- Media Matters published a list Tuesday detailing what it called “extremist figures” who have been invited to the White House social media summit.
- Some of the figures on the list hit back at Media Matters, calling the publication a “joke.”
- The article included PragerU and Sen. Marsha Blackburn on its list.
Media Matters published a list Tuesday detailing right-wing “extremist figures” who are invited to the White House social media summit Thursday, and some of them are hitting back.
The list, written by Alex Kaplan, includes PragerU, the Heritage Foundation, journalist Tim Pool, Human Events publisher Will Chamberlain, Turning Point USA founder and president Charlie Kirk, TPUSA chief creative officer Benny Johnson, and writer Brent Bozell, among others.
Politicians like Republican Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn and Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz are featured on the list as well. (RELATED: Organizations For Journalists Not Reporting On The Attack Of Andy Ngo After A Week)
“If Media Matters labels me an ‘extremist’ for making funny conservative memes — I wonder what term they would use to describe Antifa members, who on the last day of Pride Month targeted and beat a gay, minority journalist in the streets to the point of his brain hemorrhaging,” Johnson told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“His name is Andy Ngo. A quick search of the Media Matters website shows zero results calling Antifa members ‘extremists’ for this violent, hate-crime behavior. Yet my memes are the problem. What a hypocritical, broken, sad, sunken little place Media Matters is.”
TRUTH: @MrAndyNgo is the dictionary definition of what Pride Month is about.
Looking oppression in the face and saying bravely – “I will not be intimidated.”
Putting himself on the front lines against hate.
He is a hero.
When you celebrate Pride Month, remember Andy.
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) July 1, 2019
Kirk also responded to being labeled an extremist, calling Media Matters a “joke.”
“We used to reserve words like extremist to describe people who took down the World Trade Center, or who wear masks and then vandalize universities and assault reporters,” Kirk told the DCNF. “Media Matters cheapens that word and proves what a joke it is by using it to describe mainstream organizations like TPUSA, Heritage and PragerU.”
How @CNN covers Antifa:
They are as “heroic” as Americans on D-Day
Their “fight is right”
Their punches are “more moral”
They “fight for a good cause”
Yet they barely cover the assault on journalism in Portland?
Domestic terrorism!
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) July 1, 2019
The list labeled Johnson as an extremist, alleging he “suggested Kanye West was born into poverty because he was Black.”
Kirk was labeled as an extremist in part because he founded Turning Point USA, which Media Matters said is “an organization with a history of racist incidents.”
“He also once tweeted a flawed statistic that minimized police brutality against Black people, claiming that ‘a police officer is 18.5 times more likely to be killed by a black male, than an unarmed black man is to be killed by a police officer,'” the article reads.
The article said Blackburn is an extremist because she “claimed Twitter was censoring her campaign ad that included the phrase ‘baby body parts.'” Gaetz was listed for three reasons, one of which was for “falsely” suggesting “Soros was funding a migrant caravan.”
Tim Pool responded to being listed as an extremist, saying “the smears won’t work the way you think they will,” including Will Chamberlain, another name on the list, in the tweet. Chamberlain responded to the piece with a video.
When you label me and @willchamberlain extremists you’ve officially jumped the shark
Will has been called vanilla yogurt and I’m often called “the milquetoast fence sitter”
The smears won’t work the way you think they will, but thanks for linking to my Youtube videos anyway!
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) July 11, 2019
The article alleges the Heritage Foundation “advocates against LGBTQ equality and uses dehumanizing rhetoric about trans people,” and PragerU is on the list in part because of “the viral social media video enterprise of anti-LGBTQ figure Dennis Prager.”
“The Heritage Foundation is the nation’s most broadly supported public policy research institute, with more than 500,000 members,” Rob Bluey, Heritage Foundation vice president of communications, told the DCNF in a statement. “Our mission is to develop and promote policy solutions that improve the lives of all Americans.”
“We are proud to have been recognized by the University of Pennsylvania’s Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program as the No. 1 think tank for impact on public policy, and we look forward to representing conservative principles at Thursday’s summit.”
The article is titled “Here are the extremist figures going to the White House social media summit.” (RELATED: Liberals Love To Play The Victim)
“Some of these figures have ties to white nationalists and far-right figures, and others have pushed extremism and conspiracy theories themselves, such as the “QAnon” conspiracy theory, anti-Semitic attacks on George Soros, and smears targeting multiple Democratic presidential candidates,” according to the article.
Media Matters did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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