Owen Benjamin

Owen Benjamin Smith (born May 24, 1980) is an American comedian, actor, and alt-right political commentator. He has repeatedly had his social media accounts on various services suspended or removed for his statements, including hate speech and antisemitism.

Owen Benjamin
Benjamin in 2017
Birth nameOwen Smith
Born (1980-05-24) May 24, 1980
Fulton, New York, U.S.
MediumStand-up, television, film, internet
NationalityAmerican
EducationSUNY Plattsburgh
Years active2006 – present
Genres
Notable works and rolesSullivan & Son
The House Bunny
WebsiteOfficial website

Early life

Owen Benjamin was born to John Kares Smith and Jean Troy-Smith, both professors at Oswego State University.[1] He attended Plattsburgh State College, where he worked at the student-run TV station.[2]

Career

In 2008, Benjamin had a supporting role in The House Bunny.[2][3] In 2009, he played the lead role in the romantic comedy All's Faire in Love, co-starring with Christina Ricci.[2][3] He was on Comedy Central Presents in 2010. From 2012 to 2014, he portrayed Owen Walsh on the TBS original comedy Sullivan & Son.[2] He also appeared twice as a correspondent on The Jay Leno Show.[4][2]

Benjamin hosted the annual ADG Excellence in Production Design Awards from 2014 to 2016.[5] He had a podcast, Why Didn't They Laugh, on Sideshow Network.[6] He hosted Esquire Network's The Next Great Burger in 2015.[7]

Benjamin formally produced the late show on Saturday Nights at The Improv in Hollywood, California, and has also performed on MTV's show Punk'd.[8] Benjamin has starred in several web-only video series, including: Sony Pictures Television's C-SPOT, the role of Owen on Gaytown, Chance Stevens on Heckle U for CBS Interactive,[9] and as a host of his own series, Owen Benjamin Presents.[10]

He has been featured in several video hosted by the American conservative media company PragerU since 2018.[11][12][13]

Benjamin has used crowdfunded money to rent the venues for his shows.[14]

He has cited Adam Sandler and Vince Vaughn as being comedy influences.[15]

Views

Benjamin describes his comedy as a criticism of political correctness, liberalism, and the political left.[16] Benjamin has had scheduled shows canceled and has been banned from social media sites for his statements, including his use of racial and anti-LGBTQ slurs.[16][17][18][19]

According to Insider Inc, Benjamin supports anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.[20] In October 2018, The Daily Beast reported that Benjamin had a history of posting anti-Semitic memes on Instagram.[21] Right Wing Watch has reported on Benjamin's statements that Adolf Hitler was trying to "clean Germany, clean it of the parasites, of the fleas" and that Jews control the media.[22] Right Wing Watch quotes a live-stream where Benjamin says, "gays and Jews were considered the worst of the worst. Why? Because if they get power, they will destroy your entire civilization."[23][22] Conservative commentator Bethany Mandel has written about Benjamin posting fabricated verses from the Talmud and spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, including Holocaust denial.[12]

Right Wing Watch has reported that Benjamin believes in several other conspiracy theories, such as that the transgender rights movement is part of a eugenics program to lower the world population, that the moon landing did not occur, and that "dinosaurs were a Smithsonian lie".[24][25][11] In November 2019, he spoke at the Flat Earth International Conference in Dallas, Texas.[24]

Social media bans

In October 2019, Patreon suspended Benjamin's account, saying he violated their terms of service regarding hate speech.[26] His YouTube channel was banned on December 3, 2019, for violations of the site's terms of service.[27] On December 13, he was suspended from Facebook and Instagram for multiple policy violations.[23]

In January 2020, Benjamin and one hundred of his fans announced their intent to sue Patreon for $3.5 million for banning him from the platform. By August, Patreon had filed a counter-suit against 72 of the fans.[26] In July, a judge on the Superior Court of California for the County of San Francisco denied Patreon's request for a preliminary injunction in the case.[28]

In March 2020, The Daily Dot reported that Benjamin had been attempting to circumvent his social media bans to spread disinformation regarding COVID-19. Following the publication of the article, several of Benjamin's new accounts were terminated.[29]

After being banned from YouTube, Benjamin began streaming on DLive a competing livestreaming service popular with extremists. As of November 2020 Benjamin and Nick Fuentes were the two highest earners on the site.[30][31]

Personal life

In March 2008, he and Christina Ricci announced they were engaged, but they ended their engagement two months later.[3][32] He later married and had two sons.[33]

References
  1. "Look at OZ: Stand-up comic Owen Benjamin – The Oswegonian". 2018-11-29. Archived from the original on 2018-11-29. Retrieved 2018-07-12.
  2. "Oswego native Owen Benjamin to perform at Funny Bone in Syracuse". Oswego County News Now. 2016-08-21. Archived from the original on 2019-07-10. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
  3. "Christina Ricci is Engaged!". usmagazine.com. March 17, 2009. Archived from the original on March 20, 2009.
  4. Levine, Stuart (2009-09-08). "Jay Leno adds to posse". Variety. Archived from the original on 2018-03-08.
  5. "Comedian Owen Benjamin Returns As Host Of The Art Directors Guild 20th Annual Excellence In Production Design Awards". shootonline.com. 2015-11-12. Archived from the original on 2018-03-07. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  6. "WHY DIDN'T THEY LAUGH Host Owen Benjamin Uses Fan Suggestions for New Material at CA Improv This Weekend". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  7. "The Next Great Burger on Apple TV". Apple TV. Retrieved 4 February 2021. no-break space character in |website= at position 6 (help)
  8. "Owen Benjamin's tweet from February 9, 2018".
  9. Frommer, Dan. "Lindsay Campbell's New Show, 'Heckle U', Launching Today". Archived from the original on 2009-08-19. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
  10. "C-Spot Season 2 on Crackle". thecomicscomic. 2008-06-19. Archived from the original on 2010-05-09. Retrieved 2009-02-25.
  11. Holt, Jared (February 12, 2019). "Owen Benjamin: Another 'Red Pill' Overdose Victim". Right Wing Watch. People for the American Way. Archived from the original on July 17, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  12. Mandel, Bethany (2019-04-08). "How did conservative comedian Owen Benjamin became a darling of the 'alt-right'?". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Archived from the original on 2019-04-16. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  13. G, Cristina López (4 February 2019). "PragerU YouTube video features bigoted conspiracy theorist Owen Benjamin". Media Matters for America.
  14. "Conservatives banished from comedy industry". The Washington Times. January 1, 2018. Archived from the original on January 1, 2018. Retrieved November 29, 2018.
  15. Weiser, Sonia (2013-06-27). "The Laughspin Interview with Owen Benjamin". Laughspin.com. Archived from the original on 2018-03-09. Retrieved 2018-03-08.
  16. "Local comic Day Bracey clashes online with alt-right comedian Owen Benjamim over canceled Pittsburgh show". 2018-04-19. Archived from the original on 2018-04-19. Retrieved 2018-11-29.
  17. "What Happened To Owen Benjamin Is Further Proof We Are Losing Our Min…". 2017-09-29. Archived from the original on 2017-09-29. Retrieved 2018-11-29.
  18. Joe, Berkowitz (December 3, 2018). "Why is Amazon promoting this anti-trans alt right troll's comedy special?". Fast Company. Archived from the original on December 6, 2018. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  19. Deto, Ryan. "Local comic Day Bracey clashes online with alt-right comedian Owen Benjamin over canceled Pittsburgh show". Pittsburgh City Paper. Archived from the original on 2018-04-19. Retrieved 2019-04-19.
  20. Einbinder, Nicole. "White nationalists continue to post on Instagram, despite a new Facebook policy banning such content". Insider Inc. Archived from the original on 14 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  21. Lorenz, Taylor (October 30, 2018). "Instagram Is Teeming With Anti-Semitism". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on March 29, 2019. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  22. Holt, Jared (March 18, 2019). "Owen Benjamin's Rhetoric is Growing More Extreme". Right Wing Watch. People for the American Way. Archived from the original on July 17, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  23. Holt, Jared (December 13, 2019). "Instagram and Facebook Suspend Right-Wing 'Comedian' Owen Benjamin". Right Wing Watch. People For the American Way. Archived from the original on December 13, 2019. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  24. Gallagher, Danny (2019-12-10). "Discworld Is Real! Dive into Flat Earth Culture at their Global, Sorry, International Conference". Dallas Observer. Archived from the original on 2020-08-05. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  25. Holt, Jared (November 29, 2018). "Owen Benjamin: Transgender Rights Movement is a U.N.-Sponsored Eugenics Program". Right Wing Watch. People for the American Way. Archived from the original on June 4, 2019. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  26. Goforth, Claire (2020-07-06). "Alt-right comedian asked his fans to sue Patreon. It backfired". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on 2020-07-06. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  27. Petrizzo, Zachary (December 4, 2019). "Owen Benjamin, alt-right comedian, banned from YouTube". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on December 6, 2019. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  28. "Court denies Patreon injunction against fans of 'canceled' comedian". i24NEWS. 2 August 2020. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  29. Goforth, Claire (2020-03-24). "Banned 'alt-right' comedian returns to spread coronavirus misinformation". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on 2020-07-08. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  30. Gais, Hannah; Edison, Michael (November 17, 2020). "Extremists Are Cashing in on a Youth-Targeted Gaming Website". Southern Poverty Law Center.
  31. https://forward.com/news/461709/banned-from-youtube-welcome-to-dlive-a-safe-haven-for-americas-neo-nazis/
  32. "Christina Ricci calls off her engagement to 'All's Faire in Love' co-". 2012-09-07. Archived from the original on 2012-09-07. Retrieved 2018-11-29.
  33. "Owen Benjamin Comedy on Twitter: "Both momma and baby are happy and healthy". 2018-07-20. Archived from the original on 2019-07-01. Retrieved 2018-11-29.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.