Samantha Bee’s PragerU Hit Piece Backfires, Leads to $25K in Donations
The nonprofit organization PragerU is taking in thousands of dollars in donations thanks to liberal late-night host Samantha Bee, who branded its conservative content as “dangerous.”
On her low-rated TBS show “Full Frontal” Wednesday, Bee spent more than six minutes attacking PragerU’s success at reaching young people with conservative ideas on social media.
“PragerU is actually a massively successful part of a growing hub of the online right-wing media machine. … Their videos are specifically aimed at middle school and high school children,” she said. “Even worse, those videos get billions of views.”
Bee added: “PragerU is actually dangerous. They are reaching a new, younger audience with bulls— conservative propaganda.
“They trick kids into thinking their videos are educational, even though PragerU is as much of a real college as ‘Monsters University.’”
WARNING: The following video contains vulgar language and blasphemy that some viewers may find offensive.
However, her attempt at delegitimizing the organization backfired, and her segment instead turned into a massive fundraising campaign for PragerU.
The botched hit job motivated PragerU fans to donate money and to share the organization’s content.
PragerU took a victory lap Thursday on Twitter, posting that it had raised more than $25,000 since Bee’s segment aired.
THANK YOU @FullFrontalSamB! $25,000+ raised & counting to ensure we continue to reach more young people with our “dangerous” videos.
Please consider making a tax-deductible donation in honor of Samantha Bee to help us continue our impact.
DONATE HERE: https://t.co/fbR6gnH36A pic.twitter.com/j8Oiymoo4g
— PragerU (@prageru) February 14, 2020
You seem pleasant. @FullFrontalSamB https://t.co/RFi6YimLV1
— PragerU (@prageru) February 13, 2020
“PragerU is actually dangerous. They are reaching a new, younger audience with bulls**t conservative propaganda.” – @FullFrontalSamB
The left is TERRIFIED of PragerU! ?
This is how you know you’re making an impact! pic.twitter.com/LwAy08zaMt
— PragerU (@prageru) February 13, 2020
Clearly, the left is scared of PragerU and we must be doing something right! In honor of Samantha Bee, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help us continue reaching more young people with our videos.
We appreciate your support!https://t.co/i8lXAtfKMw
— PragerU (@prageru) February 13, 2020
During her vulgar denunciation of everything PragerU, Bee said, “If you’ve ever watched Fox News, it’s easy to think that all conservative media has a very specific energy.”
She continued: “While Fox continues its lifelong quest to scare your grandparents into hoarding Franklin Mint coins, one growing conservative outlet is using colorful graphics and social media to appeal to a new generation. But don’t worry, their videos are very normal.”
Bee proceeded to mock free speech, Christian values and Prager U celebrity guests such as Mike Rowe, before cautioning that PragerU is in danger of “legitimizing” conservative ideas.
PragerU, which is short for Prager University, was founded in 2009 by author and radio host Dennis Prager. While not an actual university, the organization’s website says it is “a place where you are free to learn.”
According to Bee, Prager and his ideas are “bonkers.”
She aired a cherry-picked clip of Prager stating, “if God were depicted as female, young men would deem traits such as compassion, mercy, and care for the downtrodden as feminine, and would not identify with them.”
In response to the clip, which was intentionally scrubbed of all context, Bee said: “The important thing isn’t whether God is a woman or a man, the important thing is that God is hot.”
She then made a lewd comment about an image of a muscled, tattooed “Heavenly Daddy.”
Despite reported censorship and/or demonetization from major tech companies, social media platforms and Hollywood, PragerU has been wildly successful at explaining conservative ideas to young Americans through videos that often feature celebrity speakers, such as Rowe and Greg Gutfeld.
Bee’s attack is a testament to PragerU’s growing influence.
Instead of acknowledging the organization’s popular content and attempting to refute it with dialogue or logical arguments, the triggered host resorted to name-calling and toilet humor.
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