In an interview on Fox & Friends, comedian Chad Prather claimed that The Hollywood Reporter’s March 7 cover story, headlined “Triumph of the Beta Male,” is part of an ongoing “war on masculinity.” Prather’s disdain for the cover is similar to reactions to the story seen on message boards including Reddit, 4chan, and 8chan, as well as reactions from MAGA trolls and conspiracy site InfoWars.
From the March 9 edition of Fox News' Fox and Friends:
RACHEL CAMPOS-DUFFY (CO-HOST): So is this a harmless Hollywood profile piece or does it say a lot more about the state of men in America?
PETE HEGSETH (CO-HOST): We're getting reaction from comedian and blogger Chad Prather. Chad, thank you. You are a proud alpha male, I know. Your hand is in your own pocket. What do you make of this?
CHAD PRATHER: My mind is blown on this thing. Can you believe this? I mean, where is culture going at this point? Why is there such a war on masculinity? There is. The worst thing you can be in America today is a white, heterosexual Christian male. There's an all-out war on people. So I don't understand why there is just such a -- just such a battle just to be masculine. Why is it -- and then you're offensive if you are. I mean, I'm going to have people who are going to get on here, they're going to see the little segment that we put on Twitter or whatever and they're going to say, “Oh my gosh, it's a guy that cowboy hat. What does he know?” Well, tonight you’ll probably eat meat and a guy in a cowboy hat probably raised that cow. So, you know, it's just -- it’s OK to be a man.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: Well, and being masculine doesn't mean you can't be a gentleman. When I first met you, when you came on set I loved that you shook my hand and you tipped your hat just a little bit.
PRATHER: Didn’t I, though? Didn’t I?
CAMPOS-DUFFY: It was so cute. I'm married -- you won't believe this -- I'm married to a lumberjack, a professional lumberjack.
STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): And congressman.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: And he happens to be a congressman. But I married him because he was a lumberjack. I don't think women really like that beta male thing. What’s up with that?
PRATHER: They don't. You know what women like? They like men. They like men that are men and men that are confident in being men. And I'm giving you permission right now, America, be masculine. If you're a man, there's no -- what's the word, misandry? We talk about misogyny, but what is the word, is it misandry? Where you have man haters. These people that are -- so men can't speak their mind. They can't make jokes. They can't burp and scratch themselves. It's OK, boys -- scratch yourselves.
[…]
DUFFY: Rachel Maddow's head is exploding after this segment.
PRATHER: She’s very masculine. Can I say that?
Previously:
Laura Ingraham believes the #metoo movement is a liberal conspiracy to get rid of Trump