Alexi McCammond is a reporter who
kind of came up in politics and
was about to take a job as editor
in chief at Teen Vogue.
And then once she was hired people
who worked at the publication
remembered some tweets that she had
tweeted when she was 17 years old
they resurfaced and
there was an open letter that was
written kind of calling out these
previous tweets that McCammond
tweeted when she was 17.
And while McCammond was supposed
to start her job as editor in chief
of Teen Vogue this next Wednesday,
the development is that McCammond
has resigned before she even
had a chance to start.
So here is a statement from an
executive at Conde Nast, which is
the parent company of Teen Vogue.
After speaking with Alexi this
morning, we agreed that it was
best to part ways so
as not to overshadow the important
work happening at Teen Vogue,
Stan Duncan,
the chief people officer sure
that's a term at Conde Nast said,
said in the email, which was
obtained by the New York Times in
a statement included in the email.
Miss McCammond, according to
the New York Times, said her past
tweets have overshadowed the work
I've done to highlight the people
and issues that I care about.
I wish the talented team at
Teen Vogue the absolute best moving
forward.
And just to kind of remind you
what's going on it says resurfaced
tweets included comments on
the appearance of Asian features,
derogatory stereotypes about
Asians, and slurs for gay people.
So, there's a couple more
factors that might have contributed
to this decision from McCammond who
wasn't fired, but
it says she resigned, but
first face value What do you think?
>> Yeah, I don't like it at all.
So there's a giant conversation
about cancer culture and
90% of it is nonsense.
But there is a ten percent that's
real and I think this is in
that ten percent.
Let me just quickly explain the 90%
that's nonsense.
You just want to cancel a cop for
being racist fan.
No, that's firing someone because
they maybe shot someone who was
unarmed based on their race.
That's called accountability,
that's not cancel culture.
Okay, you called me racist man, you
shouldn't be allowed to say that.
No, that's just more speech, so
that's not cancel culture.
But this person, let's keep it real
is getting removed from her job.
They put a nice face to it by
saying she resigned and I guarantee
you there was some money exchanged
too so that everybody is cool and
doesn't attack each other right
afterwards, right?
So that's the reality of the
business world especially in media.
But she is basically removed from
her job, for things she said
when she was a teenager.
Are those things bad?
Yes, we read them to you
on a previous show, and there were
anti-Asian, anti-gay, were
a billion percent against that.
Obviously, she was 17 in some of
the comments and 18 in the others.
So look did Teen Vogue hire her
because she was hot in the news
like she had gotten this,
the relationship with the Biden And
there was a big hubbub over that
and her name got big and she's 27
years old and so they decided
they were going to do this hire.
You got issues inside Teen Vogue,
because you don't think she has
enough experience have the courage
to talk about that, okay?
So but in this case it was
some staffers who came out and
said we don't like what she said
when she was a teenager.
But we never talked to her,
we never heard her out.
We never heard whether she changed
her mind in the ensuing 10 years.
We don't know if she's being real
in it, when she's being contrived,
right, or she's faking it.
We didn't bother checking,
she says something a decade ago,
she's guilty and
should be removed from her job,
that's cancel culture.
But I want you to understand why
this happened, it didn't
happen because of the 20 staffers.
But that's what precipitated,
that's what started it but
no two advertisers pulled up, and
corporations control most of media.
So when the advertisers pull out,
that's it, you're done.
They're the ones that actually
cancel people.
And and as a progressive
by the way,
I'm not happy to have that kind of
corporate control over media.
And that's exactly what happens
with mainstream media
as soon as any advertiser says you
better not right or wrong,
that person is gone.
And so understand that this has
a lot of nuance.
>> Yeah, for sure.
There's a couple of things that go
into it.
Yeah, it was Burt's Bees and
Ulta beauty, which are huge.
Those are two cosmetics companies
essentially, that are huge for
Teen Vogue.
But there is another aspect of it
and also with the anti-Asian
tweets, the nature of that some of
the analysis coming out is that in
a time of heightened anti-Asian,
rhetoric and resulting in actual
violence against Asian Americans
and Asian people in America.
Yes, those are all the factors
that are going into that too.
And as Pointed out, when we first
reported on this story,
like she was 17 and it wasn't just
that she was 17, it was 10 years
ago when this was the essential
equivalent of, like, dming someone.
There hadn't been stories 10
years ago of maybe, and
I think it was 2008, 2009 or
something like that, I don't know.
But, like there had not really been
those stories about the person who
took the flight,
who was a PR rep and said something
that was terrible against people in
Africa and by the time she landed,
she lost her job.
Like that hadn't really permeated
Guys where you thought to yourself,
what I do on Twitter, I am going
to be held responsible for
not to mention when you're 17 like
that's going to be a mitigating
circumstance for me, the age.
And >> 100%.
>> And then another mitigating
circumstance is Conde Nast
was encountering was the fact that,
the editor in chief of Bon Appetit
recently, I don't know if it was
the editor in chief but a high
ranking person at Bon Appetit,
came under fire and had to go.
Because there was a photo that
surfaced of him essentially
dressing as though he was
Puerto Rican in a very like at
the brown face kind of way, and he
lost his job as a result of that.
And it wasn't just that photo,
it was a pattern reportedly, of
poor treatment to people of color.
>> Yeah.
>> In the business.
So, that's also something that's
circling but, cross reference
that to the fact that Anna Winsor
herself vetted this,
Alexi McCammond, and the level of
confidence they had that coming off
her reporting in other areas,
she was qualified to do this.
She wasn't a young, strong voice
that they were hiring to continue
this turn for Teen Vogue,
becoming kind of a more political
voice than just quizzes about like
whether you're sexually compatible
with someone in your class.
>> Yeah, so, look, if all these
situations are different if you
treat them the same,
that's anti intellectual, right?
So if somebody is
having questionable conduct towards
minorities on their staff as
the allegation and Bon Appetit is,
if that allegation is true,
well then that's a no brainer.
Of course you can't do that,
that's then of course he's got to
go, right?
So that's not ten years ago, that's
not when you were a teenager.
That's now, that's how you're
treating employees now,
if the allegations are true.
Okay, so
obviously context matters, right?
Look, the Asian American crime now
is outrageous.
And we railed against it on
this show that obviously, right?
And that's the most obvious thing
in the whole wide world.
And her comments were bad.
And in 2009 you should have known
better than to be anti-Asian or
anti-gay.
It's not like it was like 1959 we
didn't know you're
going to have Gay.
We didn't know you weren't supposed
to be anti gay right?
Look, that's not a great excuse in
1959 either, but it's definitely
not a good excuse in 2009.
So we all understand that, but
she was 17.
My point with that is can we have
any redemption?
Can we have anyone ever changing
their minds?
Or if you ever say anything bad in
your life,
are you permanently cancelled
with no possibility of revocation?
And you know me and we've gone
through this on many topics.
No, no, no is not what I believe
and I don't think that's
a progressive position at all.
To say you know what,
I don't want you want to hear you.
I don't want to hear if you change,
I don't want to hear your opinion.
You said it when you were 17 I'm
done with you.
I can't stand that that is
cancel culture.
I think it's terrible.
And in terms of their advertisement
look, corporations now have chief
people officer,
we have found people, okay and
we will now make officers of them.
Alright anyway, the reason I tell
you that is because corporations,
the advertisers are the ones that
sanitize all the media.
Now you can say well, I like this
sanitized version because she's
there sanitizing the if you believe
this and you think she hasn't
changed her mind, a racist or
almost somebody homophobic, but
they also sanitize out all
anti-corporate messages.
They sanitize in all the status quo
is great, status quo is great,
keep buying, don't change anything,
don't change the system.
So If you're okay with corporate
sponsors deciding what is allowed
to be talked about on air and
who can and cannot participate in
that conversation, I think you
should be careful with that
decision because I think that's
a bad decision that's going to wind
up hurting good, honest people and
especially progressives way
more than you realize.
So I'm asking for a conversation
and for people to be fair, I don't
know if it's too much of an ask.
But but that's where we are now
where generally speaking both
sides just yell at each other and
never actually want to talk it
through >> And it's so
difficult to tell the difference.
When all the Stuff was going on,
when I was on Pop Trigger and
I just kept talking about ethics
math, and it's helpful.
I have to do the ethics math,
I have to be like,
these things are all different.
So you talking about
like sponsors pulling out,
sponsors pulled out, companies
decided they're going to support
Colin Kaepernick of the NFL.
They decided to pull out of
Conde Nast and
supporting Teen Vogue.
That's the same activity which is
a sponsor making a decision.
But they're for
different reasons and
under different circumstances.
And, a lot of people who try to
play the like, you're a hypocrite
game without fixing anything, this
is what my big pet is worse than
a pet peeve, it's like a cancerous
instinct is where calling
out a hypocrisy is a destination.
And it isn't that you need to
prove it.
It's that you just need to say
you're a hypocrite and not really
prove it out because people who are
watching various like influencers
of different camps are just looking
for someone to confidently say
that the other side sucks.
But if they're earnest and
they really want to have the
conversation I can tell you the way
that Alexi McCammond's tweets when
she was a teenager are bad, but
not as bad in terms of like
something on the internet weighing
on my interpretation of whether
someone's an honest actor or
not as the sheriff's spokesperson
who recently tweeted as a grown ass
man, I got the China tee shirts,
the China virus tee shirts,
those are different.
Those are both bad tweets, but
there is a difference there.
And if you're going to be an honest
actor and that's all I want,
like I get so frustrated with so
much of it so many people out there
just trying to get folks to,
there's folks on the right and
all they do is try to absolve white
dudes of responsibility for
anything in exchange for
patreon dollars.
And that's it,
that's not a destination,
you're not trying to fix anything.
That's just trying to make
people feel good.
In this situation like what I want
I think Alexi McCammond has been
through a lot.
We have a quote from Charles
Barkley about Alexi McCammond,
who said I don't hit women, but
if I did, I would hit you.
Alexi McCammond was also in that
story this year about the Biden guy
who was theoretically dating her
and said, I will end you if you
bring this up to anyone else.
It's just like, my God like,
well how does this have any
effect on her work?
And not just her work, like maybe
she writes a good article, but
those articles that she's writing
are well executed and
well researched.
And when she says in her apology
and her qualifying statements after
she apologized and in as she goes,
and allegedly or reportedly
went to different breakout sessions
within Conde Nast was like,
I was 17 I've apologized,
here's 10 articles I've done, and
10 examples of some work that I've
done to kind of prove to you that
I'm better than that, than I was.
Like I'm more inclined to believe
her than I am to believe the guy
who not only said that you should
pick up this China virus tee shirt
but also said he
had a bad day when he shot a bunch
of people like that kind of stuff.
It's just a different conversation
and people aren't having it.
>> Yeah, you
know what else is something it
canceled over being too judgmental.
So how about we cancel judgmental
people and get corporations to fire
all of them >> Right.
>> So, you have to use your mind
and logic when you do judgment,
okay?
Like Brad said, like I said, when
you deal with cops, it makes sense
because they hold power over people
and they're currently doing it.
When you do it about something that
somebody said when they were 17 and
they don't have a time machine,
they can't go back and
fix it other than their actions
that they have shown to fix it,
she's African American too.
You don't know what she's been
through, you know how you find out?
You talk to her,
you don't preemptively fire her.
So, yeah, there's no question,
this is cancel culture.
And I'll tell you one other thing.
There's people on the left and
participate in
the cancel culture that then say,
okay, they need you stand up for
anyone who's been fired.
We're going to try to cancel you
too, come at me, bro.
Okay, so no,
we've got to stand up for people.
And so that's what we do at TYT.
So if you don't like it and
you think, no, no, no, no,
anyone who's ever disagreed with me
for a nanosecond in their life,
even when they were a zygote,
I'm canceling them.
Okay, well, we don't agree,
we don't agree.
So, and we're going to have
the courage to stand up for
our positions.
And so if you want to say all you
guys have that courage and
I don't like it, and so
I want to ban you, well have at it,
Hoss, give me your best shot.
Go find our tens and tens of
thousands of subscribers and get
them to all change their mind or
whatever the hell you want to do,
okay?
But we're going to state
the truth, okay?
We're going to fight back against
the monsters on the right.
And at the same time,
we're going to be fair and
we are going to look for justice.
So if you like it great,
then you'll come join us,
if you don't like it and
you want in justice for
Either right or the left,
that's your goddamn problem.
Okay, that's my opinion.