Johnson was briefly associated with BuzzFeed but was fired from there due to several instances of plagiarism, where he used text from sources such as Yahoo Answers and Wikipedia without giving due credit.[7] Johnson has also worked for Turning Point USA and hosted for Newsmax TV.
His main YouTube channel, titled "Benny Johnson," has amassed 2.82 million subscribers and 3.31 billion views as of December 2024.[8]
Career
In 2010, Johnson began contributing opinion pieces to the far-right website Breitbart.
From 2011 to 2012, Johnson was a full-time worker for conservative website TheBlaze.[9]
Johnson speaking at the 2014 International Students for Liberty Conference in Washington, D.C.
From 2012 to 2014, Johnson was a staff writer at BuzzFeed, until he was fired for plagiarism.[10]
In September 2014, Johnson became digital director at the National Review (NR).
In May 2023, Johnson hired far-right influencer Nick Fuentes as a "digital specialist."[19]
Johnson runs three YouTube channels: "Benny Johnson," "Benny On The Block" and "Benny Brews."[8] Johnson also hosts a podcast called "The Benny Show."
Controversies
In July 2014, Johnson was suspended from Buzzfeed when an online investigation exposed plagiarism in his posts. His writings "periodically lifted text from a variety of sources" — including Yahoo Answers, Wikipedia, U.S. News & World Report — "all without credit.".[7][20] The plagiarised work comprised almost ten percent of his work; he was subsequently fired from BuzzFeed and apologized for the plagiarism.[7]
In March 2017, IJR staffers accused Johnson of plagiarizing an article about then-House Republican Conference chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers.[21] Later in the same month Johnson was suspended by the IJR after his involvement in an article which asserted that judge Derrick Watson's partial blocking of Executive Order 13780 was connected to former president Barack Obama's visit to Hawaii. Johnson had been warned that the IJR could potentially be promoting a conspiracy theory, but assigned the story anyway.[21][22]
Again in March 2017, Johnson was reported to have been verbally abusive and driven numerous staffers away from the IJR due to his management style;[22] he was subsequently demoted.[12]
In August 2017, Johnson wrote an article containing the most controversial tweets of what he thought was the Boston antifaTwitter account, but what was a fake account intended to lampoon antifa. Initially an editorial note was added, and the article was later removed.[23][24][25]
In April 2022, The Verge published an investigation on Arsenal Media, a conservative boutique co-founded by Johnson. Former employees and contractors described dubious corporate practices: payments delayed for months, contracts with political campaigns rife with self-dealing, overworked and underpaid jobs. Johnson has been described as “very abusive, very toxic, screaming at people, like using profanity, vulgarity, making women cry, like pushing them to the edge.” [26]
In August 2024, two Russian state media employees were charged with secretly funding almost $10 million to a Tennessee company for the production of political videos to benefit Russia by influencing the United States. The company's description matches that of Tenet Media, which had employed Johnson and other right-wing influencers, with him responding that "myself and other influencers were victims in this alleged scheme", with a request being made for him to produce content for a "media startup", and that he had a "standard, arms length deal, which was later terminated."[27][28]
Personal life
Johnson is married to Katelyn Rieley,[9] with whom he has four children.[29][30]
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