Home of Cancel Culture

No free speech

Following my suspension last week, I have now been fired from GB News, effective immediately.

I supported my friends and colleagues, and I would do so again. It is a great shame that the station, which calls itself the “home of free speech”, seems to so often engage in cancel culture.

GB News is controlled opposition.

Please support me if you can: https://www.givesendgo.com/homeofcancelculture

My initial statements on the whole affair:

https://twitter.com/calvinrobinson/status/1707324790690754567

There is no such thing as freedom of expression in the UK.

Article 10 of the Human Rights Act states “our freedom of expression is fundamental to our democracy”

But a lot of people do not believe in free speech, nor do they believe in democracy. Not really.

We’ve seen that this week. The mainstream media and both Labour and Conservative (in name only) politicians have called for an end to an entire channel because they do not like that we offer a different perspective.

No one is naive enough to believe this is about Laurence’s crass language, or Dan’s response. These are the excuses. It is not about them. It is about the entire project.

GB News tries to be a voice to the silent majority. There are many people in the UK who have felt ignored by the metropolitan liberal elite for a long time. Dismissed by politicians and legacy media. Brexit proved that. We offer a home to the media homeless, and the establishment resent us for it. They want to control the narrative, they cannot do that if we offer an alternative perspective.

That does not mean we always get it right. Laurence used language most people would find offensive. It was crass and unnecessary. Ava is well known for her misandry, her awful take on men’s mental health could have been easily debunked. But he tried to be “funny”. It was a misjudgment, but we are all fallen individuals.

That is his style. GB News knew that when they hired him, viewers know that when they choose to tune in or not. That’s democracy in action. There is an appropriate way to have a conversation about standards. This public blood bath is not it.

And it goes without saying, Dan could have challenged Laurence better. Another mistake, an imperfect choice. We are all imperfect. Dan has apologised… twice. Is it not our duty to forgive?

What has been surprising and disappointing is how quickly so-called friends and colleagues have thrown Laurence under the bus. Rather than speaking with him privately, they have chosen to distance themselves by virtue signalling - and in doing so they have thrown fuel on the fire. The woke mob is out circling the waters and these guys are giving them the scent of fresh blood. It is shortsighted. You cannot appease the woke mob! Have they not learned this yet? The mob may be coming for Dan and Laurence today, but you can bet they’ll come for the rest of us tomorrow. Even those of you who have handed them his head on a platter.

If you give in to the woke mob, you have no legs to stand on. Either you stand for something or you do not stand at all. “The home of free speech… no, not that speech!” Unless GB News - and that included its management, presenters and producers - stands for free speech, there is no point in its existence. At this rate, we will be just another MSM channel, if we continue to exist at all. And that is exactly what the woke mob wants…

Go woke, go broke.

https://twitter.com/calvinrobinson/status/1707663197853880449

I will not be appearing on Dan Wootton Tonight without Dan Wootton.

Dan Wootton had a significant part to play in building GB News.

He invited me along pre-launch, he also brought so many people onboard. Behind the cameras as well as on-screen talent.

Including the careerist ambitious ones who are currently gunning for his job. These people are worse than the woke mob, because these vultures are giving the mob ammunition and essentially escalating the channel’s demise.

We failed as a community to stand up for Mark Steyn. If we let them do the same to Dan, it’s over. The channel will be on borrowed time, we will all be the next in the firing line.

I get that people have to pay the bills. But GB News is more than a job - it’s certainly more than a chance to be on the telly - it is a mission. An opportunity to shift the dial in public discourse. To have the conversations the shills on other channels cannot or will not have. We must do all we can to avoid GB News becoming just another MSM outlet. Which it will, if we let it.

Our bosses are scared. Afraid of Ofcom, afraid of the woke mob, and afraid they’re going to run out of money unless they manage to sort this advertising problem out. We need to give them courage, not enable them to capitulate. If they pander to the woke mob, we are finished. Someone else might get the prime time slot for a bit, but it will not be a promotion if you jump in Dan’s grave. You’ll just be making space alongside his corpse for your own.

Standing up for Dan is standing up for the very idea of GB News. If he falls, we all fall. We are about to see if people really care about the project, or they just want a better slot, with a bigger team and better pay.