The New Yorker incited anger on Monday after it was announced that Steve Bannon would be headlining the magazine’s October festival.
The magazine’s editor, David Remnick, defended the choice to add Bannon to the festival lineup by saying the event wouldn’t allow Bannon to “jump on and off the record.”
“I have every intention of asking him difficult questions and engaging in a serious and even combative conversation,” Remnick told the Times in a phone interview. “The audience itself, by its presence, puts a certain pressure on a conversation that an interview alone doesn’t do.”
Bannon left the White House in August 2017, not long after white nationalists incited violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia. After his work for President Donald Trump, Bannon focused his attention on getting Europe’s far-right parties more power in government positions.
During a speech in March at a party congress of France’s far-right National Front in Lille, he told attendees to consider being called racist “a badge of honor.”
Critics began voicing their anger on social media despite Remnick’s comments, saying the magazine was giving Bannon a platform for his dangerous and hateful rhetoric.
Media outlets need to stop legitimizing Steve Bannon by giving him a platform. We should all be relieved his influence on our government has seemingly waned, not encourage its relevance. He’s a dangerous, destabilizing force in our country. He’s also *not newsworthy.* The end.
— Sulome Anderson (@SulomeAnderson) September 3, 2018
Dear @NewYorker,
Your decision to feature Steve Bannon as your headline speaker is sending a very clear message to your Black, Brown, immigrant and Muslim readers.
And your soon-to-be former readers.
— Khaled Beydoun (@KhaledBeydoun) September 3, 2018
I’m disgusted that @NewYorker Ideas Festival has invited Steve Bannon as their headliner. He’s not a public official. He’s not a legitimate intellectual. But he is a far-right organizer drawing intellectual cred from their platform.
— Lindsay Beyerstein (@Beyerstein) September 3, 2018
UNBELIEVABLE!! NOW THE @NewYorker?? HOW MANY TIMES DO THESE PUBLICATIONS NEED TO DO THIS? STEVE BANNON IS HUMAN CLICKBAIT.
He’s not employed. He no longer holds any position of note. He’s just a racist. Stop giving him air! https://t.co/KgShAjKXZx
— Sleeping Giants (@slpng_giants) September 3, 2018
The @NewYorker gives its most visible platform to a man who unrepentantly promotes propaganda calling for ethnic cleansing. This is equivalent to putting onstage a man who recommends everyone read Mein Kampf & letting him promote his new company. https://t.co/6Rub6T1lzU
— Anil Dash (@anildash) September 3, 2018
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