Sam Seder

On September 1, 2004, Seder was briefly detained by the United States Secret Service during his live, on-site coverage of that year's Republican National Convention at Madison Square Garden. Shortly after Zell Miller gave his speech, Seder began searching (with a sign in hand) on the convention floor for a willing homosexual Republican to interview live on radio. Shortly thereafter, he was physically removed from the floor and – after brief questioning – asked to leave the convention. Seder later commented that his wearing of a lapel pin that he had been given by a Secret Service agent at the Democratic National Convention earlier that year had kept him from being ejected from the convention completely.[16]

On November 28, 2017, American social media personality Mike Cernovich published a post on Medium[18] that resurfaced a deleted tweet Seder wrote in 2009 joking about convicted statutory rapist and fugitive film director Roman Polanski.[15][19] The tweet read, "Don't care re Polanski, but I hope if my daughter is ever raped it is by an older truly talented man w/ a great sense of mise en scene."[18][19] Cernovich insisted the tweet proved Seder tacitly endorsed Polanski's sex crime.[18][17] He then approached multiple journalists and news outlets, including MSNBC, to break the story.[14][20]

Seder found out about the brewing controversy the same evening en route to a supermarket after being contacted by MSNBC Senior Vice President of Communications Errol Cockfield Jr. asking him to explain the tweet. Seder replied to Cockfield in an email explaining the point being made in the tweet and the context in which he wrote it. Seder also provided other tweets supporting his claim.[14][17]

The next day, on November 29, 2017, Seder received a voicemail from Cockfield indicating MSNBC's upper management was seriously considering cutting ties with him. Seder responded that MSNBC was making a mistake and that, "there's no story here." Seder further warned Cockfield that if they moved forward with the termination, "You guys are going to be the story." Seder also requested a formal termination email. Seder never received the email, leading him to believe that this employment status was still undecided.[14][17]

On Sunday, December 3, 2017, Seder was notified by Jon Levine of TheWrap that they had been contacted by MSNBC who had decided to terminate Seder's contract and were about to break the story through their own publication. Seder immediately sent Cockfield an inquiry regarding his status. Cockfield, at first, did not have a status update but later confirmed MSNBC was, in fact, dropping Seder.[14][17]

The next day, TheWrap announced that MSNBC had severed ties with Seder by not renewing his contract due to the controversial tweet.[14][15][17] Seder defended the tweet by pointing out that, taken in context of the current events around the time he posted it, it was a satiric response to a petition urging Polanski's release from detention in Switzerland.[15][20][21][22] An anonymous MSNBC source defended the termination, "It gives us pause when we see alt-right figures whipping up attention about our action but the reality is Seder made a rape joke."[17] After news of the termination broke, Cernovich released a Twitter video celebrating his triumph.[14][N 1]

Seder noted that advertisers on The Majority Report with Sam Seder podcast were also being contacted and pressured by Cernovich and his team to cut ties with the show over the tweet.[14] In response, Seder launched a GoFundMe campaign to help maintain funding for the show in the face of potential loss of advertising revenue.[14] In an episode of the podcast titled, "I'm Under Attack By the Nazi Alt-Right", Seder said, "this smear involves the willful misinterpretation of a tweet that I posted in 2009" and that he will "never be ashamed of criticizing those who would excuse the predation of women or girls."[15][17]

Seder revealed plans to use a portion of the GoFundMe proceeds to produce a three-minute video educating people on Cernovich's tactics.[14] He surmised Cernovich's ploy had been retribution for his frequent criticism of Donald Trump as well as Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore who was accused of sexual assault.[15][20][N 2] Further, Seder chided MSNBC's decision to terminate his employment concluding, "I think they're afraid of those people."[17][N 3]

The news of Seder's dismissal sparked a backlash.[15][23] Over 12,000 people signed a petition protesting Seder's termination, arguing that Cernovich had acted in malice and was deliberately mischaracterizing the tweet.[20][24] AV Club wrote that "MSNBC has now fully bought into that smear campaign ... whose openly stated goal is the destruction of news outlets just like it through the use of blatantly manipulative trolling techniques.[25] Mother Jones rebuked MSNBC for capitulating "to the demands of a lunatic conservative."[N 4] HuffPost chided that Cernovich was now MSNBC's new "De Facto Ombudsman."[27] MSNBC primetime anchor Chris Hayes tweeted, "The entire culture and our politics are now dominated by people who have weaponized bad faith and shamelessness."[26] Hayes tweeted several times against the decision by his own network, including: "Also, I reiterate my longstanding position that people shouldn't be fired for a tweet, *particularly* one that is obviously being read in manifestly bad faith."[20][28] Actress and comedian Sarah Silverman also tweeted in support of Seder.[N 5]

There was considerable dissent within MSNBC over Seder's termination. Some employees expressed concerns that his firing would encourage other far-right personalities to launch similar smear campaigns.[14][21] A senior MSNBC employee characterized the capitulation as "really weak" and "pathetic".[14][21] MSNBC's management itself was unsettled by the celebratory reaction from the far-right.[14][21] On December 7, 2017, MSNBC decided to reverse their decision to terminate Seder's employment. MSNBC President Phil Griffin said in a statement, "Sometimes you just get one wrong, and that's what happened here. We made our initial decision for the right reasons—because we don't consider rape to be a funny topic to be joked about. But we've heard the feedback, and we understand the point Sam was trying to make in that tweet was actually in line with our values, even though the language was not. Sam will be welcome on our air going forward."[24][29] In response, Seder issued a statement while accepting his job back:

I appreciate MSNBC's thoughtful reconsideration and willingness to understand the cynical motives of those who intentionally misrepresented my tweet for their own toxic, political purposes ... We are experiencing an important and long overdue moment of empowerment for the victims of sexual assault and of reckoning for their perpetrators. I'm proud that MSNBC and its staff have set a clear example of the need to get it right.[22][29][N 6]

Columbia Journalism Review cited the incident as an example of a broader pattern of far-right media personalities using online smear campaigns to get mainstream journalists fired.[30] Cernovich acknowledged that "some are saying Seder was making a joke or being sarcastic."[14][15] However, he said he did not misrepresent the tweet, but merely "reported on what [Seder] said."[14] Cernovich added that "[t]he left isn't going to stop going through our tweets so we aren't going to stop going through theirs. I wish we would get over people trying to find someone saying a naughty thing. I've been saying that for years. And nobody wants to listen. So fine, we will play by the same rules."[14] Cernovich indicated this was meant to bring attention the double standard in the media and obvious lack of "diversity of viewpoint", stating: "EVERY media article has defended Sam Seder's right to make child rape 'jokes' that would get anyone else fired, but yeah there is no media narrative at all, and there's totally a diversity of viewpoint in the media. Yes, sure thing guys, we totally buy that." Cernovich also tweeted that he was thrilled MSNBC offered Seder his job back while promising to "bring Sam Seder's Tweet out every time the media goes after someone else for a Tweet. I'm thrilled MSNBC has made the decision that people shouldn't be fired over satirical tweets." Cernovich wrote on Twitter: "This rule will surely be applied equally to all sides, and if it's not, we will bring Sam Seder's Tweet out every time the media goes after someone else for a Tweet."[31][32][21][22] Cernovich also claimed on Periscope that "[m]y wife is being stalked, and the media is encouraging this campaign of terror."[33]