Previously having drawn anger from conservative commentators over the removal of some events related to right-wing names or groups, Eventbrite gets some stick from the opposite view this time, for hosting ticketing pages for a comedy tour including Gavin McInnes, a far-right writer, podcaster and political commentator.
The Cognitive Dissidents Tour, which is the title of the show and whose pop-up on McInnes’ streaming platform Censored.TV directs visitors to the event’s page on Eventbrite, features Josh Denny, former host of The Food Network’s Ginormous Food and currently the host of “Next Week Tonight” on Censored.TV; Anthony Cumia, broadcaster and the host of The Anthony Cumia Show, besides Gavin McInnes.
The event management and ticketing website hosted two of the comedy shows in September, and upcoming tour schedules are set for October 20 in Chicago and November 11 in New York.
Mediamatters.org argues that the comedy tour is likely to violate Eventbrite’s community guidelines regarding events that espouse “hateful, dangerous, or violent content or events” while criticizing the platform for “profiting from a violent white supremacist’s comedy tour”.
On September 30, Josh Denny took to Twitter, posting: “Anyone calling the Cognitive Dissidents Tour ‘White Supremacist’ should interview the DOZENS of Black, Latino, Native American, Hawaiian, Asian, and other fans we’ve entertained.”
Gavin McInnes’ name, on the other hand, is mentioned these days among the news releases suggesting that he still holds leadership over divided group, the Proud Boys, which was founded by McInnes who claimed to have abandoned any role in the organization four years ago in the face of law enforcement pressure. According to a report by the Daily Beast, the Proud Boys are reeling after criminal indictments and finger-pointing in what McInnes labeled a “massive civil war” between members. The Proud Boys, much of whose leadership is now in jail for their alleged role in the Capitol riot, are still associated with McInnes in his attempt to try to quash the fighting in the group.
Considering himself as a “provocateur” that does “satirical commentary” Gavin McInnes was banned from Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for violating terms of use related to promoting violent extremist groups and hate speech in 2018. Two years later, his YouTube account was suspended for violating YouTube’s policies concerning hate speech, posting content that was “glorifying and inciting violence against another person or group of people.”
In his 2018 interview by ABC News, McInnes was asked if he bore any responsibility for what the Proud Boys have become, and he said, “Yes, I do bear any responsibility. I’m not guilt-free in this,” adding, “There’s culpability there. I shouldn’t have said ‘violence solves everything’ or something like that without making the context clear and I regret saying things like that.” He added unapologetically that he would not take anything back. “No, that ship has sailed,” he said.
When it comes to Eventbrite, the platform drew widespread anger from right-wing several times as a consequence of cancelling Pro-Trump Event Page over violation of its policies related to “disinformation” in 2020 before it similarly cancelled payments for an event featuring filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza, citing rules on its platform against “misinformation” in 2022 summer.
The latest cancellation was about the screenings of a documentary by Matt Walsh, What Is A Woman?, stating that it violated its terms and policies regarding hate speech in September.
