MSNBC Reportedly Cutting Ties to Contributor Sam Seder Over Old Polanski Rape Joke
MSNBC has cut ties with contributor Sam Seder, allegedly over a tweet he wrote in 2009.
Seder’s contract isn’t up until February but the network is so upset over the tweet that he will not be making any more appearances.
The Twitter account for his show Majority Report tweeted out a link to the initial report on the news.
Just just how bad is it? Well, it’s a rape joke involving a young girl and notorious film director Roman Polanski.
“Don’t care re Polanski, but I hope if my daughter is ever raped it is by an older truly talented man w/ a great sense of mise en scene,” he wrote in 2009.
Seder, however, took to his podcast to accuse members of the alt-right, namely Sebastian Gorka and Pizzagate “guru” Mike Cernovich, of conducting a smear campaign, noting that the original tweet was sarcastic, meant to lampoon liberals who continue to defend artists they admire long after they have been accused of doing awful things. It must be noted that 2009 saw a major push by members of the creative community to allow Polanski to return to America.
“This smear involves the willful misinterpretation of a tweet that I posted in 2009,” he said. “I will never be ashamed of criticizing those who would excuse the predation of women or girls.”
Seder also attempted to explain why he deleted the tweet last week, after noticing that Cernovich and others had begun ceaselessly retweeting it as part of their smear campaign.
“Before realizing that this was a concerted effort to smear me and silence my criticism of Roy Moore and those, including Donald Trump, who would defend a predator of young girls,” he said. “I deleted that tweet out of expedience. I regret that now.”
“If they succeed in getting me fired, or scaring my advertisers away, they will continue until they have silenced anyone who would criticize Roy Moore, criticize President Trump or criticize the conservative movement.”
It looks like they may have succeeded in getting him fired, much to the chagrin of media personalities on Twitter.
this is fucking absurd and deeply embarrassing for msnbc https://t.co/2ccpLrc5m2 pic.twitter.com/aN4KLkZZnR
— Ashley Feinberg (@ashleyfeinberg) December 4, 2017
inability or unwillingness to distinguish between good-faith and bad-faith criticism is a really huge problem in media (and elsewhere) right now https://t.co/E2ZWfhGgnS
— Tim Murphy (@timothypmurphy) December 4, 2017
MSNBC the latest to get played by the stupid harasser technique of “digging” — finding old tweets (especially sarcastic ones that appear to say the opposite of what they mean) & using them to target people. Absolutely stupid. Inexcusable. https://t.co/ZKI4yDgId2
— Anil Dash (@anildash) December 4, 2017
This should terrify every one of us who’s ever posted anything on Twitter. Alt-right douche @Cernovich is weaponizing free speech and @jack not only condones it, he follows the scumbag. https://t.co/bcslaTxckf
— Rob Hatch-Miller (@robhatchmiller) December 4, 2017
Totally disgusting. The alt-right forces @MSNBC to cut ties with @SamSeder over a Polanski joke you’d have to bend over backwards to misinterpret. Don’t capitulate to these fascists. https://t.co/YuaS3GFVYS
— Scott Tobias (@scott_tobias) December 4, 2017
good to see MSNBC fall for Cernovich’s smear campaign hook, line, and sinker https://t.co/caEoxXC1zr
— Matt Binder (@MattBinder) December 4, 2017
Media outlets think the best way to defuse bad-faith attacks is to give into them. It’s the best way to guarantee more bad-faith attacks. https://t.co/s08KKAAVy8
— James Poniewozik (@poniewozik) December 4, 2017
MSNBC has made a ridiculous mistake. #HireSamSederhttps://t.co/P9DFWcBywH
— Thor Benson (@thor_benson) December 4, 2017
Another instance of people willfully misreading a tweet to cause harm, and in this case, MSNBC falling for it https://t.co/s4uxt9v4Gg
— Lee Fang (@lhfang) December 4, 2017
This story is insane and makes MSNBC look idiotic https://t.co/aPnQeXbcyo
— Will Bunch (@Will_Bunch) December 4, 2017
Y’all, this is a stupid decision. I think @SamSederShow‘s Polanski twee was awful. But then I’ve had my fair share of bad tweets. It was a tweet from 2009! MSNBC is yielding to vultures in doing this. 8 years ago he tweeted that. https://t.co/welQ7qoAVH
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) December 4, 2017
There is one personality who is doing a victory lap right about now, the bomb-throwing Cernovich.
https://twitter.com/Cernovich/status/937783370515300352
Cernovich has long used his massive Twitter following to conduct smear campaigns against individuals he disagrees with, often accusing them of being pedophiles. It has been one year since Edgar Maddison Welch infiltrated pizza shop Comet Ping Pong, armed with an AR-15 and a revolver, after the PizzaGate conspiracy theory pushed by Cernovich and others spread around.
That was a thing that actually happened and, thankfully, nobody was hurt.
Cernovich has also accused Super Deluxe video editor Vic Berger of being a pedophile, and was involved with disseminating a doctored photo that showed protesters holding a NAMBLA sign, when in fact they were holding a sign protesting the alt-right. In other words, yeah, this guy is obsessed with child sex.
Seder’s tweet was still stupid as hell, but a fireable offense? Not so sure.
[image via screenshot]
—
