OAN host Dan Ball opened the July 25 edition of Real America with a 13-minute monologue blaming “political discrimination” against “conservative voices” for Verizon dropping the network at the end of July.
“They can tell all the damn lies they want,” Ball said of the company’s claims that they couldn’t reach a deal. “They’re censoring our freedom of speech and freedom of the press.”
“What Verizon is telling you, the public, is a load of bullshit,” Ball declared. After saying that he discussed the negotiations with OAN owner Robert Herring, Ball claimed that “We offered a massive discount for our service, to give them our product, One America News. … They wouldn’t take it. They didn't want us to return for another year. Why? Politics.”
Ball asked the audience, “You know the excuse they told my bosses? ‘We don't think you're a credible news organization so we're dropping you.’ But in the same breath, they don’t say that to you. To the public, they put out the email or tell their phone jockeys to tell you it’s our fault. … Lies, lies, lies.”
“We have tried everything possible to make a deal with them, folks, but it’s going to happen,” Ball said, “So here's your call to action.” Ball told viewers to call Verizon and “give them hell,” “dump all your Verizon plans,” and sign up for OAN’s proprietary stream, which is free until October. “That's how important it is for us here at the Herring family network, One America News, and this program, Real America, to get the truth out there.”
“It's sad, folks. It’s sad.”
Ball’s monologue -- which also accused “the overlords at Verizon” (who are “from socialist countries,” he noted) of “taking their marching orders” from “two liberal, radical-ass House Democrats” -- is part of OAN’s sustained attacks against Verizon, both during and after negotiations with the carrier.
On July 24, Ball took to Truth Social to preview his July 25 monologue, accusing Verizon of “lying to the American people! … This is all political and pure censorship just like the #DirectTv bullshit!” Ball had also previously warned viewers that Verizon was “going to pull a DirecTV on us.”
On July 22, OAN correspondent Pearson Sharp similarly said that the “radical Marxist corporation” refused “an incredible deal to carry our channel at a substantially discounted rate,” because Verizon believes that “promoting their Marxist agenda is more important than keeping their subscribers happy.”
While OAN is heavily promoting its own OAN Live app as a way for viewers to keep watching, it appears as though the network has not totally given up on getting a new carrier. On Twitter, the OAN account retweeted its own May 5 tweet, asking fans to “give Charter a call” and “kindly ask them to add us to their lineup.”
Charter, or any other TV provider, should not pick up One America News Network. If OAN’s unhinged denial of the 2020 election and extremist opposition to LGBTQ people don’t make it enough of a hazard, OAN’s relationship with its former carrier DirecTV -- involving at least two lawsuits and one apparent solicitation of blackmail, so far -- prove even further that doing business with One America News is an unnecessary risk.
