Benny Johnson | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Johnson in 2021 | ||||||||||
| Born | May 27, 1987 Cedar Rapids, Iowa, U.S. [1] | |||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Iowa [2] | |||||||||
| Occupation | Columnist | |||||||||
| Spouse | Katelyn Rieley | |||||||||
| Children | 4 | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Channel | ||||||||||
| Years active | 2020–present | |||||||||
| Genre(s) | Political commentary, roasting | |||||||||
| Subscribers | 2.43 million [3] | |||||||||
| Total views | 2.84 billion [3] | |||||||||
| ||||||||||
Last updated: Sept 20, 2024 | ||||||||||
Benny Johnson (born May 27, 1987) [4] is an American conservative political commentator [5] and YouTuber. [6]
In 2010, Johnson began contributing opinion pieces to the opinion website Breitbart . In 2011, he was hired as a full-time worker for conservative media website TheBlaze. [7]
In 2012, Johnson became a staff writer at BuzzFeed. [8] In July 2014, BuzzFeed found 41 instances of plagiarism in Johnson's writings, comprising almost ten percent of his work. He was subsequently fired from BuzzFeed and apologized for the plagiarism. [9]
In September 2014, Johnson became digital director at the National Review (NR). [10] In 2015, Johnson left NR to join the Independent Journal Review (IJR) as a creative content contributor. [10] Later that year, the IJR staffers accused him of plagiarizing an article about then-House Republican Conference chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers. [11]
In March 2017, 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. [11] [12] That same month, Johnson was reported to have been verbally abusive and driven numerous staffers away from the IJR due to his management style; [12] he was subsequently demoted. [13]
In August 2017, Johnson wrote an article containing the most controversial tweets of what he thought was the Boston antifa Twitter account, but what was a fake account intended to lampoon antifa. Initially an editorial note was added, and the article was later removed. [14] [15] [16]
A month after his relationship with the IJR was terminated in October 2017, [13] Johnson joined The Daily Caller . [17] [18] [19] In 2019, he became a chief creative officer at Turning Point USA. [20] In 2020, Johnson was a host on Newsmax TV. [21] [22]
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." [23] [24]
Benny runs three YouTube channels, including Benny Johnson, Benny On The Block, and Benny Brews. In total he has over 2.6 million subscribers.
Johnson is married to Katelyn Rieley, [7] with whom he has four children. [25] [26]
Newsmax, Inc. is an American cable news, political opinion commentary, and digital media company founded by Christopher Ruddy in 1998. It has been variously described as conservative, right-wing, and far-right. Newsmax Media divisions include its cable and broadcast channel Newsmax TV; its website Newsmax.com, which includes Newsmax Health and Newsmax Finance; and Newsmax magazine, its monthly print publication.
InfoWars is an American far-right conspiracy theory and fake news website created by Alex Jones. It was founded in 1999, and operated under Free Speech Systems LLC.
Eric Thomas Bolling is an American television personality, conservative political commentator, author, and financial commentator. He has occupied numerous roles as a commentator on financial issues for television, most notably for Fox News. He hosted Fox Business Channel's Cashin' In and Fox News Channel's The Five before leaving in May 2017. An outspoken supporter of Donald Trump, Bolling has published two books: Wake Up America (2016) and The Swamp: Washington's Murky Pool of Corruption and Cronyism and How Trump Can Drain It (2017).
BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. Kenneth Lerer, co-founder and chairman of The Huffington Post, started as a co-founder and investor in BuzzFeed and is now the executive chairman.
A Twitter bot is a type of software bot that controls a Twitter account via the Twitter API. The social bot software may autonomously perform actions such as tweeting, retweeting, liking, following, unfollowing, or direct messaging other accounts. The automation of Twitter accounts is governed by a set of automation rules that outline proper and improper uses of automation. Proper usage includes broadcasting helpful information, automatically generating interesting or creative content, and automatically replying to users via direct message. Improper usage includes circumventing API rate limits, violating user privacy, spamming, and sockpuppeting. Twitter bots may be part of a larger botnet. They can be used to influence elections and in misinformation campaigns.
Andrew Kaczynski is an American journalist and a political reporter for CNN. He became well known in 2011 by posting old video clips of politicians, often of them making statements contrary to their current political positions, to YouTube. He was described as "the [2012] Republican primaries' most influential amateur opposition researcher".
One America News Network (OANN), also known as One America News (OAN), is a far-right, pro-Trump cable channel founded by Robert Herring Sr. and owned by Herring Networks, Inc., that launched on July 4, 2013. The network is headquartered in San Diego, California, and operates news bureaus in Washington, D.C., and New York City.
The Independent Journal Review is a conservative American news and opinion website based in Alexandria, Virginia. The publication was founded in 2012 by Alex Skatell. Skatell serves as its CEO, with Camden Stuebe as President and Shushanna Walshe, former political director at ABC News as the Editor-At-Large. The site covers general interest topics including politics, culture, entertainment, and viral news content.
Charles Carlisle Johnson is an American political activist who was a public figure in the years 2013 to 2019. A self-described "investigative journalist", Johnson is often described as an internet troll and has been repeatedly involved in the proliferation and spread of multiple fake news stories. Johnson was owner of the alt-right websites GotNews.com, WeSearchr.com, and Freestartr.com, all of which were short-lived. He wrote two books, both published by Encounter Books in 2013.
LifeZette is a conservative American website founded in 2015 by conservative political commentator Laura Ingraham and businessman Peter Anthony. In January 2018, Ingraham confirmed that she had sold the majority stake in LifeZette to The Katz Group, owned by Canadian billionaire Daryl Katz.
Daniel Scavino Jr. is an American political adviser who served in the Trump administration as White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications from 2020 to 2021, and Director of Social Media from 2017 to 2021. Scavino previously was the general manager of Trump National Golf Club Westchester, and the director of social media for the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign.
The Gateway Pundit (TGP) is an American far-right fake news website. The website is known for publishing falsehoods, hoaxes, and conspiracy theories.
Donald Trump's use of social media attracted attention worldwide since he joined Twitter in May 2009. Over nearly twelve years, Trump tweeted around 57,000 times, including about 8,000 times during the 2016 election campaign and over 25,000 times during his presidency. The White House said the tweets should be considered official statements. When Twitter banned Trump from the platform in January 2021 during the final days of his term, his handle @realDonaldTrump had over 88.9 million followers. On November 19, 2022, Twitter's new owner, Elon Musk, reinstated his account, although Trump had stated he would not use it in favor of his own social media platform, Truth Social. The first tweet since 2021 was made in August 2023 about his mugshot from Fulton County Jail, but the account remained inactive until he tweeted again in August 2024.
Jack Michael Posobiec III is an American alt-right political activist, television correspondent and presenter, conspiracy theorist, and former United States Navy intelligence officer.
Antifa is a left-wing anti-fascist and anti-racist political movement in the United States. It consists of a highly decentralized array of autonomous groups that use nonviolent direct action, incivility, or violence to achieve their aims. Antifa political activism includes non-violent methods such as poster and flyer campaigns, mutual aid, speeches, protest marches, and community organizing. Some who identify as antifa also use tactics involving digital activism, doxing, harassment, physical violence, and property damage. Supporters of the movement aim to combat far-right extremists, including neo-Nazis and white supremacists.
Rosie Gray is a journalist covering politics and media. Previously a reporter for BuzzFeed News, she has also worked for The Atlantic.
X, formerly Twitter, may suspend accounts, temporarily or permanently, from their social networking service. Suspensions of high-profile accounts often attract media attention, and X's use of suspensions has been controversial.
Hadas Gold is a media and business reporter for CNN and CNN International.
Andy Cuong Ngo is an American right-wing social media influencer, who is known for covering and video-recording demonstrators. He is a journalist and editor-at-large for The Post Millennial, a Canadian conservative news website, and a regular guest on Fox News. Ngo has published columns in the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal and authored a best selling book on Antifa.
James Linton is a social engineer and email prankster known for duping high-profile celebrities and politicians. For five months in 2016 through to 2017, the "lazy anarchist" known by the Twitter alias SINON_REBORN created over 150 look-alike email accounts and emailed high-profile individuals in the political, financial, and entertainment industries from his iPhone 7.
Media related to Benny Johnson at Wikimedia Commons
