Darryl Cooper

Last updated
Darryl Cooper
Born
United States
Occupation(s) Podcaster, writer

Darryl Cooper is a right wing [1] American podcaster. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] In 2024, Cooper gained prominence after appearing as a guest on two popular U.S podcasts, [8] such as The Joe Rogan Experience and The Tucker Carlson Show. [9] [10]

Contents

Cooper has been the subject of controversy due to his commentary about Adolf Hitler, Nazi Germany, Winston Churchill, and World War II. Cooper’s interpretations of historical events have been criticized by historians for inaccuracies. [9] [11] He has also been accused of downplaying Nazi crimes and engaging in Holocaust denial. [2] [3] [4]

Political views

In 2021, Cooper gained significant attention for a viral Twitter thread attempting to explain why many supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump believed in claims of election fraud during the 2020 United States presidential election. This thread was highlighted by conservative commentator Tucker Carlson and mentioned by Trump himself. [12] [13]

In September 2024, Cooper appeared on The Tucker Carlson Show. He made statements that drew widespread criticism from historians, Holocaust memorial organizations, and political figures for promoting Holocaust revisionism. [11] Cooper’s comments, suggesting that the genocide was an unplanned consequence of wartime chaos, directly contradict the historical consensus that the Nazi regime pursued a racial war of extermination from the outset. [11] In response to the interview, all 24 Jewish Democratic Party members of the U.S. House of Representatives issued a joint statement condemning Cooper as a "Nazi apologist" and warning that such rhetoric promotes Holocaust revisionism under the guise of historical reinterpretation. [3] [14]

In March 2025, Cooper was a guest on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. [2] During the interview, Cooper claimed that Hitler opposed the Kristallnacht pogrom. [2] [15] Cooper's comments on the Kristallnacht were reviewed and criticised by British historian Richard J. Evans. [16] Cooper also said that Hitler, after viewing the "sorry state" of the German people, could only sympathize with the belief that they had been "manipulated" by the Jews, and that Hitler's "antisemitism is what allowed him to love the German people." Rogan commended Cooper's views, calling them comprehensive and nuanced. [2] [16]

Cooper has been very critical of Churchill and has described him as the "chief villain of World War II". His claims about Churchill have been met with widespread criticism. [17] [18] [19] In a now-deleted Twitter post, Cooper claimed that an infamous wartime photograph of Hitler arriving in Nazi-occupied Paris was "infinitely preferable in every way" to a picture from the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony featuring drag queens in a scene that he believed was inspired by The Last Supper . [20] Cooper has also cited and defended the work of British Holocaust denier David Irving, [16] claiming that his works were censored because of "pressure groups". [21]

References

  1. York, Josie Ensor, New (2024-09-18). "Churchill museum will never surrender as right-wingers call him a villain". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 2025-08-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Sales, Ben (March 14, 2025). "Joe Rogan hosts Holocaust revisionist on his podcast, complains of 'paranoid' Jews". Jewish Telegraphic Agency .
  3. 1 2 3 "Statement from Jewish Members of the House of Representatives Regarding Interview Between Tucker Carlson and Nazi Apologist Darryl Cooper". Congressman Jamie Raskin. 9 September 2024.
  4. 1 2 "Opinion | The Right Is Defending the Nazis — Again". POLITICO. 2024-09-14. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
  5. "Opinion | This 'historian' won MAGA fame as a Big Lie apologist. Now, he's defends Nazis". MSNBC.com. 2024-09-07. Retrieved 2025-08-21.
  6. Beauchamp, Zack (2024-09-06). "Conservatives are shocked — shocked! — that Tucker Carlson is soft on Nazis". Vox. Retrieved 2025-08-21.
  7. "Tucker Carlson's WWII interview fractures conservatives". The Week. 2024-09-11. Retrieved 2025-08-21.
  8. Winkie, Luke (1 November 2024). "How the Right Won Podcasting". Slate. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
  9. 1 2 Niall Ferguson (September 5, 2024). "Niall Ferguson: The Return of Anti-History". The Free Press.
  10. "The Podcaster Asking You to Side With History's Villains". 2025-04-13. Archived from the original on 2025-04-13. Retrieved 2025-08-25.
  11. 1 2 3 "Yad Vashem Denounces Remarks Made by Darryl Cooper Regarding Nazi Atrocities as Historically False". Yad Vashem. 4 September 2024.
  12. Bump, Philip (July 12, 2021). "The viral Twitter thread that explains right-wing conspiracy theorizing — if only inadvertently". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on July 13, 2021.
  13. Tague, Katherine (2021-07-26). "Darryl Cooper: The Man Behind That Viral 2020 Twitter Thread". FOX News Radio. Retrieved 2025-04-11.
  14. Cooke, Charles C. W. (2024-09-06). "Hitler Contrarianism Isn't Brave". The National Review . Retrieved 2025-05-08.
  15. "Kristallnacht: Hitler's Authorization". Holocaust Denial on Trial. Retrieved 2025-04-11.
  16. 1 2 3 Lanard, Noah. "How a Nazi-obsessed amateur historian went from obscurity to the top of Substack". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2025-08-03.
  17. "No, Winston Churchill Was Not the 'Chief Villain' of the Second World War". National Review. 2024-09-04. Retrieved 2025-08-25.
  18. Langworth, Richard (2024-09-30). "Debunking Tucker Carlson's Darryl Cooper Interview". The Churchill Project - Hillsdale College. Retrieved 2025-04-11.
  19. Fox, Mira (2025-03-19). "Why this was the worst week in antisemitism — until maybe next week". The Forward. Retrieved 2025-04-15.
  20. Lapin, Andrew (September 5, 2024). "Tucker Carlson hosts 'historian' who promotes Nazi falsehoods on Holocaust". The Jerusalem Post.
  21. Bernstein, Joseph (April 13, 2025). "The Podcaster Asking You to Side With History's Villains". The New York Times . Retrieved April 13, 2025.