Benny Johnson | ||||||||||
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Born | Cedar Rapids, Iowa, U.S. [1] | May 27, 1987|||||||||
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] | |||||||||
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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]
Johnson is married to Katelyn Rieley, [7] with whom he has four children. [25] [26]
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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.
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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.
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