At the Media Research Center, anti-gay humor is cool because it’s humor, but Trump-bashing jokes aren’t, because it’s Trump.
In a June 17 post, Joseph Chalfant gave Steven Crowder the comedian’s pass over his homophobic shots at gay journalist Carlos Maza, while complaining about CNN host Poppy Harlow’s treatment of the story:
After the interview concluded, Harlow then turned attention to the videos conservative YouTube comedian Steven Crowder and host of Louder With Crowder, made about Vox journalist Carlos Maza:
Guys, YouTube has taken a lot of heat also for these homophobic videos, specifically ones aimed at this Vox journalist, that are still on, even after the new guidelines. I asked him directly, why is that still there, are you going to take them down? They are in the middle of reviewing their guidelines, again meeting with outside groups and they’re considering it, but they don’t know at this point. But I mean, if this is fundamental to their business, they have to make a decision about where that line is between hate and free speech.
Crowder, who is, again, a comedian, made jokes at the expense of Maza. Maza, upset that someone would dare make fun of him, then led an attempt to get Crowder de-platformed, but he only succeeded in getting Crowder’s channel demonetized. The fact that Crowder was telling jokes about Maza seemed to be entirely lost on Harlow.
The very next day, however, Kyle Drennen gave no such pass to late-night comedian Seth Meyers, apparently because Trump is a less acceptable comedy target than the LGBT community:
On Tuesday, liberal Late Night host Seth Meyers appeared on NBC’s Today show, where he was greeted with congratulations from the cast for five years of using his show to promote Democrats and bash Republicans. The morning show crew was impressed with Meyers bringing his left-wing “point of view” to the late night landscape – not that politics was lacking in that arena.
Co-host Craig Melvin particularly praised a regular segment featured by Meyers: “Congrats, by the way….Five year anniversary. That’s a big deal….My favorite segment on the show has been A Closer Look….You do it a few times a week and you take sort of this deep dive into an issue that a lot of comedians might stay away from.”
Meyers touted the series, which amounts to nothing more than to a long list of anti-Trump screeds that he has delivered on his show over the years:
[…]Night after night, Meyers’ liberal audience does receive the latest Democratic Party talking points and a healthy dose of bashing conservatives.
It seems the fact that Meyers was telling jokes about Trump was entirely lost on Drennen.
So, to sum up: ‘Trump-bashing screeds” by a non-conservative comedian are a horrible thing at the MRC, while gay-bashing screeds by a conservative comedian are totally cool.