Who is manipulating who? I was on Fox Media Buzz to discuss the media coverage of Kanye West’s controversial statements.
I think it’s important to go to the full interview of Chris Cuomo that you gave a brief of. Ye (Kanye) says, I don’t get a clean platform to tell my truth because I’m not saying what the media wants me to say. But Chris Cuomo responds, Ye, you’re definitely saying what the media wants you to say because it drives headlines and clickbait because of how outrageous it is. So here’s Chris Cuomo, who’s a journalist, mainstream media journalist of big reputation, and he’s telling Ye that the media wants him to say that.
The mainstream media is creating this by continuing to cover this ad nauseam and almost gin them up. And it’s in Chris Cuomo’s words himself that the media wants him to say this. And continuing to look at Parler. They want more headlines, they want more clickbait. So they’re part of the problem.
TRANSCRIPT
Howard Kurtz
Kanye west, having been booted off Twitter and Instagram for a blatantly antisemitic posting, is now buying Parler, a far smaller social media app favored by many conservatives. But the billionaire rapper now known as Ye has continued his offensive ranting, saying on a podcast that Jewish people own the black voice and in TV interviews.
Kanye West
When I wore the White Lives Matter t-shirt, the Jewish underground media mafia already started attacking me. They canceled my four. . . .
Chris Cuomo
So, look, there is no Jewish media cabal mafia. That is a figment of either your imagination or a projection of a prejudice.
Kanye West
Over 50% of the executives in Hollywood, the CEOs are Jewish, and these guys are no different.
Piers Morgan
Racism is racism. And you know that, I think, don’t you?
Kanye West
Yeah, obviously. That’s why I said it.
Piers Morgan
So you said it knowing it’s racist?
Kanye West
Yes. I fought fire with fire.
Howard Kurtz
Joining us now, Gayle Trotter, who hosts the Right in DC podcast, and Richard Fowler, radio talk show host and Fox News contributor. Gayle, how does Kanye West, after all the media condemnation for that deathcon-three attack on Jewish people, all caps, repeatedly keep making these antisemitic comments over and over again. Jewish underground media mafia, meaning Jews have all the money. Isn’t that wildly offensive?
Gayle Trotter
Well, I totally condemn his statements, but I think it’s important to go to the full interview of Chris Cuomo that you gave a brief of. Ye says, I don’t get a clean platform to tell my truth because I’m not saying what the media wants me to say. But Chris Cuomo responds, Ye, you’re definitely saying what the media wants you to say because it drives headlines and clickbait because of how outrageous it is. So here’s Chris Cuomo, who’s a journalist, mainstream media journalist of big reputation, and he’s telling Ye that the media wants him to say that. So I think that’s an important detail.
Howard Kurtz
Well, I want to get Richard on this, I mean, since Ye obviously have some mental health issues. And I thought we’d see an apology. There was a sort of a lamesedo apology with Piers Morgan where he said, well, it didn’t apply to all Jews. What do you make of the way the media have covered this?
Richard Fowler
Look, I think the media deserves some condemnation here, but before you go that far, you have to take Ye, or formerly known as Kanye, and you have to put them into perspective. I’m a millennial. I grew up with his catalog of music. And I think what’s happening in the media zeigist idea that we’ve got to separate these ants, how do you separate these antics from the catalog of music? And the fact that he is, one would argue, culturally iconic, right? So I think that, yes, he has culturally iconic music, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that what we’ve seen over the past couple of years is an individual who is suffering from mental illness, an individual who has used racism, has used dog whistles, has used many of different things to manipulate the media and to continue to cover it. It’s time for us to change the channel.
Howard Kurtz
By covering it less? By not covering it at all?
Richard Fowler
Yes, I think we’ve got to stop covering this at all. And that’s one of the ways that we could stop having this conversation, because right now the debate is, is he antisemitic or is he not antisemitic? And as this is happening, more and more journalists are reaching out to get more interviews with Kanye West for the ratings and to attract more eyeballs.
Howard Kurtz
So Gayle, the billionaire gets kicked off social media, as I mentioned, and he secures an agreement to buy Parler. Why? So he can continue spewing his antisemitic comments without anybody interfering?
Gayle Trotter
Well, he’s following what Trump did with Social, what Musk has done with Twitter, and he wants to drive attention to his message. And I think the important part, since it’s a media show, is why is the media reporting on this? Well, the media, they want to have it both ways. They’re always saying that when someone says something outrageous on social media and they’re censored that they should go start their own social media. And yet when someone does this, not just Ye, but these other top figures, they’re derisive about the platforms because they’re not the dominant platform. And so you see the media, when we have this censorship of different ideas, saying that we need to treat social media like a newspaper and not like townhall, and yet you see that the journalists are trying to control the message themselves.
Howard Kurtz
Well, Parler, a favorite of conservatives that itself was once sort of kicked off the net by Amazon, by Apple, by Google, is said to have about 40,000 active users. Not insignificant, but a much smaller sandbox.
Richard Fowler
Yes, and it’s definitely much a smaller sandbox. But look, here’s the truth. This ideal around censorship is one thing, but when you have somebody out there who’s spewing antisemitism, somebody who is trafficking in racism, when you have a White Lives Matter shirt and you show all of these things, right, somebody who is denying how George Floyd died, you really have to put into question, is this censorship or is this responsible media saying we won’t cover this? Because we know that when we do cover it, it brings pain to our audience and it’s not newsworthy at all.
Gayle Trotter
But they are covering it. And I’m saying there’s an eruption with the George Floyd comments. There’s an eruption of media coverage about the lawsuit that is going to take place against Ye, and you see that the media is lapping this up.
Howard Kurtz
Let me just jump in because the CEO of Parler, George Farmer, was pressed on Fox Business about this forthcoming deal.
Fox Business
I mean, we all want free speech, but do we all want antisemitism writ large on Parler?
George Farmer
Well, I mean, I don’t think Ye has given any indication that that’s going to be the case. I mean, he obviously wants a platform for his voice.
Howard Kurtz
Gayle, how does George Farmer keep constantly sidestepping the obvious question?
Gayle Trotter
Because he’s a businessman and he wants to make sure that his deal goes through, right? But I think the point is you’re continuing to not see that the mainstream media is creating this by continuing to cover this ad nauseam and almost gin them up. And it’s in Chris Cuomo’s words himself that the media wants him to say this. And continuing to look at Parler. They want more headlines, they want more clickbait. So they’re part of the problem.
Hoard Kurtz
I think you two kind of sort of agree on this, but let me–
Gayle Trotter
That might be the first time that’s ever happened.
Howard Kurtz
Let’s take a freeze frame. Let me come back to your comment about George Floyd. Kanye said on a podcast, and this prompted an apology from the host, that George Floyd died from drug abuse, not at the hands or the knee of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Could you get canceled for this sort of thing? And I mean, that’s pretty serious misrepresentation.
Richard Fowler
Of that most definitely is serious interpretation. I know I the host of that podcast, ended up pulling that podcast and going on The Breakfast Club with Charlemagne the god and apologizing the next morning. It is going to be very hard to, like I said at the top of this interview, to detangle Kanye West, because the fact his musical catalog is such a large part of our culture. But I think what we should be asking ourselves is, is this somebody that we think represents the best of who we are? And the answer to that question is clearly no. And as we do, as he does more and more interviews, to me, it seems as though he is manipulating the media, and the media is allowing it to happen.
Howard Kurtz
I can’t argue with that. Now, one of the reasons, of course, that Kanye may have picked Parler, and I know you know this is because one of his biggest defenders is Candace Owens, who happens to be married to Parlor CEO George Farmer.
