Lionel | |
---|---|
Born | Michael William Lebron August 26, 1958 Tampa, Florida, U.S. |
Education | University of South Florida (BA) Stetson University (JD) |
Occupation(s) | YouTube political and social commentary [1] |
Spouse | Lynn Shaw [2] |
Awards | 2015 New York Emmy Award for Writer: Commentary/Editorial |
Website | lionelmedia.com |
Michael William Lebron (born August 26, 1958), better known as Lionel, is an American syndicated radio, television and YouTube legal and media analyst. He is known as a leading promoter of the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory. [3] [4]
Lebron was born and raised in Tampa, Florida, where he attended Jesuit High School. [5] Lebron graduated from the University of South Florida and Stetson University College of Law. After graduating from law school, Lebron worked with the Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office. [6]
Lebron hosted the CourtTV law show Snap Judgment in the late 1990s. Lionel then began appearing on WABC radio in New York. He first appeared as a caller to WFLA in Tampa, Florida, drawing attention to himself by avoiding the given topic of discussion.[ citation needed ] He was eventually given his own time slot on WFLA before moving to New York City.
Beginning in May 2007, Lebron replaced The Majority Report with Sam Seder on Air America Radio with a daily three-hour talk show. Seder claimed that Lebron's unpopularity with Air America's listeners led to the loss of most of Seder's audience within a year of assuming the timeslot, as well as the loss of two-thirds of the live affiliates and live streaming. [7] [ better source needed ]
Talkers Magazine included Lebron in its 2010 "Heaviest Hundred" list at number 54 [8] and in its 2013 "Frontier Fifty" list at number 37. [9] In 2015, he won a New York Emmy Award for commentary and editorial writing. [10] [ non-primary source needed ]
Lebron also appeared in an episode of House of Cards. [11]
He has appeared on the Russian RT network as a legal and political analyst. [12]
Since losing his show on Air America, Lebron shifted his politics to the right and re-established himself as a right-wing conspiracy theorist for Alex Jones' InfoWars network, where he has used his show to promote conspiracy theories, such as birtherism (false claims that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States) and claims the government is involved in a cover-up of the September 11 attacks (the 9/11 truth movement). [3]
He has promoted the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon. In August 2018, Lebron met with President Donald Trump at the White House and was photographed with Trump. Lebron stated that the two did not talk about QAnon, but said that Trump "knows about" the conspiracy theory. [3] Lebron has regularly hosted Jerome Corsi, a supporter of the birther movement and promoter of QAnon. [13]
Coast to Coast AM is an American late-night radio talk show that deals with a variety of topics. Most frequently the topics relate to either the paranormal or conspiracy theories. It was hosted by creator Art Bell from its inception in 1988 until 2003, and is currently hosted by George Noory. The program is distributed by Premiere Networks, a subsidiary of iHeartMedia, both as part of its talk network and separately as a syndicated program. The program now airs seven nights a week from 1:00–5:00 a.m. Eastern Time Zone. It appears on over 600 affiliates, and has repeatedly been called the most popular overnight show in the country.
The Young Turks (TYT) is an American progressive news commentary show on YouTube that additionally appears on selected television channels. TYT serves as the flagship program of the TYT Network, a multi-channel network of associated web series focusing on news and current events. TYT covers politics, lifestyle, pop culture, science, sport and other social topics. The program was created by Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Dave Koller. Uygur is Turkish-American and named the program after the Young Turks movement of the 20th century. Currently co-hosted by Uygur and Ana Kasparian, it is also often accompanied by various other in-studio contributors. The Young Turks began as a radio program that premiered on February 14, 2002, on Sirius Satellite Radio before launching a web series component in 2005 on YouTube; it was later carried on Air America.
Samuel Lincoln Seder is an American actor, left-wing political commentator, and media host. His works include the film Who's the Caboose? (1997) as well as the television shows Beat Cops (2001) and Pilot Season (2004). He also appeared in Next Stop Wonderland (1998) and made guest appearances on Spin City (1997), Sex and the City (2000), America Undercover (2005), and Maron (2015). Since 2010, he has hosted a daily political talk show, The Majority Report with Sam Seder. He also voices Hugo, a recurring character on the animated comedy series Bob's Burgers.
QAnon is a far-right American political conspiracy theory and political movement that originated in 2017. QAnon centers on fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as "Q". Those claims have been relayed and developed by online communities and influencers. Their core belief is that a cabal of Satanic, cannibalistic child molesters is operating a global child sex trafficking ring that conspired against Donald Trump. QAnon has direct roots in Pizzagate, an Internet conspiracy theory that appeared one year earlier, but also incorporates elements of many other theories. QAnon has been described as a cult.
James Patrick Anthony Dore is an American stand-up comedian, political commentator, conspiracy theorist, podcaster and YouTube personality. He is the host of The Jimmy Dore Show, a comedic political talk show on YouTube.
Jerome Robert Corsi is an American conspiracy theorist and author. His two New York Times best-selling books, Unfit for Command (2004) and The Obama Nation (2008), attacked Democratic presidential candidates and have been criticized by opposition.
One America News Network (OANN), also known as One America News (OAN), is a far-right, pro-Trump cable news and political opinion commentary 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.
"Pizzagate" is a conspiracy theory that went viral during the 2016 United States presidential election cycle, falsely claiming that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) had discovered a pedophilia ring linked to members of the Democratic Party while searching through Anthony Weiner's emails. It has been extensively discredited by a wide range of organizations, including the Washington, D.C. police.
Elizabeth M. Crokin is an American columnist and conspiracy theorist. Since 2017, she has been an outspoken supporter of QAnon conspiracy theories.
Conspiracy theories in United States politics are beliefs that a major political situation is the result of secretive collusion by powerful people striving to harm a rival group or undermine society in general.
Ronald Watkins, also known by his online pseudonym CodeMonkeyZ, is an American conspiracy theorist and site administrator of the imageboard website 8kun. He has played a major role in spreading the discredited far-right QAnon conspiracy theory, and has promulgated conspiracy theories that widespread election fraud led to Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. He is the son of Jim Watkins, the owner and operator of 8kun.
TruNews is an American far-right fake news website and channel owned and hosted by Rick Wiles. TruNews frequently publishes conspiracy theories in addition to racist, anti-LGBT, antisemitic, and Islamophobic content. It has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Italygate is a pro-Trump, QAnon-affiliated conspiracy theory that alleges the 2020 United States presidential election was rigged to favor Joe Biden using satellites and military technology to remotely switch votes from Donald Trump to Biden from the U.S. Embassy in Rome. The conspiracy was also rumored to involve the Vatican. Fact-checkers at Reuters and USA Today, who investigated these claims, described them as "false" and "baseless".
Robert David Steele was an American case officer for the Central Intelligence Agency, co-founder of the United States Marine Corps Intelligence Activity and conspiracy theorist.
Since the movement's emergence in 2017, adherents of the QAnon far-right conspiracy theory have been involved in a number of controversial events, some of them violent, resulting in the filing of criminal charges and one conviction for terrorism.
The ReAwaken America Tour is an American far-right and Christian nationalist movement launched in 2021 by Oklahoma entrepreneur Clay Clark and former Donald Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn. Its rallies have promoted a variety of right-wing and far-right conspiracy theories, including COVID-19 misinformation, election denialism, QAnon and doomsday prophecies.
True Pundit is a far-right fake news website known for publishing conspiracy theories. According to The Atlantic, True Pundit had "a well-known modus operandi, perfected during the 2016 U.S. election: running baseless stories and then asking leading questions". In 2021 True Pundit stopped publishing new content.
John Kirk Weibe is a former intelligence official with the United States National Security Agency, conspiracy theorist, and whistleblower. Kirk managed data programs and criticized the NSA's data-collection policies during the Barack Obama administration. He made the false claim that it was not true that Russia interfered with the 2016 US election. Weibe argued that Russia was not behind the DNC server hacking.