After giving a contentious interview on The Daily Show in November 2016, conservative
host and viral Internet star Tomi Lahren immediately became one of the most controversial and infamous
political talking heads in America.
But just who is this 24-year-old rising star, who has already made so many enemies?
And how did she get to where she is today?
Here's what we know.
Camo coupling
If you ever wondered what inspired Lahren to criticize President Barack Obama's policy
on ISIS after the deaths of multiple U.S. soldiers in 2015, it might have to do with
the fact that she once dated a Navy SEAL.
According to the Daily Mail, Lahren was in a relationship at the time with Jerad Christian,
a Utah-born soldier with whom she was reportedly in love.
The two apparently met in San Diego in 2015, and his work seems to have inspired her to
speak out on behalf of him and other troops in service.
They have since split, but that hasn't stopped Lahren from carrying on as a conservative
mouthpiece.
Cupcakes as the cure
In Lahren's infamous interview with The Daily Show's Trevor Noah, she championed some controversial
opinions on the Ku Klux Klan's connection to President-Elect Donald Trump and the Black
Lives Matter movement, among other things.
“And did you know that a black man is 18.5 times more likely to shoot a police officer
than a police officer is to shoot a black man?
Those are statistics no one wants to talk about.”
Most people assumed the liberal-leaning host would never speak to Lahren ever again.
Apparently, though, that wasn't the case.
Noah didn't send her ill tidings following their interview — he sent her cupcakes instead.
She shared a pic of her sweet haul, writing, "When @trevornoah sends you cupcakes and you
realize a mutual love of sugar might be the common ground you needed!"
Perhaps unsurprisingly, some of Noah's biggest fans weren't exactly pleased with his kind
gesture, but he's since made it up to them with his subsequent coverage.
“(Jibberish) What the hell, she’s like Busta Ryhmes reincarnated.
Who is this person?”
An overnight sensation
Lahren's meteoric rise to fame practically redefines the term overnight sensation.
A simple inquiry from Lahren about internships at One America News Network resulted in a
direct reply from network CEO Robert Herring, who told the 21-year-old to come in for a
meeting, even though the network did not actually offer internships.
Shortly thereafter, in August 2014, Lahren began hosting her very own show, On Point
with Tomi Lahren.
Married to the job
Though she was born in Rapid City, South Dakota, it wasn't until Lahren went to college at
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, when she really started to figure out the kind of person
she wanted to be.
She graduated in 2014, allowing herself very little down time before rising to superstardom.
Indeed, a little over a year after launching her own show on One America News Network,
Lahren made the jump to The Blaze in October 2015.
With such a quick jump from college to fame, it's perhaps unsurprising to find out that
she doesn't have much of a personal life.
She told The Guardian, "I don't have a family.
I don't have a boyfriend.
I am in Dallas for one reason only, and that is to do this show."
If there's one thing Tomi Lahren wants you to be clear on, it's that she is not a journalist.
As she put it, "I fully acknowledge that I am not a journalist.
I clearly have a point of view, I am very passionate about my point of view.
I am a commentator."
Not that it's too hard to tell the difference.
“You feminists can keep your race card, your victim card, your woman card, and your
F Trump signs.
I’ll keep my dignity, my self-respect.”
Thanks to her controversial views, she's now referred to by her critics as "White Power
Barbie," a label she's done little to discourage.
The backlash is real
Given her headline-making rhetoric, it should come as little surprise that her critics want
her silenced and taken off the air.
Such was the case in July 2016, when Lahren posted a since-deleted tweet equating the
Ku Klux Klan to Black Lives Matter.
The jaw-dropping tweet quickly led to the creation of a viral petition signed by tens
of thousands of angry viewers who demanded that The Blaze to take her off the air as
punishment for her words.
And while the petition itself didn't earn her a pink slip, her mouth still got her into
trouble with work in a very surprising way.
In keeping with Lahren's personal philosophy of "speaking her truth," she appeared on The
View in 2017 and revealed that she's pro-choice — a position generally not not held by those
who identify themselves as political conservatives.
“I’m for limited government, so stay out of my guns, and you can stay out of my body
as well.”
While most of her comments might've earned the ire of the left, this one ticked off her
own fanbase on the right — and cost her a job.
After several fellow reporters from The Blaze took to Twitter to lambaste Lahren's remarks,
her boss, and The Blaze founder Glenn Beck, addressed it on his show, saying,
"If you're pro-choice, you can have a job at The Blaze.
I don't hire people who are sycophants.
I try to hire people who have a different opinion."
What he took issue with, he said, was her inability to defend the statement, and that's
what he indicated ultimately led to her suspension from the show.
She's since filed a wrongful termination suit against Beck and The Blaze.
That action has, of course, ignited her opponents into a Twitterstorm of comments calling her
the word she so often likes to use against them -- snowflake.
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