The New York Times claimed in a March 22 story that the Bee “trafficked in misinformation” that is disguised as satire, a claim that is a joke itself for anyone familiar with the Bee’s wacky stories that poke fun at everyone from church deacons and worship leaders to politicians.
“As we've gotten more popular, and our satire has gotten broader reach,” CEO Seth Dillon told American Family Radio, “there's been this effort on the left in the media to label us as being a pretend satire site.”
The website, which launched in 2016, first viewed churchgoers as its core audience. Stories poked fun at worship leaders, homeschooling families, and prosperity gospel preachers. The church scene still makes headlines, such as “explaining” the difference between Protestants and Catholics, but the left-wing scrutiny likely comes from stories that combine the political news of the day with the Bee’s on-the-mark humor.
“Sesame Street Introduces ‘Todd,’ a White Male Muppet Who is Blamed for Everything,” reads a March 29 headline.
“CDC Director Gives Press Conference While Holding ‘The End is Near’ Sign,” reads another.
Donald Trump was a constant target of the Bee, too, and pretty much anyone and anything can be the topic of a Bee headline, but Dillon says the Left grew concerned over the Bee’s popularity.
“They love to dish out the humor. They like to mock and ridicule,” he pointed out. “They do not take it very well.”
That is not to suggest the Left has no humor, since atheist comedians George Carlin and Bill Maher have made a career from it, but the same New York Times that is complaining about the Bee ran off its Jewish op-ed writer, then the op-ed page editor, when their beliefs and decisions clashed with the far-left newsroom.
CNN famously complained last year when a Bee article that satirized the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian general, was shared more than 500,000 times on Facebook.
"A lot of people,” a CNN reporter stated on Twitter, “sharing this 'satirical' story on Facebook don't know it is satire."
What the Bee article accomplished, however, was to point out how the Left was treating the death of the ruthless general because President Donald Trump had ordered the drone attack that took his life.
The Washington Post, in a non-satirical headline, had called the terrorism-funding general Iran’s “most revered military leader.”
In the radio interview, Dillon told AFR show “Today’s Issues” the Left is attempting to get the lie to stick that the satirical website is publishing misleading stories and therefore “dangerous information” that is misunderstood by the public.
Regarding the Times story itself, the Bee boss said the liberal newspaper is attempting an underhanded “short cut” to shut down the website and to deplatform it from social media.
Yet the Bee wouldn’t be the Bee if it didn’t fight back. “New York Times Attacks Babylon Bee for Being More Accurate than They Are,” reads the headline.
WASHINGTON (April 9, 2021) — President Joe Biden on Friday ordered a study of adding seats to the Supreme Court, creating a commission that will spend the next six months examining the politically charged issues of expanding the court and instituting term limits for its justices.
News stories each weekday from reporters you can trust without the liberal bias found in much of "mainstream" media.
News stories each weekday from reporters you can trust without the liberal bias found in much of "mainstream" media.
The CEO of the popular Babylon Bee is calling out the left-wing media for complaining about the satirical website, but he calls it a badge of honor when the Left recognizes the power of persuasion that is scoring points at their expense.
Something isn't quite right about the narrative being pushed by the mainstream media of the dramatic increase of alleged "anti-Asian" violence around the U.S. – so says a spokesperson with a conservative black network.