Steven Crowder
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About
Steven Crowder is a conservative comedian best known online for hosting the web talk show Louder with Crowder and for appearing in the screencapped image in the "Change My Mind" exploitable template.
History
On June 2nd, 2006, Crowder launched a channel on YouTube,[1] which gained over 3.8 million subscribers and 830 million video views over the next 13 years. On January 4th, 2009, the first video was uploaded to the channel, titled "GO TEAM ISRAEL! (featuring Obama's moobs)" (shown below). In November 2009, Crowder was hired by Fox News, where he wrote a column for the media company's website.
Feud With Carlos Maza
On May 30th, 2019, Vox writer Carlos Maza posted several tweets accusing Crowder of "online harassment" and attacking his "sexual orientation and ethnicity." In the Twitter thread, Maza included a montage of video clips featuring Crowder mocking Maza (shown below).
Since I started working at Vox, Steven Crowder has been making video after video "debunking" Strikethrough. Every single video has included repeated, overt attacks on my sexual orientation and ethnicity. Here's a sample: pic.twitter.com/UReCcQ2Elj
— Carlos Maza (@gaywonk) May 31, 2019
In response, the official @TeamYouTube Twitter feed replied to Maza that they were "looking into it further" and had sent him a direct message (shown below).
The following day, Crowder uploaded a Louder with Crowder episode titled "VOX is Trying to Ban This Channel," which accused Maza and his employer Vox Media of attempting to use claims of "online harassment" in order to take down the Crowder YouTube channel for being a competitor (shown below). The same day, the LourderWithCrowder[2] web site published a blog post compiling all of the rebuttals to Maza's Vox videos.
On June 4th, YouTuber Keemstar retweeted Maza's appearance on the BuzzFeed News show AM2DM and accused Maza of "trying to start an Adpocalypse on YouTube again cus another YouTuber hurt his feelings" (shown below).
This man
gaywonk</a> is trying to start an Adpocalypse on YouTube again cus another YouTuber hurt his feelings. Great job. You are now the enemy of all YouTubers ! <a href="https://t.co/bnSbc1liGM">pic.twitter.com/bnSbc1liGM</a></p>— KEEM 🍿 (KEEMSTAR) June 4, 2019
YouTube's Decision
Later that day, the official @TeamYouTube Twitter feed posted several tweets to Maza announcing that after an "in-depth review," they found Crowder's videos did not violate their policies although they "found language that was clearly hurtful" (shown below).
(2/4) Our teams spent the last few days conducting an in-depth review of the videos flagged to us, and while we found language that was clearly hurtful, the videos as posted don’t violate our policies. We’ve included more info below to explain this decision:
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) June 4, 2019
On Twitter, many were divided on YouTube's decision. The @EthicalGooglers Twitter feed posted a graphic with the slogan "No Pride in YouTube," claiming that YouTube had capitalized on Pride as a marketing campaign (shown below, left). Journalist Michael Tracey posted a thread stating that while he found Crowder to be "obnoxious, unfunny, and politically appalling," he was disturbed by the trend of journalists demanding that large tech companies remove content that violated their sensibilities (shown below, right). Meanwhile, others pointed out that Maza had previously called for political opponents to be "milkshaked" in public.[5]
Also on June 5th, Maza posted tweets about YouTube's new policy against supremacist content, accusing it of being a "smokescreen" and that "they don't enforce any of this shit" (shown below).
Related Memes
Change My Mind
"Change My Mind" is a photoshop meme based on a picture Crowder seated behind a sign that reads "Male Privilege is a myth / Change My Mind" outside of Texas Christian University. Since its upload via Crowder's Twitter account in February 2018, the photograph has been turned into an exploitable template for online parodies.
Personal Life
Crowder was born on July 7th, 1987 in Grosse Pointe, Michigan and grew up in Greenfield Park, Quebec. As a child, he was a voice actor on the PBS Kids show Arthur, playing the role of The Brain. On September 14th, 2012, Fox News[3] published an article by Crowder about his wedding the previous month, in which he claimed both he and his wife had practiced abstinence prior to their marriage.
Search Interest
External References
[1] YouTube – StevenCrowder
[2] LouderWithCrowder.com – All of Steven Crowders Vox Video Rebuttals
[3] Fox News – Waiting till the wedding night getting married the right way
[4] Reddit – /r/KotakuInAction
[5] Twitter – @RaheemKassam
