Steven Crowder | |
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Born | Steven Blake Crowder July 7, 1987 |
Citizenship |
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Alma mater | Champlain College |
Occupations |
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Years active | 1999–present |
Political party | Republican |
Children | 2 |
Website | louderwithcrowder |
Steven Blake Crowder (/ˈkraʊdər/; born July 7, 1987) is an American-Canadian[1] conservative political commentator and media host.[2] He hosts Louder with Crowder, a daily political podcast and YouTube channel, which includes a recurring segment called "Change My Mind". He is also a former contributor at Fox News.
In June 2019, Crowder's YouTube videos were put under review over his repeated use of racist and homophobic slurs against journalist Carlos Maza.[2][3][4] YouTube did not suspend the channel and said the channel did not violate the site's policies, but demonetized the account the following day, citing "a pattern of egregious actions [that] harmed the broader community".[5] In August 2020, his channel was re-monetized after YouTube said Crowder addressed his behavior and content.[6] In March 2021, his channel was once again demonetized after violating YouTube's presidential election integrity policy for questioning the legitimacy of election results.[7]
Crowder was born on July 7, 1987 in Detroit, Michigan. Crowder's mother was French Canadian, and at the age of 3, his family moved to the Montreal suburb of Greenfield Park, Quebec, Canada where he would live for the rest of his childhood.[8] Crowder attended Centennial Regional High School, and at the age of 18, he moved back to the United States.[9] Crowder attended two semesters at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont.[10]
At age 13, he worked as a voice actor for the character Alan "The Brain" Powers on the children's television series Arthur.[11] He began performing stand-up comedy at age 17. He then acted in a number of films, including the role of Doug Moore in the 2009 movie To Save a Life. From 2009 to 2012, Crowder worked for Fox News.[10]
By 2009, Crowder regularly posted satirical videos on politically conservative media, including Pajamas Media[12] and later at Andrew Breitbart's Big Hollywood. Crowder served as the master of ceremonies at the 2011 Conservative Political Action Conference,[13] and generated some controversy with a rap video he premiered at CPAC 2012.[14] In October 2012, Crowder's YouTube video parodying Lena Dunham's ad endorsing Barack Obama was mentioned in the conservative magazine The American Spectator.[15] In 2016, Crowder created a short video for the conservative media company PragerU in which he criticizes democratic socialism as bearing little to no difference from Marxism.[16]
In December 2012, Crowder and members of Americans for Prosperity were involved in an altercation at a demonstration in Michigan concerning the state's recently passed right-to-work law.[17] The incident began with an attempt by union activists to tear down the Americans for Prosperity tent, which was eventually successful. During the altercation, Crowder was punched several times by a union activist. Crowder posted an edited video of the incident to his YouTube channel that cut footage of the alleged assailant being pushed to the ground and getting back up, right before throwing the punches at Crowder. However, Fox News' broadcasts of the incident included footage of the man being pushed. The New York Times stated, "The same footage also shows that Mr. Crowder had his hand on that man's shoulder just before he tumbled to the ground, but, while the camera does not capture the whole sequence of events, it seems likely that the man was knocked to the ground as members of the two sides pushed against one other, not shoved down by Mr. Crowder."[18] Crowder later released an unedited copy of the video.[19]
An AFL–CIO spokesman, Eddie Vale, stated that the organization did not condone the tearing down of the Americans for Prosperity tent or the violence against Crowder and his group.[20]
In March 2013, Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III declined to press charges against anyone involved in the December 2012 altercation. According to Dunnings, his office was originally sent an edited version of the video of Crowder's altercation. However, upon reviewing the unedited version, the prosecutor's office decided not to pursue the case because the union member had acted in self-defense.[21][10]
In October 2013, Fox News ended its relationship with Crowder. This was announced shortly after Crowder made negative statements about Fox News host Sean Hannity and about Fox News.[10] In 2017, the Louder with Crowder program, featuring mainly comedic content and political commentary, became a daily program featured on Conservative Review's new streaming service, CRTV. On December 3, 2018, CRTV merged with Glenn Beck's TheBlaze, where Crowder continues to be hosted,[22] alongside his YouTube channel, which has existed since 2009.[10][23][24]
"Change My Mind" is a regular segment conducted by Crowder in which he sits at a table with a sign including the phrase "Change My Mind" and invites people walking by, often students at a university campus, to change his mind on a controversial subject. A photograph of Crowder seated behind a sign in February 2018 reading "Male Privilege is a Myth / Change My Mind" outside the Texas Christian University campus became an Internet meme.[25][26][27] Variations of the meme often feature humorously controversial statements in place of "Male Privilege is a Myth", such as "Pineapple goes on pizza / Change My Mind".[28][29]
Crowder's show has also seen success on Apple's podcast list, having remained on the top 100 list over the course of 2020.[30] This success is mirrored on YouTube where the Louder with Crowder podcast has 5.57 million subscribers and his secondary channel CrowderBits has approximately 1.09 million subscribers.[31]
In December 2021, Kyle Rittenhouse was interviewed on Louder with Crowder after Rittenhouse had been found not guilty on all charges relating to his involvement in the Kenosha unrest shooting.[32][33]
In June 2019, YouTube investigated Crowder for using racist and homophobic slurs targeting Carlos Maza in multiple videos reacting to the Vox series Strikethrough, which Maza hosts. Crowder referred to Maza as "Mr. Lispy queer", an "angry little queer", and a "gay Mexican", and mocked him with a stereotypical gay voice, sometimes while wearing a t-shirt with Che Guevara on it that said "Socialism is for f*gs [sic]".[2] In addition, Maza said that Crowder's fans have doxxed and harassed him.[34] Maza said Crowder's videos about him are "dehumanizing, and it's something I thought YouTube would be more protective about because it brands itself as being a queer space".[2] According to an analysis by Vox Media's The Verge, Crowder's videos "routinely contain egregious violations of YouTube's policies against cyberbullying".[35] Crowder responded with a video where he said his use of slurs was "playful ribbing" and that "it's funny, it's a comedy show". He said that the investigation was "an example of a giant, multinational media conglomeration ... attempting to squash a competitor". He also stated that he is opposed to doxxing and harassment.[36][37]
YouTube concluded that the language used by Crowder "was clearly hurtful", but "the videos as posted don't violate our policies". It determined that Crowder had not encouraged his viewers to harass or dox Maza either on YouTube or other platforms and that the main point of his video was to respond to opinion.[38] The decision to not suspend the channel drew considerable criticism.[2] The next day, YouTube suspended the channel's monetization, blaming "a pattern of egregious actions [that] harmed the broader community".[39] Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who had previously appeared on Crowder's show, criticized YouTube's demonitization of Crowder's account, and Crowder stated on his Twitter account that, "Vox is still going to be pissed" because he was not removed from the platform.[40][41] In August 2020, YouTube re-monetized some of Crowder's content on the site, stating that Crowder had satisfactorily addressed the issues with his behavior and content.[42]
Crowder announced in February 2021 that he filed a lawsuit against Facebook, alleging he was unfairly censored by the platform.[43] The next month, YouTube suspended Crowder's channel for one week for violating its presidential election integrity policy by questioning the 2020 United States presidential election in Nevada and again indefinitely demonetized his account.[44] His account was then given a second strike on the platform for "reveling in or mocking" the killing of Ma'Khia Bryant in a video he posted, and Crowder responded by announcing that he had filed a lawsuit against YouTube seeking an injunction.[45]
He married his wife in August 2012 and wrote about the benefits of remaining abstinent before his marriage.[46] In July 2021, Crowder underwent a surgical operation in which titanium bars were inserted into his chest in order to counteract his congenital condition of pectus excavatum, or a sunken chest.[31][47] The surgery caused fluid to accumulate in his lungs, which he called "excruciatingly painful". Several weeks later, he was rushed to the hospital due to a collapsed lung.[48] In August 2021, as Crowder was still recovering from both treatments, his wife gave birth to twins—a son, Magnus, and a daughter, Charlotte.[49]
Year | Film | Role | Notes |
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1999 | The Bone Collector | Extra | |
2000–2001 | Arthur | Alan 'The Brain' Powers | Voice |
2000 | Arthur's Perfect Christmas | ||
2001 | Two Summers | Friend | |
2004 | Arthur's Halloween | Alan 'The Brain' Powers | Voice |
2005 | 3 Needles | Depanneur Manager | |
2006 | The Covenant | Party Kid | |
2007 | The Secret | Classroom Boy | |
2008 | Bend & Break | Blake | |
The Velveteen Rabbit | Baseball Boy #1 | ||
Greek | Jace | ||
2009 | To Save a Life | Doug Moore | |
2017 | A YouTube Carol | Ebenezer YouTube |