of course

Laura Ingraham, who thinks gay people are dangerous, runs to Russell Brand’s defense amid rape accusations

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Laura Ingraham

Fox News host Laura Ingraham is one of the most fervent anti-gay commentators on TV. She never hesitates to demean LGBTQ+ people, often relying on sexualized homophobic tropes cooked up in her warped imagination.

But when it comes to straight male celebrities accused of actual sex crimes, she’s almost always in their corner.

Most recently, Ingraham defended the actor turned right-wing podcaster Russell Brand (a.k.a. the ex-Mr. Katy Perry) on her show Thursday night, saying liberals want to “cancel” him for his MAGA-centric worldview.

Multiple women have accused Brand of rape and sexual misconduct in recent days. He has denied all of the allegations.

Ingraham’s tinfoil-hat monologue is below, via Media Matters:

Now, the elimination game. Now, in the world that the left has created, a mere allegation can lead to cancellation. Now, by cancellation, I mean the loss of income, the loss of a platform, the loss of future opportunities. Now, of course the strictest enforcement of this is always against those whom the left believes to be hostile to the liberal world view.

Case in point, actor comedian and cultural provocateur Russell Brand. The Times of London reported that between 2006 and 2013, several women have accused him of sexual assault and rape. Now, Brand insists the allegations are false. 

Of course, none of us knows what the truth is here. I’ve never met Brand and I only know he’s rattled the cage of some leftists lately for comments he’s made, I think, about free speech and big pharma.

But we should all understand this: It is dangerous territory we’re entering when accusations published by media outlets and unaccompanied by a legal determination of guilt are all that it takes to destroy someone’s livelihood — which is what they’re trying to do here.

Oh brother.

On Sunday, three respected outlets in the U.K. published a story quoting four women accusing Brand of sexual and emotional abuse from 2006 to 2013. One woman alleges he raped her in his home, and that she was treated at a rape crisis center afterards.

Another woman says she entered a multi-month relationship with Brand when she was 16 and he was 31. She says Brand “groomed” her and sexually assaulted her.

Ah yes: “grooming.” One of the right’s favorite buzzwords to demonize LGBTQ+ folx who haven’t actually done anything wrong. Only this time, Brand is legitimately being accused of the sickening practice.

And Ingraham blames the backlash he’s receiving on… cancel culture?

Ingraham joins an inglorious list of far-right pundits rushing to the disgraced actor’s defense. One of the most embarrassing monologues came from Ben Shapiro, who said Brand used to be sexually promiscuous before turning his life around.

Coincidently, Shapiro says Brand’s moment of apparent salvation came right when he started spouting right-wing viewpoints. Funny how that works!

Some of the other repugnant figures lining up behind Brand include Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson, Matt Walsh and Andrew Tate, the woman-hating influencer who himself has been charged with rape and human trafficking.

But back to Ingraham, who was trolled for her latest epic self-own last month. When it comes to spreading homophobic hate, she’s at the top of the list.

When she was editor of the conservative Dartmouth Review, she reportedly sent a writer to secretly tape a Gay Students Association meeting and then published excerpts from the meeting in which people talked about their sexual experiences and identities. 

The right-wing firebrand has also compared same-sex relations to incest and said people would rather “wear adult diapers” than share a restroom with a transgender person.

Ingraham is so horrible, her brother Curtis, who’s gay, has disowned her.

“I think she’s a monster,” he said in a 2018 interview. “She’s very smart, she’s well-spoken, but her emotional heart is just kind of dead.”

That is, except when she’s rallying to the defense of famous conservative men accused of sex crimes, ranging from Donald Trump to Brand.

Her conservative heart bleeds for these guys!

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