like, there's a spirit of like reconciliation that's coming over him,

00:21:40.860 like the hope, like, it's not too late, I'm going to go figure my life out. So

00:21:45.840 it's the end of the night, it's like 430. And like, what do I do with this guy? And at this

00:21:50.640 point, I had roommates. So I was like, okay, I'll tell you what, dude, you can sleep on my

00:21:54.100 couch. Don't tell my roommates, just let yourself out, because they would completely lose it. 0.98

00:21:58.620 They're like, deathly afraid of the pandemic and not very friendly to the Lord anyway. So

00:22:04.220 that does to put it mildly. But I was like, you just sleep on my couch, let yourself out in the

00:22:09.380 morning, and it's all good. So anyways, he let himself out. And I thought that was fine. And I

00:22:14.240 thought that was going to be the end of it. And I wasn't gonna, if I didn't hear from him again,

00:22:18.040 I was like, okay, well, that's cool. I think he's, he's okay. So anyways, long story short,

00:22:22.740 or long story long, I reached out to Doré. I was like, dude, you won't believe what happened last

00:22:27.420 night. Remember that guy, Jake? You know, he's like, he gave his life to the Lord. We hung out

00:22:31.440 all night. He's like, no way. That's so amazing. And I was like, well, he's like, I'm like, are you

00:22:35.880 still in town? Because basically, he just travels from town to town. And he's like, yeah, we're going

00:22:39.240 to the West End today. You want to come hang out? And I'm just like, in my mind, I'm like, if it's

00:22:43.100 anything like yesterday, like, of course, like, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. And you know,

00:22:48.700 I'm a little, maybe I'm a little bit overconfident. So we're at, we're on the West End.

00:22:53.620 And, and it's, it's funny, because most people were pleasantly surprised to see us there.

00:23:01.360 Like people were honking, people were waving, you know, because the thing is, it's like, if you look

00:23:05.260 at somebody, if you have a conversation with somebody who thinks you hate them, and they hate

00:23:09.200 you because you think or they think that you hate them, and you say, hey, hey, dude, I hope you have

00:23:13.540 God loves you. I hope you have a good day. It's not all bad. You know, nine out of 10, they're going to

00:23:18.920 be like, really? God loves me? Oh, okay, cool. Thanks. And like, whether they believe or not,

00:23:24.860 you know, they're gonna, they're still like, it's dignifying. You know, now you get like the one out

00:23:28.940 of 10 that is like, over the top angry. And I believe it's, it's spiritual, because you know,

00:23:33.780 we're not really talking, you're not talking about anything that's, you know, old school,

00:23:38.620 like, not bringing up Leviticus for it. You know what I mean? It's just like telling people,

00:23:42.580 hey, God loves you. I hope you have a good day, you know, like, really extending that olive branch.

00:23:46.740 So they're out there for like four hours, and it was fine. And then, yeah, this guy actually

00:23:53.780 recognized me from my past career. And I didn't realize that he was a member of the gay community.

00:24:00.060 I had always known him to be quite over the top heterosexual. So he came up to me, and he started

00:24:07.300 getting kind of violent and screaming at me. And there were cameras out. And he's like, of all times,

00:24:13.140 you're going to come here now. And this is this is like, kind of like the height during the height of

00:24:16.140 the BLM kind of protests, which is kind of, I don't really, they use that as a spin of the story,

00:24:20.880 which I don't really think is relevant, because all the preachers are black. So I don't really get 1.00

00:24:24.480 that, you know, but anyway, so they CTV ended up, there was a CTV reporter there. And there was maybe

00:24:34.460 10 to 15 people there. But the way they talk about it, it was like hundreds of things. And they said,

00:24:38.980 they covered the story essentially as homophobic, protest, sparks outrage in the West End.

00:24:46.240 And my face was all over it. I wasn't named in it, but my face was all over it. So this,

00:24:51.800 you know, became a big story in Vancouver. And then it was such a successful story. They ran it

00:24:56.160 two nights in a row. They ran it nationally the next night, didn't reach out to me for comment or

00:25:00.540 anything. And of course, you know, in something like hyper competitive, and over the top, like hip hop

00:25:06.480 music, like you're bound to amass some haters over the years, right. And I'm not saying that I'm

00:25:11.300 blameless in what led me to that point. But that's just the reality of the situation. So anybody who

00:25:16.300 ever felt some type of way about me took the opportunity to, you know, Brevner is a homophobe,

00:25:21.080 Brevner was was leading a homophobic rally in the West End. And if you support him, you support

00:25:27.080 homophobia. You know, so then my record label put out a press release saying that they don't condone

00:25:32.620 my actions, they don't condone any sort of homophobia or what have you. So they dropped

00:25:37.700 me and, and offered to donate proceeds of any any of my products that were sold over that year to

00:25:43.200 pro LGBTQ communities. But it's all predicated on nothing. You weren't know, that's the thing,

00:25:50.000 like it was like, sorry to interrupt. But I'm just, as I'm listening to this, it's, you know,

00:25:55.000 it starts off with a malicious lie. And then people report on the malicious lie. And then people report

00:26:02.440 on the reporting of the malicious lie. And then all of a sudden, it becomes true about you. And

00:26:06.720 that's it. Nothing else matters. Yeah. Yeah, it's unreal. And it's, you know, I, as everything was

00:26:12.480 just kind of going crazy, I didn't want to handle things. I was like covered in prayer. I went to my

00:26:16.580 church community. It's like, I don't want to handle things by just swinging. You know, like, I think

00:26:22.280 about, I think about Christ when he was before pilot. You know, like, I don't have to defend myself,

00:26:28.600 like vengeance is not. And then maybe, you know, looking back, not like that was easy. It's easier

00:26:35.040 to say that now. And it was at the time, because of how like, God's redeeming me, and what he's doing

00:26:40.300 in my life. Now, I wouldn't change it for anything. But at the time, it was hard, because I wanted to

00:26:44.480 like, you know, like Joseph, get myself out of jail. But then every time I tried to get myself out of

00:26:49.700 jail, God would slap me on the hand and like, put me back in there. He just wanted me to wait,

00:26:53.060 you know. But yeah, it was like, it was extremely vicious. And now people are starting to slowly

00:27:00.340 come back into my life. And like, yeah, I was really crazy what happened to you. And I'm like,

00:27:04.540 yeah, you contributed to it. But yeah, it was really crazy that you didn't stand beside me when

00:27:09.660 I needed you. Right? Yeah. Because that's the thing, right? You know, and I mentioned this to

00:27:14.800 to Ezra. But when you're an entrepreneur, your greatest resources are your relationships.

00:27:19.780 relationships. So when something heinous like that happens to you, and you don't have friends

00:27:24.880 or family to call on, because it's a thing, when something like that is ran about you in

00:27:30.400 the news, people who especially non believers, when it's something that has to do with like

00:27:35.760 religion, they have to reconcile everything that they know about you. Whether that's in a

00:27:41.260 five year or 15 year relationship with what they saw out of context in 10 seconds. And it's,

00:27:45.800 it's cognitive dissonance, and it breaks people's brains. Because like, I don't under,

00:27:50.140 I don't expect, you know, people who, you know, don't love the Lord to then defend my point

00:27:55.720 as a Christian or whatever else. And it's weird, you get all sorts of like, weird, different like

00:27:59.840 arguments like, well, you shouldn't have been there because the gospel is homophobic. Well,

00:28:04.680 why? What do you mean you were there to like, be nice to people? Why would you do that? That doesn't

00:28:08.440 make any sense. Like, I don't get it. You're clearly there to be harmful. Well, if you are a

00:28:12.920 homophobe, it's still legal for you to say whatever you want to say whenever you want.

00:28:16.460 Well, you were just practicing your freedom of religion. And although it was maybe culturally

00:28:19.680 insensitive, you weren't doing anything wrong. Well, you should know better. And you should

00:28:23.080 get beat up because of it. Well, you're a bigot. So we should take everything that you have. And

00:28:27.320 that's, you know what I mean? It's like the, it's not a linear response to an action like that.

00:28:31.840 It creates this explosion of mess, like this poop on the wall that you're, you know, it's like a

00:28:37.420 Jackson Pollock painting at the end of it. And you're like stuck trying to, like, you don't really

00:28:41.800 know the angle in which to like, you know, and not to mention like the Twitter and Facebook,

00:28:47.420 you know, cancel culture mobs that don't, that didn't know me, had nothing to do with me,

00:28:52.960 had nothing to do with the incident, but literally just search hashtags looking for causes to

00:28:57.300 dogpile on top of. And it's interesting because it's kind of like the dogma of leftism. It's a

00:29:04.520 religion. It's certainly a religion. And we're seeing it tied up into, you know, scientism and all

00:29:10.160 of it. It's, it's, it's a, it's a moral argument and it's, it's, they're like the new Pharisees 0.57

00:29:15.300 because there's no redemption. Exactly. Exactly. Uh, you know, like they do all things to be noticed

00:29:22.360 by man there, you know, they, they've got their phylacteries hanging out. That's for sure. And

00:29:28.020 it's funny that you call it, um, a new religion because it really is. There's two religions at play

00:29:34.540 here, at least for you, there's Christianity and then there's the cancel culture. And one of those 0.76

00:29:40.460 believes that people are redeemable and the other one doesn't. Yeah. And then it's that simple. And

00:29:47.020 it's not only are you redeemable, um, it's that foundation that you're saved by grace and not by

00:29:54.140 your works. That makes us all redeemable. Like there is nothing that you can do to make, you know,

00:30:00.020 to gain or lose your favor with the Lord. Whereas everything else in our life, everything else in

00:30:04.760 our life is based on performance. And when it's based on performance, you can never perform too

00:30:09.620 much, you know, like, so it's, it's really sad looking back. It's sad that the message was lost

00:30:18.340 and misconstrued because, and then not for my sake, I'm fine. You know, I'm, I'm already taken care of.

00:30:25.120 This is this, the rest of this is just a victory lap for me to be completely honest, but there were

00:30:30.420 conversations, dozens of conversations I were having with people that don't know the Lord

00:30:34.180 that were like this close. And it's just like that opportunity kind of got snagged for me.

00:30:40.380 And, you know, there's, I'm not going to lie. There's times where it's, you know, it hurts.

00:30:45.560 Like there's certain family that won't associate with me anymore. Like, I can't just like call,

00:30:50.400 call my old buddies and go play a round of golf. Like, you know, I can't, I can't do this,

00:30:54.540 the simple, those simple things anymore. So I'm trying to find my new tribe, which is fine,

00:30:59.400 but my heart hurts in that way over what I've lost, not so much about like career or whatever

00:31:05.160 else, because honestly, I was reaching a point where I couldn't keep, you know, towing the enemy's

00:31:10.140 line anyways. It seems like with what's going on in our world right now, everything is so polarized

00:31:15.500 and, you know, in some ways that's, that's not a good thing and that's difficult, but from a

00:31:22.180 biblical worldview, it's like, at least the Lord's making it obvious to me. Like, I feel

00:31:26.900 like my discernment is sharp and he's making it easy for me. He doesn't want me to stumble.

00:31:31.500 And I really do believe that there's a move of God that's coming. And it's, and it's apparent

00:31:35.640 with, you know, every, every believer that I talk to from any denomination can feel it.

00:31:41.200 They know something, something big is happening and big as a foot. So I just, I'm grateful for

00:31:46.020 that, the clarity that this has provided me. And I feel like there's a lot of friends now that

00:31:51.000 are coming back into the fold because of what's been going on with, with COVID. They've, they're

00:31:56.580 now having these conversations and these weird points in their life where they're being ridiculed

00:32:00.880 or canceled by people for having one belief or the other belief. So I just like, thank the Lord

00:32:05.420 that he put me through it a year early because I'm already on the other side of it, you know? So it's

00:32:09.860 in, in that I find peace and, and it allows me to be encouraging to other, other folk.

00:32:14.400 Well, I, I'm, I don't want to say that I'm grateful that you were canceled, but I mean,

00:32:22.460 that, that, that sounds awful, but I, I do believe that. And I think like you, um, that

00:32:28.680 God uses all things. And I think he pulled you from a lifestyle that, um, could have resulted

00:32:35.740 in problems and put you in a different place. And for me, seeing your work with Drea, I can

00:32:42.140 see that, that kindness that you have when you're even talking to people who are politically

00:32:48.600 diametrically opposed to you. You guys have a really great video where you are at the extinction

00:32:53.360 rebellion protest. And even in your interactions with people, even after, you know, they tried to get

00:32:59.600 rid of you there, they shoved Drea, you still, you can tell in your work that even people on the

00:33:06.800 other side, uh, you treat them as though they do, uh, bear the image of the divine. You can see it in

00:33:13.580 your work when you do it, at least as someone who sort of oversees your work editorially, I can see

00:33:18.700 that coming through. I really appreciate that because, you know, it's, uh, it's evangelism in a

00:33:25.600 way. And I'm not saying that I necessarily lead with, you know, tracks and like small versions of the

00:33:31.440 NIV, you know, new Testament in my pocket, but you know, we, we cover stories that more often are not

00:33:41.160 than not stem from pain. So I understand pain and I know what fixes that. And so it allows me to put

00:33:51.640 like the Lord's putting me in situations to be able to like see people's pain. And I think that's

00:33:58.100 bigger than political issue. That's bigger than flesh fleshly conviction. Like it's, it's funny

00:34:04.200 that you mentioned the extinction rebellion because talking to that Tilikum Tom fellow, um, he was,

00:34:09.920 you know, essentially saying that he's been a protester forever and we're five years away from,

00:34:14.440 from never coming back. And he, he, he spouted all of these quite extreme theories, but all of these

00:34:21.720 ideas were prefaced by, Hey, I have a 23 year old son who's saying to me that he doesn't want to have

00:34:27.580 children because he thinks the world's going to melt. So he's obviously been sowing this

00:34:32.320 indoctrination into his kid's life. And he's seeing the fruits of his labor now realizing he's not going

00:34:37.460 to be a grandfather. So acting from that place of pain and fear, he feels the, the only reasonable

00:34:43.020 thing for him to do now is to hit the streets and bang a plastic, a plastic bucket and tell the world,

00:34:48.860 you know, repent before it's too late. So like he's clearly misguided, but I can, it's like so obvious

00:34:56.040 to me, the motive. So I have a heart for that because like, that's, you know, he's, he's broken.

00:35:01.580 Yeah. You know? So, and I don't mean that from like an, an arrogant way. I, I, I say that because

00:35:07.220 I was broken and I could see that in him. So how could I not have a heart for that? Like I, I would

00:35:12.420 hate the idea of being a 70 year old man having to protest because I'm never going to have

00:35:16.860 grandchildren. Like that's, that that's heartbreaking to me, regardless of the cause, regardless of what got

00:35:22.380 you there, no one's perfect, you know, but it's just like, that's a, that's a fear of like, you

00:35:27.120 know, I, my heart breaks for him, you know? Yeah. You know, I've, I've spoken with Michelle Sterling

00:35:32.760 from friends of science about something very similar where this religion of environmentalism

00:35:36.920 lacks the hope that other religions have there. I mean, it's, it's, it's a doomsday cult. There's no 1.00

00:35:44.300 getting off the ride. There's no, like, there's not even a good rapture, you know, it's just,

00:35:51.880 it's just smite all the way through. I guess that brings me to how you came to us. I want to hear

00:36:00.700 more about how I, you know, because I think our story at rebel news is a little bit like your story

00:36:06.540 where people have these preconceived notions about who and what we are. And I think you're experiencing

00:36:12.660 some of that or you did a year ago. Um, uh, what's your experience been like with us so far and be

00:36:19.220 honest, let me have it. Uh, I, okay. So I've been a fan for a few years before I came to work with

00:36:26.560 rebel and it was, you know, there's no conservative news in Canada, like other than, other than the

00:36:34.320 rebel, it just doesn't exist. So I really appreciated. I mean, I, I try to be guarded in the

00:36:41.200 information I, I read. So I try to, even though it's hard to be objective when you're reading news,

00:36:46.040 I try to read all of it. And I find like the truth is often somewhere in the middle of all of it.

00:36:50.820 So I just, it was something that was adding a flavor to my worldview that I wasn't getting anywhere

00:36:56.420 else. Um, and I really appreciated, uh, the, like the honey badger quality of Menzies, like as of just a 0.99

00:37:03.380 fan, like that was something that I really liked. So I, yeah, I would just, you know, tune in just for

00:37:09.860 that. Cause I just, you know, and it turns out he's like exactly what I'd hope he'd be. He's like

00:37:13.880 the sweetest, kindest man, which is just so like affirming to me. And that does shine through. Um,

00:37:18.980 but yeah, I just, I'm, I understand that censorship is a real problem. Um, I, I've been, I grew up my

00:37:30.020 life, my whole life being concerned of government overreach. Like I'm half Japanese and my, my Japanese

00:37:36.140 grandparents are Canadians and they met in the concentration camp in Alberta. So I, this is,

00:37:40.340 this is a part of my, and Japanese people are actually like, that's quite a conservative

00:37:44.240 culture. Um, but you know, they've always sewn into me like, Hey, when this happens, you know,

00:37:50.380 start to like, you know, especially on the gun issue, my grandpa wasn't a gun owner, but he was

00:37:54.240 always like, Hey, as soon as they come to your, for your guns, you have to freak out, you know? So,

00:37:57.500 but anyways, so yeah, I just, uh, I think rebel doesn't get enough credit for actually what you

00:38:06.840 guys are doing as far as giving a megaphone and a platform to the voices that are otherwise silenced.

00:38:13.660 And I mean, if you haven't figured out by 2021 that you just have to follow the money

00:38:18.320 to see why certain, certain issues are brought to light and certain issues aren't, it's always

00:38:23.120 about the money, like always, always, always about the money. But if you haven't figured that out yet,

00:38:27.720 it may be too late because we are so barraged by propaganda and in every, you know, you learn

00:38:32.840 in social studies that, you know, the, the British would drop leaflets from the, from the war planes

00:38:38.140 over Germany to tell people to get out and they were propagandic in nature, but we just think that

00:38:42.000 that that's where it ends, but this is propaganda and we're, we're tethered to it, you know? So it's

00:38:47.900 very difficult to like, you know, discern between what's true and what's false. Um, but I think

00:38:55.620 it's important voices like rebel are important because it rounds things out and it's important

00:39:01.720 to give people just the, the two sides of every coin so that people can see the coin as a whole.

00:39:08.060 Um, yeah. And without that, it's, it's, uh, we're in a lot of trouble, honestly, especially like things

00:39:15.560 like Bill C-10 are so concerning to me. And I, I think we've noticed at rebel, at least since I've

00:39:20.720 started working with you guys full-time is the tent is like the conservative party conservatives are

00:39:26.040 becoming the inclusive tent. Yeah. You know, like, and it's kind of interesting to see that. Um,

00:39:30.780 yeah. You know, it's funny, the, the conservative tent is getting a lot bigger. Um, I wonder when

00:39:38.080 conservative politicians will figure that out though. You know, there's a lot of people who are,

00:39:43.880 um, who are sort of realizing, Oh wait, I thought I was liberal, but I really hate government overreach.

00:39:51.420 And I thought I was liberal, but I, I really don't like the government telling me who I can have in my

00:39:56.220 house and how many people I can stand in the park with. And unfortunately, conservative politicians

00:40:02.580 are not capitalizing on that idea. They're sort of participating in the cancel culture that's

00:40:08.880 happening around, uh, lockdown skepticism. Yeah. I, it's interesting because you, I don't,

00:40:17.540 I'm not so naive to think that any politician really cares about their constituents, you know?

00:40:22.840 And I think if you, if you vote that way, or you do politics that way, you're leaving yourself

00:40:26.960 vulnerable. Um, so the way, you know, and I'll give, I'll give the conservative party of Canada,

00:40:33.360 I'll tell you the same thing. I told the fundraiser who called me a week ago, trying to get money to

00:40:38.360 raise, you know, they're just out of touch. Whoever's doing their research, whoever's, you know,

00:40:43.980 in front of their PR, they're just, they're afraid of the left and they're completely out of touch.

00:40:49.220 And they think by being a softer left, they're going to win. And it's just, it's just not,

00:40:54.420 it's just not true. Like I wish somebody, you know, for, for better or for worse, you know,

00:40:59.700 Donald Trump was great at speaking to the people feel like making his voters feel like he cared

00:41:04.260 about them and he was a man for them. And it clearly worked, you know? So I wish that,

00:41:10.960 you know, without getting too tinfoil hattie as to the reasons why these aren't,

00:41:15.540 it isn't this way. I wish that our politicians would take note and not necessarily be polarizing

00:41:22.340 or, you know, attack the other side per se, but just be firm in what you stand for. Like,

00:41:30.160 don't flip flop, like say you're going to do something and do it, you know, listen to the

00:41:34.980 people that are voting for you. But yeah, I don't think, I don't think we have a, like, I, I true,

00:41:41.440 I, I crack this joke with friends, but I don't, I feel like our, the actual opposition in, in Canada

00:41:47.000 is NDP right now, to be honest. Um, just based on like, who's actually influencing policy and

00:41:54.600 culture. Um, it's, I think it's more so the NDP than the Conservative Party. And that's terrifying

00:42:00.660 to me. Do you know what? I will counter with, uh, I think we are the actual opposition in this

00:42:08.780 country. And I think that we are giving a voice to those people within the culture that the

00:42:13.680 Conservative Party wants to pretend, pretend aren't there. I think, um, with all voices acting to drag

00:42:21.000 the Conservative Party to the left. So the NDP, the liberals, the media, academia, I think they need a

00:42:26.900 strong, um, moral, uh, social, um, I don't know what the right word is, but we're more than just

00:42:36.680 a news company. I think we are activists. We advocate for the forgotten people. We talk about,

00:42:43.320 uh, conservative issues, um, and remind the Conservative Party what actually is a Conservative

00:42:50.600 mainstream. And I think we serve on the right of the Conservative Party to sort of pull them back

00:42:55.960 in the right direction when all these forces are acting to drag them left. And so I think we are

00:43:02.100 the actual opposition to the Conservatives. I love that. Yeah, that's great. And I, and I tend to,

00:43:08.960 I think I agree with you because, you know, the amount of overwhelming support that we get not only

00:43:13.860 online, but when we're in the field, it's clear that we're fulfilling a need. Yeah. You know, it's

00:43:18.720 like, we're that light on top of a hill. We're the good guys, you know, we're the cavalry. And it's

00:43:24.060 like really interesting to see. And you don't see even people that are on the left. I don't see

00:43:28.820 people getting excited when a CTV reporter shows up. No, never, you know? So yeah, it's, it's really

00:43:34.580 amazing. It's an, it's an amazing privilege to be able to serve the community in that way.

00:43:40.620 Well, I'm glad you see it as serving the community because I think that's part of what we do. There

00:43:44.260 are so many people that are sort of, uh, forgotten by the mainstream, forgotten by the political party.

00:43:49.660 They, they, they voted for, and I think it's important work that we do to give a voice to

00:43:55.180 their issues, but also to be there to help them on their worst day when they get a ticket, when they,

00:44:00.300 you know, when the government closes their business, I think it's also our job to not

00:44:04.140 only tell their story, but to be in some way, a solution to it. Um, Matt, we've been at this for

00:44:10.780 40 minutes. You work for us full time. You work for us full time. So you have work to get back to.

00:44:15.840 So do I, um, Matt, I'm so glad that you're with our company. Uh, the circumstances that brought you

00:44:23.340 to us are slightly sad, but I'm very glad that rebel news gets to benefit from, um, you surviving

00:44:30.240 and coming out the other side. And I, your worldview shows through your work. There's it's impossible for

00:44:37.520 you to hide it. I don't think you could, if you tried. So I I'm very grateful that you're with the

00:44:40.880 company and thank you so much for taking the time today. Yeah. Thank you for giving me an

00:44:45.560 opportunity to flex my creative muscle and, and do what I'm, what I feel like I'm good at in this

00:44:52.040 sphere. Um, I'm releasing some new music on May 31st. I I'm, I'm releasing a Christian hip hop album.

00:44:58.680 It's called in Jesus name. And the first single is behind me and there's a music video and there's

00:45:03.880 a little, a little hat tip to rebel in the video. So, uh, I'm pretty excited about that, but, um,

00:45:09.000 yeah, I just, we're fighting the good fight and it's obvious. So thank you for having me on board.

00:45:15.560 You got it, Matt. Uh, if people want to find your work outside of rebel, they know how to find you

00:45:20.460 at rebel news. Um, but how do they find your work and support you outside of rebel? Um,

00:45:25.960 if you go to brevner.com, um, B R E V N E R.com, you'll have links to all of my social medias

00:45:31.400 and, uh, I'll be releasing new content there first. I'm, I'm currently just finishing up a

00:45:37.920 restructure on the website because, you know, as you know, conservatives are being de-platformed

00:45:41.920 all the time. So I need to reign it in a little bit. So yeah, if you just go to my website,

00:45:45.600 everything will be there. Great. Uh, Matt, thanks. Thanks again. Have a great day. And, uh, you know,

00:45:51.480 we'll, we'll talk in five minutes as soon as I wrap up this recording. Thanks, Matt.

00:46:01.400 While the reason Matt joined our team is kind of sad and unfair. I'm proud that Matt is on our team

00:46:11.600 and he's doing some great work in Vancouver and I can't wait to see what he does next. Well,

00:46:17.740 everybody, that's the show for tonight. Thank you so much for tuning in. I'll see everybody back here

00:46:21.740 in the same time, in the same place next week or not. I might get angry at my camera and come

00:46:27.680 outside again, but remember, don't let the government tell you that you've had too much to fake.

Rebel News Podcast - May 20, 2021

Vancouver-based hip hop recording artist (and new Rebel!) Matt Brevner

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