Conservative, Inc. seems to be coming apart at the seams lately. It’s one big fight after the next. When Steven Crowder called out “Big Con” for writing contracts that appeared to take advantage of creators, everyone took cover or took a side. That noise went on for a while until Project Veritas kicked James O’Keefe out of the organization, alleging abusive behavior. We’re still trying to figure that one out. Running in the background to all of that was the story of how Eliza Bleu worked her way into the inner circles of conservative entertainment and influencers with a dubious tale of being trafficked. When questioned, she became today’s most notorious censor, striking YouTube channels and Twitter accounts that post publicly available photos and clips of her racy video vixen past.
Related: James O’Keefe Put on Leave at Project Veritas. Has There Been a Coup?
Now comes a huge lawsuit against Blaze Media, brought by talk show host Sydney Watson, who says that her time on the podcast You Are Here with Elijah Schaffer was a nightmare. Her lawyer is Townhall’s own Kurt Schlichter, another conservative media insider. In case you haven’t noticed, there’s an internal war going on inside the conservative media space. And maybe it’s time to blow it up and start over.
Crowder vs. Daily Wire
Eliza Bleu
Project Veritas expels James O’Keefe
Sydney Watson suing The BlazeI’ve been in this space of the Internet, since 2018 and I’ve never seen anything like this – let alone within a time span of three months.
COINTELPRO 2.0?
— Viva Frei (@thevivafrei) February 12, 2023
The details of Watson’s claims say that she was never informed she would be participating in a show that ended up focusing on gross sexual themes most of the time, with her — the only female on the set — just having to put up with it. She says her complaints to management went unheard and unanswered. The Blaze was founded by Glenn Beck, who tells people he’s a devout Mormon. Yet, Watson says Schaffer would get drunk before filming and also offer alcohol to guests, who would then go on to berate women during the show, making Watson feel targeted and humiliated.
Ms. Watson complained of the misconduct continually from December 2021 to August 2022 to various personnel at The Blaze, including but not limited to The Blaze CEO Tyler Cardon. Mr. Cardon and The Blaze did nothing to address the grievous misconduct, totally abdicating both their legal responsibilities to Ms. Watson and their moral responsibilities to Ms. Watson and as well as The Blaze’s own loyal audience to the point that CEO Tyler Cardon, who should have protected Ms. Watson’s rights and the integrity of the program, asked Ms. Watson to ‘get Mr. Schaffer to stop talking about dicks so much’ on the show.
If you want to read the details in the suit (and there are lots more beyond this), you can check out Red State’s coverage.
I’m more interested in what this reveals about right-wing media. Something ugly is going on in some right-wing entertainment spaces that I’ve witnessed and been a target of myself. I call it Clubhouse Syndrome. “No Girls Allowed” is basically nailed to the door and if you are allowed, you’d better be prepared to listen to anti-female rhetoric and not push back against it. If you do try to defend the women who are not lying harpies (because there are many of us), there’s only one response you can expect, and it won’t be civil. I’ve been on the receiving end of this kind of abuse very publicly for trying to have a rational discussion about men and women. It’s not fun but there’s a subset of “our side” that thinks it’s hilarious and acceptable to treat women this way.
Referenced in Watson’s lawsuit is this disgusting display of unhinged anger directed at her for doing her job by grifter Jack Murphy, who was a king of the manosphere until this moment unmasked him for the fraud he was. Schaffer did nothing to stop his guest from abusing his co-host.
WTF @jackmurphylive I know I'm risking a block, IDGAF. I stick up for you all the time(you know that), but I saw this clip, and I was astonished by your lack of composure. How am I gonna say "ya this guy is a real man" after this? Have you even apologized to @SydneyLWatson pic.twitter.com/SaJmfGAKal
— Superman, if he wasn't scared of Green rocks (@nogreenrocks) December 18, 2021
And of course, the moment a conservative woman says, “I think this is what we call misogyny,” the whole crowd boos and throws things because that word is synonymous with feminists we despise. But feminists can be wrong about almost everything and still have a point now and then. And treating women with disdain and contempt based on gender is the definition of misogyny, and it is happening on my side more than some of us want to admit.
There is an excellent argument to be made that left-wing culture has brought us to a point where men and women can no longer talk to one another without contempt. Obviously, anti-male sentiment is deep and vast on the left, which is also wrong. I’ve written a book about how wrong it is to give women credibility they don’t deserve simply because they have uteruses. Many of us women on the right have defended men vociferously when they are falsely accused. Instead of thanks and appreciation, however, these men on the right lump us into the same category as the feminists they hate and the women who have spurned them or taken them for everything they have in divorce court.
Related: Where Have All the Journalists Gone? 80,000 Words Explaining Eliza Bleu Is Peak Fake News
I get it. Some women suck. But instead of seeing that each person is an individual worthy of being measured by his or her own actions and contributions to the movement, many conservative entertainers have bought into the leftist obsession of putting people into identity groups, and their favorite identity group to bash is women.
Schaffer and other entertainers like him on the right continually bring idiots like Nick Fuentes (a man whose name I have never put in print and never will again after today) to demean conservatism through blatant misogyny and other nonsense. Why do they do this? It is not amusing to make a guy famous who thinks that having children only counts if he can have a male heir and who says that women should be treated according to brutal Taliban standards. Is this really the message you want your daughters to hear, conservatives? Is this who we are? (The irony is not lost on me that this Ethan Edwards person thinks Fuentes actually gained any points here.)
Nick Fuentes dunked on @SydneyLWatson so hard, she's still seething about his iconic, "Well, I'm having an experience with a woman right now…" 😂 @ElijahSchaffer having Nick on was the turning point! Elijah was right: They never stop coming after you if platform Nick. https://t.co/Ap7D5yINNt pic.twitter.com/WwM7vACfwh
— Ethan Edwards (@SirEthanEdwards) February 10, 2023
Conservatives have allowed this cultural poison that started on the left to infect our own spaces. We have bought into it and now believe that we hate one another and that each sex is out to destroy the other one. There is no room for debate. The science is settled on the right. Women are the devil. This is no different than the anti-male sentiment on the left that we all agree is evil.
Both sides are deeply wrong. Instead of trying to come to a rational balance on the right where we recognize that some women and some men are dangerous and evil but others aren’t, we’ve allowed the left to turn us into what they say we are. And the women on the right are forced to either agree with the blatant misogyny or at least put up with it to have a say in the conversation and a seat at the table — or face ridicule and humiliation. Already I’m hearing whisperings of “who would ever want to hire a woman as a co-host after this?” in response to Watson’s lawsuit.
There’s already a shocking lack of women in conservative entertainment spaces. Next to Laura Ingraham and Candace Owens, which other prominent females can you name whose faces you see regularly all over conservative media? Even Ann Coulter is mostly absent these days. Who has the biggest presence? Tim Pool, Steven Crowder, Matt Walsh, Ben Shapiro, Tucker Carlson, etc., and no slight on any of them. I enjoy most of them. The point is, women on the right are damn near invisible even though there are many of us out here doing a whole lot of support work for this movement.
We’re writing about these men’s documentaries and pushing their shows and helping spread their messages. And what do we get in return? Ignored if we’re lucky or shamed and humiliated if we aren’t. Just writing this opens me up to ridicule and shunning, but I’m 20 years in and I have lost my ability to care. What’s happening here is wrong. For the sake of my daughters, I will not shut up about it and I will not support any movement that fails to say women should be treated with respect in the workplace, and that doesn’t include subjecting them to drunken, hostile hosts and guests.
Related: National Media Ignores Gruesome Missouri University Murder Allegedly Committed by a Woman
I wonder if Steven Crowder knew about this before he came out to tell us about the bad contracts in conservative media that were hurting young up-and-comers. It sounds like a whole lot of people knew what Schaffer was like and said nothing for a very long time. He was eventually let go from Blaze Media for another incident with another woman who says he groped her while he was drunk.
A shake-up is happening, and I’m glad because this sickness will destroy all of us. If the right wants to lose some of its strongest allies, i.e. women who agree with them politically, keep it up! I’d rather quit and spend the rest of my life gardening than defend this kind of disgusting chauvinism. Good luck being a movement supported only by angry men. The conservative media needs women. Do they know that? It doesn’t seem like it. Though they sure want us when it’s time to vote, don’t they?
If those controlling the conservative entertainment and social media space come out in favor of Schaffer and Blaze Media, they will predictably turn Watson into a caricature of herself. They will call her “woke” or a “feminist” or some other slur. Here’s Ali Alexander (a MAGA influencer with over 100k followers), calling her lawsuit “whorish.” That just earned him an unfollow from me, by the way.
Sydney Watson’s (who?) suit is frivolous, poorly written, and a whorish attempt add economic value to her career where there is none.
She should sue her father. https://t.co/NWmTzk8qKT
— Ali Alexander (@ali) February 11, 2023
So far, the big names have remained rather quiet about the lawsuit. Perhaps they’re waiting to see which way the wind will blow. Tim Pool did address it, and one of his guests alleged that he saw Schaffer very drunk during a taping of the show.
@Timcast and IRL crew discuss @SydneyLWatson's lawsuit against BlazeTV regarding alleged abuse from former cohost @ElijahSchaffer.@philthatremains, who previously appeared on "You Are Here" corroborated Watson's claim of Schaffer drinking on set. pic.twitter.com/WEfCQQx8i1
— Chris Bertman (@manofbert) February 11, 2023
Speaking of Tim Pool, the only woman I can name that he made popular is Eliza Bleu, an empty, vapid, grifter without a solid history in conservatism. And what do the men of Conservative, Inc. do to hard-hitting female journalists who get stories and make waves? They destroy them. If you want proof of this and you have three hours, listen to Lauren Southern’s exposé on what she calls the dissident right. I sadly didn’t watch it until last night, and it rocked my world. I know she’s telling the truth because I’ve seen it myself. And it makes me sick to think I was used to push the profiles of these frauds who were fooling everyone. I’ve got my own story about Milo that I’ll save for another day, but I have personal knowledge that he is not who he pretends to be.
Conservative, Inc. has a lot to answer for. It’s full of people who care more about their own fame and notoriety than they do about conservative values, and the fact that it’s coming apart is a good thing. Burn it down. Start over. What we really need is authenticity and principles, not outrage takes for clicks and fame. Our country is burning, the West is falling, and Con Inc. is protecting money-makers over values. Well done! (Cue sarcastic clapping.)
I’m tired of it. Blacklist me. I don’t care. It wouldn’t be much different than it is now. My twenty-year experience in this movement has taught me that my value isn’t based on the stories I break or the philosophical contributions I make. It’s based on the worth that the popular guys in the clubhouse give me — and that’s next to nothing.
I’m looking forward to Watson’s case playing out in court and I doubt very much that Schlichter would have taken it on if it wasn’t a strong one, contrary to the denials of the naysayers who want to point and laugh at the “whiny woman” who “can’t take a joke.” I hope it brings some much-needed sanity back to the right so we can get back to fighting the left instead of each other.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member