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Molly Butler / Media Matters

 

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YouTube and right-wing creators are profiting from anti-trans vitriol

Right-wing YouTubers and Daily Wire personalities with millions of subscribers regularly misgender and deadname trans people in content with ads

Special Programs LGBTQ

Written by Payton Armstrong

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YouTube is allowing right-wing creators with millions of subscribers to misgender and deadname trans people on its platform — and monetizing that content through advertising. 

YouTube has claimed for years to be committed to protecting trans people from hate speech and harassment on the platform while resisting advocates’ calls to explicitly prohibit intentionally deadnaming or misgendering trans people — forms of harassment that involve using a trans person's former name or incorrect pronouns. 

Media Matters reviewed the YouTube channels of popular right-wing pundits including The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh, Ben Shapiro, Michael Knowles, and Candace Owens and found that they have repeatedly misgendered and deadnamed high-profile trans people, including minors. What’s more, their content misidentifying trans people was frequently monetized, meaning that YouTube and the creators likely profited from this bigotry.

Though YouTube has temporarily suspended or demonetized accounts in the past for violating its hate speech and harassment policies by promoting bigotry against LGBTQ people, the platform’s lack of explicit rules around misgendering and deadnaming has left YouTube rife with monetized anti-trans vitriol.

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  • YouTube has unevenly penalized right-wing creators for misidentifying trans people while ignoring advocates’ calls to strengthen its hate speech policies

    • YouTube’s guidelines claim to protect trans people but as Axios reported, the platform's inconsistent moderation of anti-trans content indicates that YouTube “doesn't view deliberately misgendering someone, even repeatedly, as a violation” of its policies. YouTube’s hate speech and harassment policies prohibit “content that promotes violence or hatred against individuals or groups” or “targets someone with prolonged insults or slurs based on their physical traits or protected group status,” including gender identity or sexual orientation. But the platform does not explicitly mention misgendering or deadnaming in its policies. In 2022, after YouTube demonetized two videos from right-wing pundit Jordan Peterson that misgendered actor Elliot Page, Axios reported that YouTube was “actively looking at this policy,” but it appears no changes were made with respect to misgendering or deadnaming. [YouTube hate speech policy, accessed 2/13/24; YouTube harassment policy, accessed 2/13/24; Axios, 8/2/22; GLAAD, 12/11/23]
    • YouTube has resisted advocates’ calls to ban targeted deadnaming and misgendering. In 2021, 20 organizations (including Media Matters) called on YouTube to ban targeted deadnaming and misgendering trans people. In December 2023, GLAAD once again called on YouTube and other social media platforms to prohibit targeted misgendering and deadnaming. As noted by GLAAD for Tech Policy Press, “the practice of targeted misgendering and deadnaming has emerged in recent years as one of the most common modalities for expressing contempt toward trans and nonbinary people across social media platforms.” [Media Matters, 8/12/21, 8/12/21; GLAAD, 12/11/23; Tech Policy Press, 6/7/23]
    • YouTube has stated publicly that it views “deliberate misgendering as potentially violative of its monetization” guidelines. YouTube claims to set “a higher bar for monetization,” and it deems videos ineligible for ads if their content “incites hatred against, promotes discrimination, disparages, or humiliates an individual or group of people,” including attacks based on gender identity. In June 2023, Candace Owens claimed YouTube told her that instances of misgendering individuals were considered “hateful conduct,” and a Google spokesperson told NBC News that the company, which owns YouTube, had blocked ads on “several videos on Candace Owen’s channel for violating our monetization policies, including those against hateful and derogatory content.” [YouTube content monetization policies, accessed 2/13/24; YouTube advertiser-friendly content guidelines, 2/13/24; NBC News, 6/8/23]
    • Overall, YouTube’s enforcement actions against content misidentifying trans people have been uneven — particularly for creators from right-wing outlet The Daily Wire. In April 2023, YouTube stripped Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh of advertiser revenue from his channel after he repeatedly attacked TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney with anti-trans vitriol on the platform. The channel's monetization was restored just 90 days later despite Walsh publicly vowing not to change his behavior. Additionally, Daily Wire’s Candace Owens and Michael Knowles were temporarily suspended from YouTube for directing vitriol to LGBTQ people. On her channel prior to her suspension, Owens had said “transgenderism” is “a cancer and we should fight it,” and boasted that she could “beat up” a nonbinary naval service member. However, YouTube has allowed Owens to post other anti-LGBTQ content that appears to violate its hate speech and harassment rules. [Media Matters, 6/15/23, 4/20/23, 8/25/23, 3/10/23, 9/15/23]

  • YouTube is allowing Daily Wire personalities to seemingly profit from videos that misgender and deadname trans people

  • Matt Walsh

    Walsh is a host for The Daily Wire and has over 2.8 million subscribers on YouTube.

    • Walsh posted a video calling for Dwyane Wade to be arrested for supporting his trans daughter, Zaya Wade — who is a minor — and he also repeatedly misgendered her, including in the video title. In the video titled “Washed Up NBA Player Sells His Son To The Trans Ideology,” Walsh claimed there is no such thing as a trans child, incorrectly referred to Zaya Wade using he/him pronouns, and said it is “emphatically not true” that “transgenderism should be affirmed.” Walsh declared that Wade “is actively leading his son into self-rejection, self-loathing, deeper and deeper confusion. He has taken his son by his hand and guided him straight over the cliff, and profited from it the whole way down. It is again pure evil. He should be shamed for it and disgraced for it. Ostracized from society, arrested. This is abuse.” The video is monetized and has over 480,000 views. [YouTube, 11/4/22, accessed 3/4/24]
    • Walsh posted a video repeatedly misgendering trans MMA fighter Alana McLaughlin. In the video — which is monetized and has over 1.4 million views — Walsh declared, “Literally every part of him is male. If they dig up his remains a hundred years from now, no matter how much of him is left, they will be able to tell that he was male.” Walsh continued arguing that “your maleness or your femaleness is one of the most ingrained, most permanent, most enduring aspects of who you are. It’s so enduring that it remains even after you die. McClaughlin will be a male even when he doesn’t exist anymore. That’s how male he is.” [YouTube, 9/14/21, accessed 3/4/24]
    • Walsh posted a video misgendering trans activist Jazz Jennings and attacked her mother for supporting her transition. During the video — which is monetized and has over 1.7 million views — Walsh used he/him pronouns for Jennings and declared to her mother: “Your son is mutilated beyond recognition and he’s gone through with the whole quote-unquote ‘sex change,’ quote-unquote ‘gender affirmation,’ medical — you know, the whole catalog, he’s got.” [YouTube, 3/20/23, accessed 3/4/24]
    • Walsh posted a video repeatedly misgendering U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health Dr. Rachel Levine and suggesting her support of trans rights “should qualify you for a mental institution or prison.” Walsh called Levine a “male” and derided her for supporting health care for trans youth, saying that her support “should qualify you for a mental institution or prison, not for a position in government.” The video is monetized and has over 50,000 views. [YouTube, 2/26/21, accessed 3/4/24]
    • Walsh posted a video misgendering Dylan Mulvaney and reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner. Walsh opened the video — which is monetized with nearly 700,000 views — calling Mulvaney and Jenner “two males” and using incorrect pronouns. [YouTube, 11/3/22, accessed 3/4/24]
    • Walsh posted a video repeatedly misgendering and deadnaming trans actor Elliot Page. Walsh used female pronouns for Page throughout the 12-minute video — which is monetized and has over 1 million views. [YouTube, 12/2/20, accessed 3/4/24]

  • Ben Shapiro

    Shapiro is the founder of The Daily Wire and has over 6.7 million subscribers on YouTube.

    • Shapiro posted a video repeatedly misgendering and deadnaming Elliot Page — including in the video’s title — declaring that “[Elliot] Page is, was, and shall remain a woman.” (In accordance with the Trans Journalists Association style guide, Media Matters has replaced Page’s deadname in brackets in the previous quote.) Shapiro complained about using the correct pronouns for trans people generally, saying that “the media have created this bizarre standard whereby if a person declares themselves a member of the opposite gender, the entire world, especially in the media, must immediately flip on a dime, stop calling them by the name everybody knew them as, and stop calling them by their biological sex.” The video is monetized and has over 2.9 million views. [YouTube, 12/2/20, accessed 3/4/24]
    • Shapiro posted a video repeatedly misgendering two trans parents. The video piled onto a right-wing harassment campaign against two trans parents who were featured in a Facebook Watch docuseries about pregnancy. Shapiro also demeaned the parents, calling the mother “a pervert.” The video is monetized and has over 2.8 million views. [YouTube, 7/13/21, accessed 3/4/24]

  • Candace Owens

    Owens is a host for The Daily Wire and has over 2.8 million subscribers on YouTube.

    • Owens posted a video repeatedly misgendering a trans child and urged parents to reject their child if they are trans. Owens used the incorrect pronouns for a trans child, saying that “a mother posted regarding her son, who she believes is her daughter because he has begun transitioning.” Owens said that the mother had “mutilated your once perfectly healthy, growing son over a feeling that he had,” and also compared parents’ choosing to affirm their trans children to allowing them to jump out of a window. The video is monetized and has over 130,000 views. [YouTube, 4/30/22, accessed 3/4/24]
    • Owens posted a video attacking the concept of using the correct pronouns for trans people. In the video, which is monetized and has nearly 400,000 views, Owens agreed with right-wing pundit Elijah Schaffer that being trans is “all made up in their heads,” and is “state-sponsored, this is socially sponsored, tech-sponsored mental illness.” (YouTube's hate speech policy prohibits content including statements that an individual or group with a protected attribute “is just a form of mental illness that needs to be cured.”) [YouTube, 4/16/22, accessed 3/4/24; YouTube hate speech policy, accessed 2/13/24]

  • Michael Knowles

    Knowles is a host for The Daily Wire and has over 1.8 million subscribers on YouTube.

    • Knowles uploaded a video repeatedly misgendering Elliot Page, including in the video’s title. Knowles also repeatedly deadnamed Page in the nearly six-minute video, even acknowledging at the beginning that he was not supposed to use Page’s deadname otherwise “this podcast is going to be taken down.” The video is monetized and has over 175,000 views. [YouTube, 12/2/20, accessed 3/4/24]
    • Knowles repeatedly misgendered Caitlyn Jenner while discussing her run for California governor, declaring he would never use her correct pronouns. Knowles stated, “I’m not going to call him her. I can’t do it because he is not a woman. And so I'm not going to pretend that he is.” Knowles also urged others to misgender trans people, saying that conservatives need to be “united in fighting this very subtle linguistic strategy.” The video is monetized and has over 125,000 views. [YouTube, 4/26/21, accessed 3/4/24]

  • Brett Cooper

    Cooper is a host for The Daily Wire, and her YouTube channel has over 4 million subscribers.

    • Cooper posted a video misgendering trans internet personality Grant Sikes. In the video — which is monetized and has over 1 million views — Cooper attacked Sikes for trying to join a sorority, declaring that “he was so sad that he didn’t get in. You’re a man! Obviously you are not going to get into a sorority. I don’t care if you put on a skirt. … There are fraternities for you.” [YouTube, 12/1/22, accessed 3/4/24; Business Insider, 11/16/22]
    • Cooper posted a video mocking, deadnaming, and repeatedly misgendering former NCAA swimmer Lia Thomas, who has been the subject of a yearslong right-wing media hate campaign. Cooper questioned, “What does Lia Thomas actually think he is when he’s calling himself a woman?” During the video — which is monetized and has over 650,000 views — Cooper described Thomas as a “man” and used the incorrect pronouns. [YouTube, 6/1/22, accessed 3/4/24; Media Matters, 2/2/22]

  • Other right-wing YouTubers with millions of subscribers have seemingly profited from monetized videos that misgender and direct vitriol toward trans people

  • Hodgetwins

    Keith and Kevin Hodge, who go by the “Hodgetwins,” are YouTubers who have nearly 3 million subscribers.

    • The Hodgetwins posted a video mocking and referring to a trans person as “it.” The pundits rejected the notion of using a trans person’s correct pronouns, complaining, “They say that we are misgendering them when they have misgendered themselves.” They also said that LGBTQ people should not be allowed to get married or adopt children, claiming that “where it went wrong is the whole pronoun thing.” The video is monetized and has over 250,000 views. [YouTube, 12/29/23, accessed 3/4/24]
    • The Hodgetwins posted a video repeatedly misgendering a trans person and seemingly justifying violence against them. Referring to a trans woman, the Hodgetwins said that “he tricked another dude” and that, “it’s all fun and games online but can’t do that in real life, bad things happens — when you question or attack someone’s sexuality, make them confused, and you back them in a corner and you got all that cock showing? I mean, right to your instincts.” The video is monetized and has over 200,000 views. [YouTube, 12/29/23, accessed 3/4/24]
    • The Hodgetwins posted a video repeatedly misgendering Zaya Wade, who they noted was 14 at the time of the video. In the video — which has over 300,000 views and is monetized — the commentators also misgendered Zaya’s significant other and declared, “I don't like playing that game though, with the pronouns. I ain't playing that game.” [YouTube, 4/28/22, accessed 3/4/24]

  • Brandon Tatum

    Tatum is a right-wing commentator with over 2.8 million subscribers on YouTube. 

    • Tatum posted a video repeatedly misgendering Zaya Wade, including in the video’s title. The video titled “Dwayne Wade's EX SPEAKS OUT After TRANSITIONING Son Zaya Wade” is monetized with over 1.4 million views. Tatum repeatedly referred to Zaya Wade as “D. Wade’s little boy,” and said that her father “should be ashamed of himself” because “what man would do his son like this?” [YouTube, 11/3/22, accessed 3/4/24]
    • Tatum posted another video misgendering Zaya Wade, disparaging her physical appearance and claiming that Dwyane Wade “pushes grooming” by affirming her gender identity. Tatum said, “We’re sick of y’all grooming these kids — you should be ashamed of yourself if you’re running around doing what D. Wade [is] about to do,” and claimed that the former NBA star “emasculated your boy.” Tatum claimed, “Zaya is going to be 6’8 with a size 40 shoe — ain’t no man is going to want you! And they know that no man is going to want their boy.” Tatum continued, “Nobody is going to want that 6'8 big old boy with shoulders this big and he trying to wear a dress.” The video is monetized and has over 400,000 views. [YouTube, 2/27/22, accessed 3/4/24]
    • Tatum posted yet another video misgendering Zaya Wade and suggested she would either end up attempting suicide or “doing pornography.” Tatum repeatedly referred to Zaya as a “boy,” and said that “I’m predicting that in the future, this boy is going to have tremendous issues. This boy is going to have a tremendous identity crisis. … It’s going to come out in oversexuality — which means he’s going to go to doing pornography and posing in nude stuff and being overly sexualized, or it’s going to come out in a huge amount of depression and suicide. I’m not saying actual suicide, but at least depression and suicide attempts or suicidal ideations.” Tatum also said that Zaya may now be able to “pass for a girl,” but “when them cheek lines start getting real strong and you look like you’ve been chewing tobacco all day, it’s not going to be cute.” The video is monetized and has over 480,000 views. [YouTube, 9/20/22, accessed 3/4/24]