Listen to Media Matters' Ari Drennen explain how right-wing opposition to corporate support of Pride has “a very self-interested kind of flavor to it”
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Listen to Media Matters' Ari Drennen explain how right-wing opposition to corporate support of Pride has “a very self-interested kind of flavor to it”
Citation CitationFrom the June 1, 2023, edition of SiriusXM Progress' Tell Me Everything with John Fugelsang
JOHN FUGELSANG: We're witnessing this new phenomena -- that I guess we can credit Ron DeSantis with creating -- where these right-wing media people and outlets are waging war against corporations that support LGBTQ causes just because that's basic good business. I mean, Bud Light, Target, The North Face.
Why do you think this is all suddenly happening all at once?
ARI DRENNEN (GUEST): Yeah, and they seem to be adding Chick-fil-A to the list, which is, I think, especially ironic.
FUGELSANG: Fox News as well, because Fox News has a DEI department. So, they're flipping out about their own source.
DRENNEN: Yeah, so I think for a lot of these guys, especially the ones attacking Fox News, that has a very self-interested kind of flavor to it.
You know, the folks at The Daily Wire, who have launched a lot of this, want subscribers and so they have a really strong incentive to get their viewers to not want to watch Fox News anymore.
But you know, the stuff at Target is especially silly because they've had Pride -- they've had Pride displays for well over a decade now.
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But you know, the idea that you would go in there and just like throw it all on the ground is very silly and, you know, I think kind of childish, honestly.
FUGELSANG: Yeah, we got to go in and vandalize the private merchandise to show what good Christians we are.
Tell me, I -- I've been -- I know that Fox News has been really going in heavy on Target, but they're now zeroing in on Target's partnership with GLSEN.
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DRENNEN: So, they're a suicide prevention group. They work to reduce death by suicide in the LGBTQ community, which, you know, I think is an important cause. And it's especially ridiculous to see Fox News attacking them because the Fox Corporation is one of GLSEN's donors.
So, you know, I think they probably should have checked their own corporate website before they started attacking Target for this.
FUGELSANG: But it's I mean, it -- it makes perfect sense.
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In many ways, Ari, it seems that even worse than the bigotry is these calculating non-bigots who just use the bigotry and exploit the bigotry in their low-wattage viewers to increase their own profits.
DRENNEN: Yeah, there were some leaked emails a little while back that showed Matt Walsh and Steven Crowder talking about how this was a money-making proposition for them, and, you know, it's been quite lucrative I think from that respect. But these guys just show over and over again that they have nothing but contempt for their audience.