The Ben Shapiro Show - BREAKING: Tucker Carlson OUT At Fox News

00:00:00.000 Well, it is the biggest media news of the last decade.

00:00:02.000 Tucker Carlson has been apparently fired by Fox News.

00:00:05.000 The statement that was originally put out by Fox News Media suggested an agreement to part ways, but we can all tell that that is not exactly what happened.

00:00:13.000 According to Fox News, quote, Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways.

00:00:17.000 We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.

00:00:21.000 Mr. Carlson's last program was Friday, April 21st.

00:00:23.000 Fox News Tonight will air live at 8 p.m.

00:00:25.000 Eastern, starting this evening as an interim show, helmed by a rotating Fox News personalities crew, until a new host is named.

00:00:32.000 It's earth-shattering, in media terms.

00:00:34.000 It is enormous.

00:00:35.000 Tucker is the biggest cable host on TV.

00:00:38.000 He's got 3 million viewers a night, according to the latest ratings.

00:00:41.000 The market immediately responded by not liking what happened very much.

00:00:45.000 So the Fox News stock took a serious dive.

00:00:47.000 It went from approximately $33.50 a share all the way down to about $31.50 a share.

00:00:52.000 So it lost like a couple of bucks in share price, which was, you know, when you aggregate it, $690 million in value.

00:00:59.000 Now it regained a lot of that by the end of trading, but it just shows you that Tucker meant a lot to the network in terms of the actual value of the network.

00:01:08.000 Tucker obviously did not see it coming.

00:01:09.000 So any talk that this was some sort of planned arrangement between Tucker Carlson and Fox News, that he was ready to go with, for example, another media outlet, or that he was readying a presidential run, that appears to be belied by the simple fact that on Friday, Tucker literally said, we'll see you here on Monday.

00:01:24.000 And what we are hearing from people who are in the know is that Tucker was prepping his show as of Monday morning, getting ready for Monday night, when the news came down that he had been summarily fired from Fox News.

00:01:34.000 Here are the last moments of Tucker's show.

00:01:36.000 Apparently forever, on Friday from Fox News.

00:01:40.000 Tyler Burrell joins us in studio.

00:01:42.000 He will deliver literally anywhere.

00:01:44.000 Tyler, it is so great to meet you in person.

00:01:46.000 Got a couple pies for you.

00:01:47.000 Couple Cocos pies.

00:01:48.000 So we at, these are from Cocos, established 1978.

00:01:51.000 This is sausage.

00:01:53.000 That's sausage.

00:01:54.000 And pineapple.

00:01:55.000 And really quick, as a pizza professional, do you look down on this order?

00:01:58.000 I do, I think that, I consider a criminal.

00:02:01.000 I knew you did!

00:02:04.000 That's it for us for the week.

00:02:06.000 We'll be back.

00:02:07.000 By the way, the entire episode of Let Them Eat Bugs, not quite as good as pizza, streaming now on Fox Station.

00:02:12.000 Use the promo code ORIGINALS for 30 days free.

00:02:15.000 And we'll be back on Monday.

00:02:16.000 In the meantime, have the best weekend with the ones that you love.

00:02:19.000 That was the end of Tucker Carlson's show.

00:02:21.000 So first of all, I mean, you can you can see Tucker, a really, really good and talented broadcaster, very exciting to watch on air, really upbeat and interesting very often, but capable of doing anger in a way that pretty much no one else in the media is capable of doing it.

00:02:34.000 This is why he was so beloved by his fans.

00:02:36.000 And again, he's not dead.

00:02:37.000 He's going to come back in some other form and he's going to be wildly successful when he does.

00:02:40.000 He's an incredibly talented person.

00:02:42.000 But this, of course, raises questions as to why exactly he was ousted when Fox News covered the ouster.

00:02:46.000 They basically just read the statement on the air.

00:02:48.000 Here was Harris Faulkner doing that.

00:02:50.000 We have some news from within our Fox family.

00:02:54.000 Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have mutually agreed to part ways.

00:02:59.000 Tucker's last show was this past Friday.

00:03:02.000 And starting tonight, Fox News Tonight will air live at 8 p.m.

00:03:06.000 Eastern.

00:03:07.000 It will be an interim show with rotating Fox News personalities until a new host is named.

00:03:13.000 We want to thank Tucker Carlson for his service to the network as a host, And prior to that, as a long-term contributor.

00:03:21.000 And that was the entirety of Fox News' coverage of the issue when it first broke.

00:03:25.000 This follows hard on Tucker giving what was a pretty spectacular address to the Heritage

00:03:29.000 Foundation on Sunday night.

00:03:30.000 Again, no indication that he knew what was coming on Monday.

00:03:34.000 And again, it's Tucker's stark ability to characterize the difference between good and

00:03:38.000 evil in politics that's made him so wildly popular with his audience.

00:03:41.000 Here was some of his speech to Heritage Foundation.

00:03:43.000 I know somebody who was in the room during the speech said it was one of the best after-dinner speeches they'd ever seen.

00:03:47.000 Here was Tucker on Sunday night.

00:03:50.000 So when I started at Heritage, the presumption was, and this is a very Anglo-American assumption, that the debates we're having are kind of rational debates about the way to get to mutually agreed upon outcomes.

00:04:01.000 If you have people who are saying, I have an idea, let's castrate the next generation. 1.00

00:04:04.000 Let's sexually mutilate children. 1.00

00:04:05.000 I'm sorry, that's not a political debate. 1.00

00:04:07.000 What?

00:04:07.000 It has nothing to do with politics.

00:04:09.000 What's the outcome we're desiring here?

00:04:12.000 If you say, well, you know, I think abortion is always bad. 0.98

00:04:16.000 Well, I think sometimes it's necessary.

00:04:17.000 That's a debate I'm familiar with.

00:04:20.000 But if you're telling me that abortion is a positive good, what are you saying? 0.97

00:04:24.000 Well, you're arguing for child sacrifice, obviously.

00:04:27.000 When people, or crowds of people, or the largest crowd of people at all, which is the federal government, the largest human organization in human history, decide that the goal is to destroy things.

00:04:41.000 Destruction for its own sake.

00:04:42.000 Hey, let's tear it down.

00:04:45.000 What you're watching is not a political movement.

00:04:48.000 It's evil.

00:04:49.000 Again, it was Tucker's ability to characterize good and evil that made him so wildly popular.

00:04:53.000 As I said before, Tucker is really, really talented.

00:04:57.000 He's going to land on his feet somewhere.

00:04:59.000 Maybe it'll be at a place that you've heard of, maybe it'll be a place that you haven't.

00:05:02.000 Whatever it is that comes next, Tucker is going to be successful at it because again,

00:05:05.000 he's a very, very talented guy with a large crowd of people who really like him.

00:05:08.000 This all requires us to ask the question, why did this happen?

00:05:11.000 It's particularly true given the fact that he re-upped with the network back in February of 2021.

00:05:15.000 According to Deadline Hollywood, this is February 2021.

00:05:17.000 There's a lot more Tucker Carlson coming.

00:05:19.000 The top rated Fox News channel host has just signed a new multi-year deal to bolster sister streaming service Fox Nation with a video podcast series and Tucker Carlson specials.

00:05:27.000 So, what exactly happened?

00:05:28.000 Because he's still under contract and then he was summarily fired.

00:05:30.000 I mean, that is pretty clearly what happened here.

00:05:31.000 We'll drop a trio of new shows every week.

00:05:33.000 Umbrella Company, Fox News Media said on Wednesday, and this was again a multi-year contract

00:05:38.000 that was designed to allow Tucker to expand his footprint not just to the network itself,

00:05:42.000 but also to the streaming platform that was Fox Nation.

00:05:46.000 So what exactly happened?

00:05:47.000 Because he's still under contract and then he was summarily fired.

00:05:50.000 I mean, that is pretty clearly what happened here.

00:05:51.000 We'll get to the actual details of the firing and what may have laid behind it in just one moment first.

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00:06:59.000 Okay, so, what lay behind this?

00:07:01.000 So, a few different theories.

00:07:02.000 Theory number one is that Tucker was basically ousted as a consequence of the Dominion lawsuit.

00:07:08.000 This is the theory of the Washington Post.

00:07:10.000 The Washington Post says Carlson's private messages were among hundreds of internal

00:07:13.000 communications made public in the course of the Dominion lawsuit that caused angst and embarrassment

00:07:17.000 for Fox and heightened the company's legal jeopardy. Fox ultimately agreed to pay Dominion

00:07:22.000 $800 million or so. Among other comments, Carlson expressed skepticism of the election fraud claims

00:07:26.000 made on air by attorneys affiliated with President Trump and declared that he passionately hates the

00:07:30.000 former president whose rise to power had been cheered by Fox in order to avoid people like

00:07:34.000 Tucker having to testify or Judge Jeanine having to testify or a wide variety of other Fox News

00:07:39.000 Hosed having to testify.

00:07:40.000 Fox News instead decided to, and this would be Rupert Murdoch, decided to sign an $800 million check to Dominion.

00:07:46.000 But according to the Washington Post, it wasn't those comments that were so bothersome.

00:07:49.000 It was Carlson's comments about Fox management, as revealed in the Dominion case, that played a role in his departure from Fox, according to a person familiar with the company's thinking.

00:07:56.000 Quote, Do the executives understand how much credibility and trust we've lost with our audience?

00:08:00.000 Carlson wrote to a colleague in a message a day after Fox, like the other media outlets, called the election for Joe Biden.

00:08:05.000 This is a sentiment echoed by others at Fox in the fall of 2020, as even network officials who disbelieved Trump's election fraud conspiracy theories, fretted that countering them strongly would alienate their conservative viewers.

00:08:14.000 So in other words, a lot of the Fox News executives were looking at the fact that Tucker really didn't believe a lot of the things that were being alleged by Sidney Powell and Trump's legal team, but also was deeply worried about how that was going to play with the Fox News audience and all that had now come out.

00:08:27.000 In another message, Carlson referred to management with an expletive, quote,

00:08:30.000 those efforts are destroying our credibility. He later wrote, a combination of incompetent

00:08:33.000 liberals and top leadership with too much pride is back down is what is happening.

00:08:37.000 Carlson did not have a farewell show, obviously.

00:08:40.000 So this is theory number one, is that this was the natural aftereffect of the Dominion lawsuit, that basically everybody who was involved in any sort of credibility-giving to the election fraud narrative is now going to be on the line.

00:08:54.000 And to back that theory, you have the fact that Fox News also parted ways with Dan Bongino just last week.

00:09:01.000 Dan Bongino, of course, had been very vocal in his support not only for President Trump, but also had wanted to do an interview a couple of years ago in which Trump actually aired his grievances about the election.

00:09:09.000 The Fox News brass cut the interview and Dan actually went on the air and he said, you shouldn't cut the interview with the former president of the United States.

00:09:15.000 He's the former president of the United States.

00:09:16.000 It was just a few days ago that Fox News parted ways with Bongino.

00:09:20.000 So it's hard not to see Carlson's ouster in the context of Dan Bongino also being ousted as of last week.

00:09:27.000 Now, that's not the only possible theory.

00:09:29.000 Theory number two is that there are ancillary issues that we actually are only now becoming aware of.

00:09:35.000 According to the Los Angeles Times, and this would have been Steve Battaglio reporting as a staff writer over there, people familiar with the situation who are not authorized to comment publicly said the decision to fire Carlson came straight from the top from Rupert Murdoch directly.

00:09:47.000 Carlson's exit is related, according to them, to the discrimination lawsuit filed by Abby Grossberg.

00:09:51.000 There's another lawsuit that has been on the books.

00:09:53.000 She's a producer fired by the network last month, according to certain people.

00:09:56.000 Carlson's senior executive producer, Justin Wells, has also been terminated, according to people familiar with the matter.

00:10:02.000 So what exactly was in that particular lawsuit?

00:10:04.000 A bunch of allegations were in that particular lawsuit.

00:10:07.000 None of them particularly pretty.

00:10:08.000 According to Yahoo News, just about a month ago, that discrimination lawsuit included allegations that constant bullying and gaslighting caused the producer so much stress and anxiety, her stomach ulcers flared up and she was in excruciating pain, and that she'd been discriminated against based on gender, religion, and disability.

00:10:24.000 Discovery may have uncovered other ugly messages, perhaps.

00:10:28.000 Maybe this is what Fox News was worried about.

00:10:31.000 The network said in a statement, Fox News media engaged an independent outside counsel to immediately investigate the concerns raised by Ms. 0.93

00:10:35.000 Grossberg, which were made following a critical performance review.

00:10:39.000 Grossberg's complaint contains allegations that Fox's lawyers pressured her to provide misleading testimony in the Dominion claim, in the Dominion voting claim.

00:10:47.000 Fox News says her allegations in connection with the Dominion case are baseless.

00:10:49.000 We will vigorously defend Fox against all of her legal claims, which have no merit.

00:10:53.000 So again, the allegation here is that a former Tucker producer was alleging anti-Semitism and sexism and maybe this had some legal ramifications.

00:11:02.000 So that is theory number two, is that it was sort of ancillary issues, that producer's lawsuit.

00:11:06.000 Another possibility was that the network was very upset with the possibility of additional legal liability created, they think, by Tucker Carlson.

00:11:13.000 For example, Ray Epps, who you'll recall from Tucker's show, he was a Texas man who, the day before the actual storming of the Capitol building, urged people to enter the Capitol building.

00:11:24.000 A lot of people on the right have suggested that he was some sort of FBI plant.

00:11:27.000 And Epps was interviewed Sunday on 60 Minutes.

00:11:29.000 He suggested that Tucker had targeted him.

00:11:32.000 Maybe Fox News didn't want to be hit with another lawsuit.

00:11:34.000 That's quite possible after suffering an $800 million settlement, which is actually the largest media settlement in American history so far as we are aware.

00:11:42.000 Again, that is a possibility as well. There's also talk about the possibility that the network

00:11:47.000 was upset about Tucker's coverage of January 6th. Tucker had done a special not all that long ago.

00:11:53.000 We covered some of Tucker's allegations in the special. For example, the fact that the so-called

00:11:58.000 buffalo horned man, whatever his name was, QAnon Shaman, that he was walking around the building

00:12:05.000 shadowed by a bunch of cops.

00:12:06.000 And that looked kind of different than the idea that he was kind of running around the building threatening people physically and all of this.

00:12:11.000 And Tucker had sort of downplayed the nature of January 6th.

00:12:14.000 Maybe the brass didn't like that very much.

00:12:17.000 But what this all comes down to is it looks as though Fox News is quote unquote cleaning house.

00:12:21.000 And that can be, you know, for bad.

00:12:23.000 There are a lot of people who not only love Tucker, but also think that Tucker says things that other people won't.

00:12:28.000 Which is true, Tucker does say things that other people won't.

00:12:31.000 You can see a fundamental divide has emerged, obviously, inside the Fox Corporation, and that was pretty clear from what members of the Fox News brass were saying during election 2020.

00:12:40.000 There's a pretty clear divide between some of the top brass, that'd be Rupert Murdoch, maybe Lachlan Murdoch, Paul Ryan, some of the other people who are sort of at the top of the Fox brass, and some of the other people who are Again, near the top, more sympathetic to the perspectives of the hosts who, for example, did not want Arizona called in favor of Joe Biden.

00:12:58.000 I've been Suzanne Scott and Jay Wallace, for example.

00:13:01.000 We'll get to that momentarily.

00:13:02.000 First.

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00:14:13.000 Okay, so if you look back at the text of the various members of sort of the Fox News brass, they had very different opinions on sort of what was happening in 2020 and a lot of what seems like happened with Tucker on Monday morning.

00:14:24.000 Seems like it was fallout from 2020, just late, and as a result of the Dominion judgment.

00:14:29.000 So for example, if you look at the text of Rupert Murdoch at the time, he texted Suzanne Scott, who's the CEO of Fox News, January 21st, 2021, saying, still getting mud thrown at us.

00:14:39.000 Maybe Sean and Laura went too far.

00:14:41.000 All very well for Sean to tell you who's in despair about Trump, but what did he tell his viewers?

00:14:44.000 So Murdoch apparently was not happy with the behavior of some of the hosts with regard to the division between what they were saying to the viewers and what they were saying sort of behind the scenes.

00:14:53.000 Lachlan Murdoch, who is the Fox Corp CEO and Rupert's son, he said, News guys have to be careful how they cover this rally.

00:14:58.000 The narrative should be this is a huge celebration of the president.

00:15:03.000 That was a message that he sent Suzanne Scott November 14, 2020 about coverage of a Trump rally in which two Fox journalists had contradicted election fraud claims.

00:15:10.000 Paul Ryan also suggested that the 2020 election coverage was an inflection point for the company and a chance for people to tell the truth about what they actually thought about the election fraud claims.

00:15:19.000 Meanwhile, Suzanne Scott took the position that there were reporters who had not gone

00:15:24.000 along with some of the election fraud claims and that she was skeptical that this would

00:15:28.000 not harm them with the audience.

00:15:29.000 What I can't keep defending these reporters who don't understand our viewers and how to

00:15:31.000 handle stories.

00:15:32.000 The audience feels like we crapped on them.

00:15:34.000 We've damaged their trust and believe in us.

00:15:35.000 We can fix this, but we can't smirk at our viewers any longer.

00:15:39.000 So again, there's all this sort of back and forth inside the network, and you can see

00:15:42.000 the various points of view that we're taking shape.

00:15:45.000 And Tucker was at the center of that, because at the same time that he said, quote, we are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights is January 4th, 2021.

00:15:52.000 I truly can't wait.

00:15:52.000 At the same time, he was obviously giving a lot of airtime to members of Trump's campaign, including people like Sidney Powell.

00:15:59.000 Now, again, this is a very confused time.

00:16:03.000 Fox didn't take a particularly strong line as to what it wished to see said and what it didn't wish to see said.

00:16:09.000 Bottom line is that it's unclear right now whether this is simply a matter of Tucker Carlson or whether Fox News is attempting to draw some new lines about how they covered the issues.

00:16:17.000 Whatever the case may be.

00:16:18.000 And again, I think all of these points of view are arguable.

00:16:21.000 Whatever the case may be, Tucker was a major asset to Fox News.

00:16:25.000 It's not going to be so easy to fill that time slot.

00:16:27.000 That is a very difficult time slot to fill.

00:16:29.000 Again, he was the number one host in prime time for Fox News.

00:16:33.000 Now, there are people who are immediately chortling over the impact of this.

00:16:36.000 The New York Times has been chortling over the impact of this, suggesting that Fox News is in serious trouble or that Tucker's in serious trouble.

00:16:41.000 The truth is both will go on to success in their various areas of endeavor.

00:16:44.000 This is not the first rodeo for Fox News.

00:16:46.000 Fox News fired Bill O'Reilly.

00:16:48.000 Back when he had about 3.7 million viewers a night, Tucker has about 2.9 million viewers a night.

00:16:52.000 Bill O'Reilly went on to make a lot of money in other endeavors, and Fox News went on to, you know, continue to be wildly successful.

00:16:58.000 Fox News has parted ways in the past with some friends of mine, people like Glenn Beck, people like Megyn Kelly.

00:17:04.000 Again, those are all business decisions, and Fox News went on to continue to have wide-ranging viewership.

00:17:09.000 But you can see a lot of people, of course, very angry and very upset about Tucker Carlson being ousted from Fox News, and that is a direct response to the fact that Tucker, again, is an incredibly compelling performer.

00:17:19.000 He is somebody who has a unique point of view on politics, and I don't agree with Tucker a lot.

00:17:23.000 There are times I've talked about on the show where I strenuously disagree with Tucker.

00:17:26.000 If you want to see some other times where I strenuously disagree with Tucker, all you have to do is watch the Sunday special episode I did with him where we disagreed on everything from foreign policy to government interventionism in the American economy.

00:17:36.000 He, for example, thinks the government should intervene strongly in the American economy, give subsidies, prevent technological developments in order to preserve certain types of jobs.

00:17:43.000 I don't think that.

00:17:45.000 Whatever Tucker is, he's certainly a compelling presence.

00:17:48.000 And he does, when it comes to social issues particularly, have an extraordinary amount of moral clarity.

00:17:52.000 And it'll be interesting to see how Fox News tries to, how they try to fill that gap.

00:17:57.000 So when I say that the left is celebrating Tucker Carlson being fired from Fox News, I mean literally celebrating by doing the wave.

00:18:02.000 So the intellectual luminaries over at The View led the charge here.

00:18:06.000 Again, combined IQ, lower than the pen I currently hold in my hand.

00:18:10.000 If it were possible to have negative IQ points, The View would somehow achieve that signal.

00:18:14.000 Here's what it looked like on The View when they found out that Tucker had been let go.

00:18:18.000 Word has just come down that Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways.

00:18:24.000 They thank him for his service to the network and House of Reply are contributing. Wave.

00:18:33.000 Now they're doing the wave.

00:18:39.000 They're literally doing the wave right now.

00:18:41.000 That's the first time some of these people have stood up in at least 11 years.

00:18:45.000 So that is very exciting.

00:18:48.000 So yeah, great stuff there from those of you.

00:18:51.000 By the way, they're very excited about a network they never watch.

00:18:54.000 They're really, really excited about it.

00:18:55.000 Like, if somebody got fired on MSNBC, a network I never watch, I wouldn't be like, oh my god, that's amazing!

00:19:00.000 I'd be like, uh, I never watch that network, I don't care.

00:19:02.000 It just shows how much the left is bewildered and confused and upset by the presence of an alternative point of view, like Fox News in the first place, and certainly Tucker.

00:19:10.000 CNN, of course, was very excited about all of this.

00:19:12.000 CNN's Oliver Darcy, he says that the reason that Tucker was fired is because he was leading them in an extremist direction, which of course was always going to be CNN's line on this.

00:19:21.000 This raises a lot of questions about whether the network potentially is trying to at least rein in some of the more extreme people on the channel.

00:19:29.000 I mean, of course, Tucker Carlson, the most extreme probably on that channel.

00:19:34.000 I should also note, John, why this is so important.

00:19:36.000 I mean, Tucker Carlson outside Donald Trump really was the person commanding the GOP, really directing it.

00:19:42.000 You saw Republican lawmakers, prominent Republican lawmakers, often grovel at his feet.

00:19:47.000 Ted Cruz.

00:19:48.000 Ted Cruz, for instance, groveled at his feet, and others, because they were afraid of him going on his primetime show and lashing out at them.

00:19:56.000 So this is not only huge news in the world of media, but also in the world of politics, where he was really pushing the GOP in that extremist direction.

00:20:05.000 And Tucker is not going to go away here.

00:20:07.000 Despite CNN really reveling in all of this, Tucker's not going to go away.

00:20:09.000 I mean, there were immediate rumors that Tucker might run for president.

00:20:11.000 Now, I think that that is a very sketchy rumor, given the fact that, again, Tucker Carlson tends to be a private person.

00:20:19.000 He's somebody who really enjoys his private life, and he doesn't want to see that up on a screen.

00:20:22.000 I'm not sure that he wants to go head-to-head with Donald Trump, a man who has no limits when it comes to attacking his political opponents.

00:20:27.000 But It is galling to watch the members of the left-wing media, who've been wildly dishonest for years about Trump, about Tucker, about pretty much everybody, now kind of reveling in it.

00:20:35.000 The New York Times re-ran a piece today titled, The Times Did an Investigation into How Tucker Carlson Stoked White Fear to Conquer Cable.

00:20:42.000 This, of course, is their routine.

00:20:44.000 Is that anybody they don't like is a white supremacist?

00:20:46.000 That is the way all of this works.

00:20:49.000 I'll repeat it again.

00:20:50.000 Tucker's an immensely talented guy.

00:20:51.000 He's going to go on to have immense success in whatever he chooses to do next.

00:20:54.000 This is not the end of Fox News.

00:20:56.000 It's not remotely the end of Fox News, because again, Fox News still is the primetime destination for the vast majority of America's really motivated conservatives.

00:21:05.000 Is it going to harm Fox News?

00:21:06.000 Certainly with Tucker's viewers, it will.

00:21:08.000 But again, the kind of rule in conservative media is that Fox News continues to truck on and ex-hosts, they continue to have second careers as well.

00:21:16.000 So this is hardly the end for either of them.

00:21:19.000 In just a second, we'll get to the other big media firing of the day.

00:21:21.000 And this one is actually kind of funny.

00:21:22.000 We'll get to that momentarily first.

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00:22:33.000 bullandbranch.com.

00:22:36.000 So, Tucker, his firing was, of course, the biggest news yesterday.

00:22:40.000 The second biggest news yesterday was the firing of Don Lemon.

00:22:43.000 So, Don Lemon of CNN was finally let go.

00:22:46.000 The first take on this was actually Don Lemon himself.

00:22:50.000 So he put out a statement reading, quote, I was informed this morning by my agent that I have been terminated by CNN.

00:22:54.000 I am stunned.

00:22:56.000 After 17 years at CNN, I would have thought that someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly.

00:23:00.000 At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network.

00:23:05.000 It is clear there are some larger issues at play.

00:23:07.000 With that said, I want to thank my colleagues and the many teams I've worked with for an incredible run.

00:23:11.000 They're the most talented journalists in the business, and I wish them all the best.

00:23:16.000 So, uh, he's obviously implying when he says there are some larger issues at play.

00:23:19.000 Presumably he is implying that sexism is to blame because he is a gay man, or racism is to blame because he is a black man, or whatever else it is that Don Lemon is going to claim about why he was fired.

00:23:29.000 The reason he was fired is because he was getting lower ratings than some forms of colon cancer, and also because he had a really bad habit of doing creepy and weird things to his co-hosts. 0.57

00:23:38.000 That is the reason why, I mean, honestly, the fact that it took him this long to be fired is insane.

00:23:42.000 I mean, there were profiles of him years ago, like, hitting on waiters at restaurants.

00:23:46.000 In the profile.

00:23:47.000 And I was like, oh, that's totally fine.

00:23:48.000 What's the big deal?

00:23:49.000 Now, I have to just point out the radical irony of Don Lemon being fired at CNN and still losing to Tucker Carlson.

00:23:56.000 That's hysterically funny.

00:23:58.000 So not only does Don Lemon get fired, but still in the cable competition for who actually cares about Don Lemon getting fired, he still comes in second to Tucker Carlson.

00:24:07.000 The great irony, of course, is fast forward, you know, several decades and they're definitely going to die on the same day, right?

00:24:14.000 And then Tucker is going to be above the fold and Don Lemon's going to be on page like A-17 is the way this is going.

00:24:21.000 It's only God could have a sense of humor like this when it comes to Don Lemon, because that is really, really funny.

00:24:27.000 CNN immediately said that Don Lemon was inaccurate.

00:24:31.000 Which is great!

00:24:31.000 So Don Lemon getting fact-checked by his own network.

00:24:34.000 Remember, this was their news anchor who can't even tell the truth about how he was fired.

00:24:38.000 According to CNN PR, quote, the statement is inaccurate.

00:24:41.000 He was offered an opportunity to meet with management, but instead released a statement on Twitter.

00:24:45.000 So they said, do you want to come in and talk about it?

00:24:47.000 He's like, nope.

00:24:48.000 And then he released a statement saying, I was never even contacted.

00:24:50.000 So great job, CNN, for delegating.

00:24:53.000 Truly amazing job delegating all of this to all your news coverage to a person who then

00:25:00.000 lied about his own firing such that you had to correct the record.

00:25:04.000 Really 17 years of news coverage so bad that even when he leaves, CNN has to fact check

00:25:09.000 him retroactively about leaving.

00:25:12.000 And that's the person you trusted to read the news for you guys.

00:25:14.000 Just slow clap for CNN.

00:25:15.000 They're doing an amazing, amazing job.

00:25:16.000 Here's what it looked like on air when CNN announced the ouster of Don Lemon.

00:25:20.000 Don Lemon and CNN have parted ways.

00:25:23.000 This is according to a memo that was sent out to CNN employees.

00:25:27.000 CNN and Don have parted ways.

00:25:29.000 Don will forever be a part of the CNN family and we thank him for his contributions over the past 17 years.

00:25:36.000 We wish him well and we will be cheering him on.

00:25:39.000 In his future endeavors, and then it goes on to say that the network is committed to the morning show seen in this morning, which of course is hosted or was hosted by Don Lemon as well as Caitlin Collins and Poppy Harlow.

00:25:51.000 Now, this statement is coming from CNN CEO Chris Licht.

00:25:55.000 It does not detail what happened, what led to Don's departure, but Don Lemon is no longer with CNN.

00:26:05.000 Oh, time to play the sad trombone music from The Price is Right.

00:26:08.000 Here's the last things Don Lemon said on air before his untimely demise.

00:26:13.000 Kayla and I agree on this. When someone calls, I'm like, what's wrong? What do you want?

00:26:16.000 Don't call.

00:26:17.000 What do you call? Yeah, just text me.

00:26:18.000 Just saying hi, guys.

00:26:19.000 Oh, no, no, no. Don't ever do that to me. You'll freak me out. No, no, no.

00:26:22.000 Or the people who FaceTime out of the blue. I'm like, I'm not answering a FaceTime.

00:26:26.000 Yeah, you're like, this is suspicious. All right, Harry and Tim, thank you so much.

00:26:30.000 Thank you. Thanks.

00:26:30.000 All right. And thank you for joining us this morning. CNN News Central starts right after

00:26:34.000 this break.

00:26:34.000 Bye, everyone.

00:26:36.000 Well, bye. So much for Don Lemon.

00:26:40.000 Okay, by the way, there was one other person who got ousted from the media over the course of the last 48 hours.

00:26:44.000 Apparently, the CEO of NBCUniversal has also been ousted.

00:26:47.000 His name is Jeff Schell.

00:26:48.000 You haven't heard of him, even though he's probably more powerful than any of these people.

00:26:50.000 He was the CEO of NBCUniversal.

00:26:53.000 Apparently, he was ousted for inappropriate conduct with CNBC anchor and senior international correspondent Hadley Gamble.

00:26:59.000 NBCU parent Comcast announced today that Shell was leaving after an investigation by outside counsel.

00:27:04.000 Shell acknowledged, quote, I had an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company, which I deeply regret.

00:27:08.000 Apparently, Deadline Hollywood learned that Shell had a relationship with Campbell, which started about 11 years ago and continued sporadically up until a couple of years ago when it ended.

00:27:16.000 The complaint was lodged in the last month.

00:27:18.000 Unclear why that would actually get the guy fired, but so long and happy trails to the head of NBCUniversal will also be replaced.

00:27:27.000 Now, in the world of politics, Somebody got fired too.

00:27:30.000 That person would be Susan Rice.

00:27:32.000 So Susan Rice is out. 0.94

00:27:34.000 She was the domestic policy advisor to Joe Biden.

00:27:39.000 So very often I get asked, like, who is the person standing behind Joe Biden?

00:27:42.000 Who's designing Joe Biden's really, really bad policy?

00:27:44.000 There are several answers.

00:27:46.000 Ron Klain, before he left, as he was the White House Chief of Staff.

00:27:49.000 But Susan Rice was definitely near the top of the list. 0.98

00:27:51.000 And now she is gone.

00:27:52.000 According to the Washington Post, Susan Rice will step down as White House Domestic Policy Advisor, President Biden announced on Monday, praising her work on some of the most divisive issues for his administration, including immigration and healthcare.

00:28:05.000 So why exactly was she ousted? 0.80

00:28:07.000 Well, according to Joe Biden, she wasn't ousted.

00:28:09.000 Everything was great.

00:28:10.000 Biden said, So she sufficiently botched foreign policy under Barack Obama. 1.00

00:28:12.000 I knew that and what we all know now after more than two years of her steady leadership

00:28:16.000 at the Domestic Policy Council, it's clear there's no one more capable and more determined

00:28:19.000 to get important things done for the American people than Susan Rice. 0.87

00:28:23.000 So she sufficiently botched foreign policy under Barack Obama. 0.99

00:28:26.000 Then she botched domestic policy under Joe Biden. 1.00

00:28:30.000 She will step down in late May, according to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

00:28:34.000 Rice has not specified what her plans were after leaving the White House.

00:28:38.000 She was responsible for overseeing policy, including economic mobility, health care, and immigration.

00:28:43.000 She did an amazing job on all three of those things. 0.76

00:28:45.000 Economic mobility, she did an amazing job by helping to craft a policy that has led to 40-year highs in inflation, as well as a stagnating economy.

00:28:52.000 On health care, she's done an amazing job helping to oversee a complete botchery of COVID, which has led to extraordinary levels of excess death, plus a fentanyl crisis that has taken hundreds of thousands of lives.

00:29:02.000 And on immigration, she has had her hand in the worst immigration crisis in the modern American era, which is really exciting. 1.00

00:29:09.000 By the way, how bad is the immigration crisis?

00:29:12.000 Well, apparently, according to National Review and Jim Garrity, in 2021, as images of children sleeping under foil blankets in overflow centers dominated the news, Susan Rice, the White House's head of domestic policy, told staff members she was frustrated with the situation.

00:29:25.000 Ms.

00:29:26.000 Rice vented in a note she scrimbled on a memo detailing the position of advocates who believed a pandemic-era border closure was compelling parents to send unaccompanied children, sometimes called UCs.

00:29:35.000 This is BS, Rice wrote, according to a memo.

00:29:38.000 What is leading to voluntary separation is our generosity to unaccompanied children.

00:29:42.000 In a statement, Ms.

00:29:43.000 Patterson, the White House spokeswoman, said any suggestion Rice felt constrained by the demands of the law was false, and she was proud to be doing the right thing and treating children with dignity and respect.

00:29:51.000 Well, last week, the New York Times reported that, quote, thousands of children have ended up in punishing jobs across the country, working overnight in slaughterhouses, replacing roofs, operating machinery and factories, all in violation of child labor laws.

00:30:02.000 All along, there were signs of the explosive growth of this labor force and warnings the Biden administration ignored or missed, the Times has found.

00:30:08.000 So, in other words, the New York Times reporting that a bunch of those unaccompanied children who entered the country ended up being used for child labor.

00:30:14.000 Who is in charge of that?

00:30:15.000 Susan Rice.

00:30:17.000 So, NBC News says it has nothing to do with her immigration problem.

00:30:20.000 Quote, the timing of Rice's departure coincides with a growing controversy over the White House's handling of migrant children who arrive unaccompanied to the southern border.

00:30:28.000 And whether members of the White House, including Rice, ignored warnings that sponsors of migrant kids were making them work grueling jobs in violation of child labor laws.

00:30:35.000 The White House has said this is not the case.

00:30:36.000 A senior administration official said Rice is proud of her work on the border.

00:30:41.000 Or maybe they're just throwing her off the team before Joe Biden runs for re-election.

00:30:44.000 In either case, we bid a fond farewell to Susan Rice, who again was part of two administrations botching policy absolutely thoroughly.

00:30:51.000 And now the question becomes, who's running the Biden White House now?

00:30:54.000 Since obviously it ain't the old man.

00:30:57.000 Joe Biden continues to dotter around nonsensically.

00:30:59.000 We'll get to that in just one moment.

00:31:01.000 First, as you may have noticed, the economy is getting worse day by day.

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00:32:05.000 Also, if you're looking for something fascinating to watch, check out our brand new series, What We Saw, hosted by storyteller Bill Whittle.

00:32:11.000 Season one focused on Apollo 11.

00:32:13.000 Season two of What We Saw is now in full swing.

00:32:15.000 This time, Bill has set his sights on the Cold War and the tension between two superpowers that lasted for 45 years.

00:32:21.000 Episode 7 introduces us to the man who brought communism to the Western Hemisphere and repelled the Bay of Pigs invasion, Fidel Castro.

00:32:26.000 Bill makes it feel like you're there witnessing history.

00:32:28.000 It's a beautifully produced series.

00:32:30.000 And if you don't remember how scary the Cold War was because you're too young, you really should learn about it.

00:32:34.000 You have to be a member to see Cold War. 0.81

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00:32:39.000 Meanwhile, Democrats are reluctant about Joe Biden, but they have no other choice, according to The Washington Post.

00:32:44.000 Quote, the leftover pizza was divvied up.

00:32:46.000 The Girl Scout cookies had been exchanged.

00:32:48.000 The Democrats of North Fulton County sat and chatted about an issue that had been in the back of their minds for months, President Biden's future.

00:32:54.000 There was no question the people in the room, dedicated Democrats who'd gathered in Johns Creek, Georgia to talk strategy and advance the party's aims, would vote for Biden in the general election.

00:33:02.000 But the cold pizza-fueled debate was about people outside the room, the friends and family and neighbors they would try to convince, again, to vote for him and other Democrats in 2024.

00:33:10.000 Debbie Watson, a 66-year-old retired paralegal, said she thought of them when she heard on the

00:33:14.000 radio about the 80-year-old president stumbling on the stairs of Air Force One.

00:33:17.000 So again, the Democrats basically know that they are tied to the anchor that is Joe Biden.

00:33:31.000 They have no other choice.

00:33:32.000 And Joe Biden continues to kind of look terrible.

00:33:34.000 I mean, it's the simple fact of the matter.

00:33:36.000 Here was Joe Biden yesterday proclaiming that there is no such thing as your kids.

00:33:39.000 Did you know that your kids do not belong to you? 0.79

00:33:41.000 That you have no authority over your kids?

00:33:42.000 Joe Biden has authority over your kids.

00:33:44.000 In fact, the entire society has authority over your kids. 1.00

00:33:48.000 Unless we're talking about unborn kids, in which case you can just kill them willy-nilly. 0.99

00:33:51.000 Here's Joe Biden yesterday. 0.97

00:33:53.000 Rebecca put a teacher's creed into words when she said, there's no such thing as someone else's child.

00:34:00.000 No such thing as someone else's child.

00:34:03.000 Our nation's children are all our children.

00:34:05.000 Uh, nope!

00:34:07.000 Wrongo! 1.00

00:34:08.000 My kids are my kids.

00:34:09.000 You don't know their names, you don't care about them, and I'm not going to let you threaten to gender transition my children because you have perverse views about reality.

00:34:17.000 That is not going to happen.

00:34:18.000 They should run on this.

00:34:19.000 I mean, truly.

00:34:20.000 The reason why Democrats are scared of Joe Biden running, but they're also scared of him not running, is because he's a terrible candidate, but they got nothing in the background.

00:34:26.000 They have nothing going on here.

00:34:28.000 In fact, Joe Biden, he's gone hard into reelect pander mode, which is kind of amazing.

00:34:34.000 He should be swiveling to the middle, but he is not.

00:34:37.000 If he's suspicious the Republicans are going to nominate Donald Trump or they're going to go more extreme, shouldn't he be pivoting to the middle?

00:34:41.000 But he's actually not doing that.

00:34:43.000 He keeps doubling down on the extremes.

00:34:46.000 Which is why the three Tennessee state lawmakers who faced expulsion after participating in protests over last month's school shooting in Nashville, the so-called Tennessee Three, met with Joe Biden on Monday at the White House.

00:34:56.000 Remember the rule?

00:34:57.000 The rule is that if you are a left-winger who is black, then you get to go to the White House. 0.95

00:35:03.000 Those are the rules.

00:35:04.000 Or if you're a white lady who just kind of tags along, which is what one of the Tennessee Three is. 1.00

00:35:08.000 If you are, however, the family of a child who was murdered, During the actual shooting that these young legislators were protesting about, if you are the family of a victim of that, you don't go to the White House.

00:35:19.000 If you are a legislator who is suspended for violating all of the House rules in Tennessee, then you go to the White House, so long as you have the right color and you speak in very bizarrely bad MLK cosplaying tones, then you get to go to the White House.

00:35:33.000 Joe Biden said, You're standing up for our kids.

00:35:35.000 You're standing up for our communities.

00:35:37.000 What the Republican legislature did was shocking.

00:35:39.000 It was undemocratic, my gosh, Bob.

00:35:41.000 So, they get to go to the White House, which is very exciting.

00:35:44.000 Again, he's swiveling hard to the left.

00:35:45.000 your city but also across the country. Nothing is guaranteed about democracy, every generation 0.99

00:35:52.000 has to fight. You're doing just that, erroneous. So they get to go to the White House, which is

00:35:58.000 very exciting. Again, he's swiveling hard to the left, hard to the left. But guess what?

00:36:03.000 That ain't gonna work, because he is still a wildly unpopular president.

00:36:06.000 You would think at some point that he would swivel, but apparently not.

00:36:09.000 In fact, he is so confident as Joe Biden that he can continue to be Joe Biden and win, that he's still having Hunter squire him around, which is amazing.

00:36:18.000 In fact, Hunter's lawyers are so confident that Hunter can get away with anything, that the Washington Post reports a lawyer for Hunter Biden called Monday for a congressional ethics investigation into the behavior of Marjorie Taylor Greene.

00:36:29.000 Alleging that she has repeatedly directed unmoored verbal abuses at the president's son, including false accusations of human trafficking and cavorting with prostitutes. 0.63

00:36:35.000 Whoa, wait, hold up. 0.97

00:36:37.000 Where is the false accusation of cavorting with prostitutes? 0.87

00:36:40.000 He's literally in photographs cavorting with prostitutes and doing drugs, which is the part that's false.

00:36:47.000 I'm so confused.

00:36:48.000 Lawyer Abby Lowell wrote in a letter to the Office of Congressional Ethics,

00:36:51.000 Representative Greene's unethical conduct arises from continuous verbal attacks,

00:36:55.000 defamatory statements, publication of personal photos and data,

00:36:57.000 and promotion of conspiracy theories about and against Robert Hunter Biden.

00:37:02.000 None of these could possibly be deemed to be part of any legitimate legislative activity.

00:37:05.000 So I have a, this is hysterical. 0.87

00:37:10.000 Green posted photos of Hunter Biden driving his niece and her cousin on President Biden's convertible and falsely alleging he was on crack and with prostitutes.

00:37:18.000 Wait, I'm- Hold up.

00:37:20.000 Are we supposed to believe that Hunter was not on crack?

00:37:21.000 He literally, in his memoirs, talks about snorting Parmesan cheese off carpet.

00:37:26.000 Like, this is all crazy making.

00:37:28.000 Nowhere in that piece, by the way, do they actually bother to fact check Hunter Biden's claims that it is false, that this is happening.

00:37:33.000 But Joe Biden believes that he is invincible, which presumably is why he's not bothering to negotiate over the over the debt ceiling.

00:37:39.000 Even Democrats at this point are like, maybe he should make a call to Kevin McCarthy over the debt ceiling.

00:37:44.000 Right now, McCarthy, the Speaker of the House, It's about to whip into place a debt limit bill.

00:37:48.000 It hits the floor this week.

00:37:51.000 That bill basically pushes the debt limit up by 1.5 trillion dollars or a year, whichever comes first.

00:37:57.000 And it also insists on holding spending steady.

00:38:00.000 It would require Medicaid recipients to work 80 hours per month, which is 20 hours per week.

00:38:05.000 Which, um, that doesn't seem, like, particularly crazy.

00:38:09.000 Work requirements attached to welfare seems like a good idea. 0.99

00:38:11.000 We did this back in the 90s.

00:38:12.000 You know who was in favor of it?

00:38:14.000 Bill Clinton.

00:38:15.000 I believe Joe Biden was actually when he was in the Senate as well.

00:38:19.000 Other bill components included clawing back unspent pandemic funds and the IRS funding for customer service and finding tax cheats.

00:38:27.000 Also a rollback on energy tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act.

00:38:30.000 Again, none of this is particularly arguable, but Joe Biden is going to argue about it anyway.

00:38:34.000 Kareem Jean-Pierre says that this budget is cruel.

00:38:36.000 You know, forcing people to work before we just give them unending amounts of money is apparently a form of cruelty now.

00:38:42.000 We've been very, very clear.

00:38:44.000 It is unreasonable to put forth what they did last week.

00:38:48.000 It is cruel.

00:38:49.000 That piece of legislation is cruel.

00:38:52.000 And so they need to really make sure that we don't go into default.

00:38:57.000 And that's what they're asking to do.

00:38:59.000 They're asking to hold our economy hostage and go into default.

00:39:03.000 And that's something that we're going to continue to call out.

00:39:06.000 Oh, they're holding the economy hostage.

00:39:08.000 I noticed that you already shot the hostage.

00:39:11.000 That's one of the things that I noticed.

00:39:12.000 The economy is trashed because of you.

00:39:14.000 According to the Wall Street Journal, the panic phase of the past month's banking crisis may be ending.

00:39:19.000 The big question now is how much of a hit the economy faces from a lending pullback.

00:39:22.000 The answer may not be clear for months.

00:39:25.000 Because as it turns out, depositors are not actually depositing in the banks.

00:39:29.000 They're keeping their money out.

00:39:30.000 They're afraid of it.

00:39:32.000 A slow and steady erosion of deposits at small and mid-sized banks could continue now that long-time consumers have awakened to the potential to earn more on their money by moving it to money market mutual funds.

00:39:42.000 By the way, I've done some of that personally.

00:39:43.000 I know a bunch of people who have done that.

00:39:45.000 The rates at the money market mutual funds are higher than the rates at the banks.

00:39:49.000 So what you're going to see is lending drying up.

00:39:52.000 All of this because, again, Joe Biden inflated the currency and inflated the economy.

00:39:56.000 But we're supposed to believe that this is a guy with economic specialty and we should listen to him about spending more money via the debt ceiling increase.

00:40:03.000 Meanwhile, on foreign policy, the Biden administration just left 16,000 American citizens behind in Sudan with nobody to even care for them.

00:40:10.000 They evacuated the embassy.

00:40:12.000 You're on your own over there.

00:40:13.000 Anthony Blinken, who was last seen in the news back in 2020, apparently attempting to launder into the public view the lie that Hunter Biden's laptop was Russian disinformation.

00:40:23.000 Well, now he's back.

00:40:23.000 This time he is saying that, you know what?

00:40:25.000 Yeah, we left, you know, 16,000 people in Sudan.

00:40:29.000 But, you know, our first priority is getting our people out of Sudan. 0.99

00:40:32.000 That apparently does not include the 16,000 American citizens in Sudan.

00:40:36.000 A decision to suspend operations at the Embassy, remove our personnel from their assigned posts, is among the most difficult that any Secretary has to make.

00:40:46.000 But my first priority is the safety of our people, and I determined that the deteriorating security conditions in Khartoum pose an unacceptable risk to keeping our team there at this time.

00:40:59.000 I want to be clear that even as we have temporarily suspended operations on the ground in Khartoum, our diplomatic and consular work in Sudan continues.

00:41:08.000 Oh, does it? 0.58

00:41:08.000 Because I feel like everyone there is basically screwed. 0.58

00:41:11.000 In fact, John Kirby, who is the NSA spokesperson, he says, we literally have no idea how many people who are Americans are stuck in Sudan.

00:41:17.000 This is one of the late Don Lemon's last interviews.

00:41:21.000 Don, I want to push back on this idea that there's 16,000 Americans who want to get out.

00:41:25.000 We don't have firm estimates of the exact number of American citizens who are in Sudan.

00:41:30.000 They don't have to register with us.

00:41:31.000 They don't have to tell us that they're there.

00:41:33.000 We think the vast majority of these American citizens in Sudan, and they're not all in Khartoum, are dual nationals.

00:41:39.000 These are people who grew up in Sudan, who have families there, work there, businesses there, who don't want to leave.

00:41:45.000 So I think we need to be careful about that number.

00:41:47.000 Oh, they want to be there in Sudan.

00:41:48.000 Well, things are completely imploding around them.

00:41:50.000 They said the same thing about people in Afghanistan who got stuck there.

00:41:52.000 This administration is such a bleep show.

00:41:54.000 It is a highly vulnerable administration, obviously.

00:41:57.000 And the fact that Democrats have to run with what they got?

00:42:00.000 This is a real opening for Republicans, if Republicans take it.

00:42:03.000 Okay, quick update, business update for you.

00:42:04.000 So, remember that time that Disney was supposedly beating around the Santas?

00:42:07.000 Well now, apparently, they're having to cut employees.

00:42:10.000 They're having serious economic difficulties.

00:42:11.000 They're bringing their second round of layoffs as part of their previously unveiled plan to cut 7,000 jobs.

00:42:16.000 Employees at this round are being let go from divisions including ESPN, which is MSNBC, with footballs and basketballs.

00:42:23.000 The company, according to the Wall Street Journal, said several thousand U.S.

00:42:25.000 employees would be cut this week from multiple business areas, including entertainment and its parks, experiences, and product divisions.

00:42:32.000 It turns out that when you, you know, completely alienate your entire customer base, including parents like me, that has some actual serious side effects.

00:42:38.000 I mean, they've lost thousands of dollars from the Shapiro family, has Disney.

00:42:42.000 And they will continue to do that so long as they embrace a radical left-wing policy position.

00:42:46.000 We'll get to more on all of this in just a second.

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00:43:38.000 ZipRecruiter is indeed the smartest way to hire. 0.73

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00:43:51.000 Alrighty, time for some things I like and then some things that I hate.

00:43:54.000 So things that I like today.

00:43:56.000 So Phil Jackson.

00:43:57.000 I'm a Boston Celtics fan, which means I spent like my entire life watching the NBA and hating Phil Jackson.

00:44:03.000 He was the coach of the Lakers, of course, highly successful coach of the Lakers, who ended up tying, I believe, Red Arbok, maybe surpassing him, I can't remember, as the most championship-laden coach of all time.

00:44:15.000 Well, he actually said something I agree with, and I was never a big Phil Jackson fan because he had this whole kind of like new-agey thing in which he would quote Zen and talk about how, you know, crystals were going to make his team work better.

00:44:27.000 Meanwhile, Tex Winter was in the back actually doing the triangle offense and all of this.

00:44:31.000 My feeling was always that when you are blessed to coach a team with like Kobe and Shaq on it or Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen on it, you have a pretty good shot at the champ—in any case.

00:44:39.000 Put aside my criticisms of Phil Jackson for now, because he actually said something correct.

00:44:43.000 Phil Jackson was on a podcast, and he had the temerity to suggest that he doesn't watch the NBA anymore because it's too political.

00:44:49.000 Here's what he had to say.

00:44:49.000 Do you feel like it just made little of the game, like it made it like a sideshow?

00:44:55.000 What do you think it was that turned you off?

00:44:58.000 Well, it was, it was, they even had slogans on the floor, on the baseline.

00:45:05.000 It was catering.

00:45:08.000 It was trying to cater to an audience or trying to bring a certain audience into play.

00:45:13.000 And they didn't know it was turning other people off, you know?

00:45:17.000 People want to see sports as non-political.

00:45:20.000 Obviously what he's saying is true. 0.85

00:45:21.000 And this is coming from Phil Jackson.

00:45:22.000 Phil Jackson is no wild-eyed Republican by any stretch of the imagination.

00:45:26.000 Well, this is verboten.

00:45:28.000 You cannot say this.

00:45:28.000 So Jalyn Rose.

00:45:30.000 He then put out a statement about how terrible it was that Phil Jackson did not appreciate equality, rejecting Black Lives Matter during the NBA finals in 2020, which is what you would see.

00:45:39.000 You'd see people with, like, their jerseys, the names on the back of the jersey would be like, equality, Black Lives Matter, etc.

00:45:44.000 And here's Jalen Rose being very upset at Phil Jackson.

00:45:48.000 The same Phil Jackson that won championships with some of the greatest black athletes in the history of the game, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant made millions on their backs and off their sweat equity.

00:46:06.000 You're sitting up watching a game with your grandkids and y'all think it's funny when justice passes the ball to equal opportunity?

00:46:17.000 When somebody shows you who they are, believe them.

00:46:20.000 Well, I mean, I think it's funny because neither of those people is named that.

00:46:24.000 Justice is, there's no one named Justice, and there's no one named Equal Opportunity, so you're having bumper stickers passing the ball back and forth.

00:46:30.000 But I love the fact that because Phil Jackson works in a league in which the players are largely black, now he's a racist for not wanting it to be overtly political when he watches basketball, which is an amazing thing. 0.64

00:46:41.000 You know, keep going with this.

00:46:42.000 See how it works out for you.

00:46:43.000 Keep fringing out large segments of your audience.

00:46:45.000 When you lose Phil Jackson, guys, you're not just losing small segments of your audience, you're losing large segments of your audience.

00:46:50.000 Okay, time for some things that I hate.

00:46:52.000 Alrighty, so apparently there is a magazine called Brides Today.

00:47:01.000 And Brides Today in India has a special feature.

00:47:05.000 Oh no.

00:47:07.000 Oh no.

00:47:09.000 The special feature is of a dude, a gender non-conforming, I know this is a dude because this person has more hair than the carpet in this entire office.

00:47:19.000 I mean this person is just covered in human hair.

00:47:23.000 My goodness, the levels of testosterone running through this person's body could populate entire worlds, apparently.

00:47:29.000 And truly amazing stuff.

00:47:30.000 In conversation with Brides Today, and this is a dude who's dressed up in Indian bridal garb.

00:47:36.000 Like, as in, like, the country of India.

00:47:38.000 In conversation with Brides Today, gender non-conforming and trans-feminine author, performance artist, poet, and comedian Alok Vaid-Menon, who performs under the moniker Alok, makes a compelling case for love is love.

00:47:50.000 Here's the interview.

00:47:54.000 Okay, so first of all, lie!

00:47:57.000 Lie! 0.95

00:47:58.000 You do not look absolutely fabulous. 0.99

00:47:59.000 You look like a horror show!

00:48:01.000 I'm sorry, you're the one who put yourself on the cover of a magazine.

00:48:04.000 Once you put yourself on the cover of a magazine to declare yourself beautiful, then we all get to comment on it.

00:48:08.000 And, uh, nope!

00:48:10.000 There's gonna be a big nope right here.

00:48:14.000 My goodness.

00:48:15.000 Alex says in the U.S.

00:48:16.000 Indian diaspora, we're only expected to wear Indian ensembles for community events like weddings and holidays.

00:48:21.000 However, I like donning Indian outfits across occasions.

00:48:24.000 Indian wear is elegant, vibrant, and timeless.

00:48:26.000 Why would we deny the world its beauty?

00:48:27.000 Sometimes I combine Indian wear with Western-style clothing.

00:48:30.000 That's the fun in fashion.

00:48:31.000 It's playfulness.

00:48:32.000 It's hybridity.

00:48:33.000 Well, I mean, that isn't like, you know, there's traditional male Indian clothing as well.

00:48:39.000 Bride Today says, how would you define your personal style?

00:48:42.000 And he says, style is mobile poetry.

00:48:43.000 There are no guidelines.

00:48:45.000 I dress to be joyful, to enhance my capacity for awe or amazement in this world.

00:48:49.000 I dress for me. 0.99

00:48:49.000 Okay, first of all, that is the biggest crock of crap. 0.99

00:48:51.000 Okay, people generally dress for each other. 0.99

00:48:54.000 You know how you know this?

00:48:55.000 Because when you're at home and it's time for bed, you don't put on a tux.

00:48:58.000 You put on some PJs.

00:48:59.000 You look like a schlub because you're dressing for you now to be comfortable.

00:49:04.000 But apparently we're all supposed to believe that when you don bridal garb, Indian bridal... First of all, I wonder how Indian women feel about this sort of thing. 0.83

00:49:11.000 Apparently, okay, is that the answer here?

00:49:14.000 Because I feel like not.

00:49:15.000 Brides today said, what does love mean to you?

00:49:17.000 Quote, love is about expansion, not construction.

00:49:19.000 Permission, not prohibition.

00:49:21.000 Becoming ourselves, not betraying ourselves.

00:49:24.000 Oh, so love just means you do whatever you want.

00:49:28.000 Without any sort of limits whatsoever.

00:49:30.000 Are there no sort of limits at all?

00:49:33.000 None?

00:49:33.000 Because I feel like even you would think there are limits.

00:49:35.000 Say, children.

00:49:37.000 Or like, you know, an infinite number of sexual partners.

00:49:42.000 No?

00:49:43.000 Maybe not.

00:49:44.000 I suppose not.

00:49:44.000 Brides Today says, We have been conditioned to abide by the institution of marriage.

00:49:47.000 What are your thoughts on marriage?

00:49:49.000 And he says, I grew up in a sexist culture that conflated marriage with maturity.

00:49:52.000 One that told us we had to be married to be complete.

00:49:54.000 Marriage was less about what we wanted and more about what was expected of us.

00:49:57.000 And this caused so much grief.

00:49:59.000 Yeah, I'm sure.

00:50:00.000 You are a deeply happy individual in an individualist culture, dressing up in women's clothing and bearing your extremely hairy belly to the world on the cover of Brides Today. 0.65

00:50:09.000 Marriage is the problem, guys. 0.91

00:50:10.000 Probably, when I look at the average person, is the choice which way, Western man?

00:50:15.000 I mean, seriously.

00:50:16.000 It's like marriage on the one hand, or this.

00:50:19.000 Okay!

00:50:20.000 Your choice.

00:50:21.000 Your choice.

00:50:22.000 And so then he calls for marriage equality, of course.

00:50:24.000 And by marriage equality, he means that marriage is bad. 0.96

00:50:26.000 We just heard that.

00:50:28.000 You should recognize that for a huge number of people, when they say marriage equality, what they mean is the fundamental institution of marriage ought not be respected, it ought to be deconstructed.

00:50:34.000 And marriage equality is just one tool in that deconstruction. 0.89

00:50:37.000 Which, by the way, is one of the reasons why we moved directly from gay marriage, which is a completely different argument, to men can be women.

00:50:43.000 Because maybe the argument alone embedded itself in a broader argument, which is that marriage is bad, and once you hollow out the institution from man and woman and children, then all of a sudden, it doesn't exist anymore.

00:50:55.000 It's been completely exploded.

00:50:57.000 So, you know, well done again, Brides Today. 1.00

00:50:59.000 That is an interesting choice, Brides Today.

00:51:03.000 Okay, meanwhile, I would recommend that you not allow your children to watch a Mighty Morphin Power Rangers reunion special.

00:51:10.000 You grew up watching Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and it was, you know, like a semi-cute show with a bunch of young people who would randomly turn into spandex-wearing crime fighters and such.

00:51:22.000 Well now, the reunion is going to feature the adult sex lives of the people, which makes perfect sense. 0.99

00:51:28.000 According to Entertainment Weekly, Power Rangers star David Yost has been open about how the homophobia he faced while working on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers led him to walk away from the hit series in the 1990s.

00:51:38.000 But now, as he returns for the 30th anniversary special, once and always, he's seeing the LGBTQ community explicitly represented on the series.

00:51:46.000 I think it's great we had an element like that obviously into where we are because it's important people see representation.

00:51:50.000 Yost tells EW of a once and always scene in which Yellow Ranger Trini's daughter Min helps a man and his boyfriend fend off some of Rita Repulsa's putty patrollers.

00:51:59.000 Yes, it's very important that children see a gay couple being defended from the putty patrollers of Rita Repulsa.

00:52:08.000 Don't worry, it's not about the kids, guys. 0.69

00:52:09.000 They don't want to indoctrinate the kids in their values.

00:52:12.000 It's just about exposing kids to different lifestyles and all the rest.

00:52:15.000 The kids... No.

00:52:16.000 Again, go back to Joe Biden saying that they're not your kids.

00:52:19.000 They're all of our kids, and you know exactly where this is coming from.

00:52:22.000 Alrighty, guys.

00:52:22.000 The rest of the show continues right now.

00:52:23.000 You're not going to want to miss it.

00:52:24.000 We'll be getting into the vaunted Ben Shapiro show mailbag.

00:52:26.000 If you want to have your question answered, you have to be a member.

00:52:29.000 If you're not a member, become a member.

00:52:30.000 Use code SHAPIRO at checkout for two months free on all annual plans.

The Ben Shapiro Show - April 25, 2023

BREAKING: Tucker Carlson OUT At Fox News

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