On the June 16 edition of Louder with Crowder on YouTube, host Steven Crowder defended sports commentator and former NBA star Charles Barkley in a recent controversy over Barkley’s repeated sexist comments. During the segment, Crowder said, “This is why women shouldn’t sound off, shouldn’t give their opinion, on men’s sports.”
Steven Crowder demands women stay silent on men’s sports after previously ranting about women’s sports
Written by Jason Campbell
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From the June 16, 2021, edition of Louder with Crowder, streamed on YouTube
STEVEN CROWDER (HOST): Alright, so he's actually now -- people have been trying to cancel him for making fun of the big women from San Antonio. It's one of the longest running jokes in sports, just for the record. And he's just -- he has a thing with the Spurs, with San Antonio. So anyway, there was an article written by a lady named Madalyn Mendoza who wrote “Barkley's fat-shaming shtick has been going on for years." Yes. “His studio banter has involved bashing an entire city of women." Mostly to get a reaction out of them, like you. “Barkley will use any opportunity to disparage local ladies." That's not true -- only if the ladies are local to San Antonio. Here is his response, I love, to the cancel mob when asked. This is why you don't apologize.
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CROWDER: And I understand why maybe some women might be upset because the truth is, it's Houston. Houston has the -- they have the -- they are portly.
DAVE LANDAU (CO-HOST): It's a reoccurring trash talk in sports. That's all it is.
CROWDER: Right, of course. Absolutely.
GERALD MORGAN (CO-HOST): It's how it goes.
CROWDER: And this is why women shouldn't sound off, shouldn't give their opinion, on men's sports. If you don't like it, go watch the WNBA, but you don't.
Crowder’s comment is part of the conservative host’s larger pattern of vicious misogyny, which includes blaming feminism for police shootings of unarmed Black men and bullying rape victim Ashley Judd. But in addition to being sexist, Crowder’s comment was also hypocritical -- he has frequently weighed in on women’s sports as an excuse to attack trans people.
During the May 3 show, Crowder said trans inclusion would cause “harm” to “young women in sports.”
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On the May 3, 2021, edition of Louder with Crowder, streamed on YouTube
STEVEN CROWDER (HOST): OK, and then, of course, Elliot Page, again, talking about hyperbolic, right? And, again, it used to be hey, what we do in our bedroom. No one here has a problem with -- we're going to get to Caitlyn Jenner in a second -- no one here has a problem with whatever you want to do on your own time and call yourself, that's fine. The problem is with the fundamental changing of society and that everybody else has to take part. Especially now at a point where it is undeniable that it will cause harm to others, namely, the most vulnerable among us, young women in sports. But remember, you will be forced to care.
On the April 15 show, Crowder ran a long segment claiming the presence of trans women in women’s sports was harmful while consistently misgendering trans people. He then went through alleged evidence of “women having the crap kicked out of them” by trans women.
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From the April 15, 2021, edition of Louder with Crowder, streamed on YouTube
STEVEN CROWDER (HOST): Sports are exactly about being the best. They're exactly about being elite and being the best. Maybe some people want some self-esteem or discipline, but the purpose for sports is to test oneself, improve oneself, and be the best. Now this is the issue, is the jumping off point. He doesn't understand what sports are because maybe he's in transition, I have no idea. It's tough to tell. So, he doesn't understand what sports are. He uses right away one of the very first logical fallacies that you learn about.
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So, he's saying, “There's no evidence here. Look, there's no problem." Well, look, because we haven't done it yet. Since the beginning of America, since world history, we haven't allowed men to dominate women in sports. That was partially the basis for Title IX, right? Everyone wanted equal opportunity with women's sports. You wouldn't need it if women were as good as men and people actually wanted to watch women who were lower than the varsity high school team. You wouldn't have needed Title IX. Also, by the way -- give you an example, this would be like me suggesting, today, a 90% income tax rate. People would go, “We don't want this." And then people six months from now are still trying to repeal it saying “This is going to be horrible, this is devastating." Me going, “Well, there's no evidence of bankruptcy yet." Because you just started it. You just started allowing men into women's sports. So don't try to act like you have a body of evidence.
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CROWDER: Now, the good news here is we have both available science and conclusive evidence. He just lied about how there's only one example. I have 15 here and they all involve multiple world records. In trials, not even competition. It's not even close. So what science do we have available to us, considering that we haven't done a mass experiment with women having the crap kicked out of them?
Crowder’s rants against trans representation (even though conservatives can point to few examples) in sports falls in the broader context of how conservatives have made this issue a national priority. It also falls squarely in line with his consistent demonizing and bullying of LGBTQ people specifically.
YouTube has policies against hate speech and bullying on its platform. Crowder has already been suspended twice from the platform in just the past few months -- one more strike and he will be permanently suspended.