Critics are pouncing on Steven Crowder over a “meltdown” video of the conservative comedian backing out of a planned interview after a surprise guest was included.
Appearing on ‘The H3 Podcast’, which boasts more than three million YouTube subscribers, ‘Louder with Crowder’ host Steven Crowder thought he was going to be entering into a debate on topics such as Big Tech censorship and Covid-19 restrictions with Ethan Klein, the regular host of the program.
After noting in his own studio – the ‘debate’ was held remotely – that Klein would likely do anything to avoid the upcoming back-and-forth, Crowder was ambushed with a surprise guest: liberal actor and pundit Sam Seder, perhaps best known for being fired and then rehired by MSNBC over a deleted past tweet some felt made light of rape.
Also on rt.com ‘Karen’ horror movie about evil white woman accused of exploiting ‘black trauma’ for profit“Oh no, it’s Sam Seder!” Crowder said as Seder appeared. “What a f***ing nightmare! I had no idea this was going to happen.”
Crowder grew immediately agitated and began throwing barbs at both Seder and Klein, the latter of whom he blasted for setting up the ‘gotcha’ debate.
“I told you, I guarantee you he would do anything he can to avoid a debate,” Crowder said to his co-host, comedian Dave Landau.
As the podcast devolved from civility into chaos, Crowder added that Klein “takes advantage of women with mental health issues” – a likely reference to one of Klein’s feuds with a fellow YouTuber, former collaborator Trisha Paytas, who left a show she co-hosted with Klein after the two argued publicly multiple times.
The ‘debate’ quickly turned into a shouting match, and after Seder tried nudging Crowder into a discussion, the Blaze TV host said he wouldn’t get into a debate based on “lies” and removed himself from the whole ordeal.
Klein proceeded to brand Crowder a “coward” for avoiding a debate with Seder, who had long been trying to set up just such a scenario with Crowder, who appears to have had little interest in engaging with him.
Seder had challenged Crowder to a debate back in 2018, at the annual non-partisan political convention Politicon, which Crowder had declined. Now Seder claims Crowder wanted to debate only ill-prepared college students instead of pundits such as himself.
“I think Steven’s afraid of debating somebody. Look, I do a political show every day ... and you [Crowder] don’t,” he said. “And he’s afraid.”
Klein and Seder have both reveled in poking fun online at Crowder leaving the show and been joined by others blasting the comedian for backing out of the last-minute debate.
Some have pointed to Klein as responsible for the chaos, saying the setup with Seder was “obvious bait” to get attention and put Crowder in an uncomfortable position.
“I can say the one real [takeaway] is that Ethan Klein is a master at drama grifting,” journalist and podcaster Tim Pool tweeted in reaction to the chaos. “You think Ethan actually thought he could handle a political debate? It was obvious bait.”
In a Monday livestream, Crowder showed direct messages between him and Klein, showing he’d had no knowledge of Seder’s presence and reiterating that he didn’t do debates “based on lies.”
“He wants the drama,” Crowder said of Klein. “I want the conversation.”
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