Steven Crowder did this to himself
Tiana Lowe Doescher
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It remains unclear whether recent revelations that Steven Crowder emotionally abused his wife and sexually harassed his staff by exposing himself at work will result in any real consequences for the right-wing vlogger. Perhaps his robust Rumble following will insulate him from the loss of tens of thousands of followers on his YouTube account. But whatever happens next, it is not mere karma or even “cancel culture.” Crowder is facing the consequences of his very intentional actions.
Obviously, Crowder’s personal behavior would not be in the limelight if he had not yelled at his about-to-pop pregnant wife to “watch it” or “I will f*** you up!” But his ongoing divorce would have never become such a public scandal if not for Crowder’s treatment of his friends.
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Recall that late last year, Crowder’s contract with the Blaze expired and he reached out the Daily Wire. In hindsight, it seems unlikely that Crowder ever intended not to go fully independent, but he made it seem to Daily Wire CEO Jeremy Boering that he was seriously considering other offers. Then, Boering wrote his now infamous term sheet, detailing a $50 million offer Crowder would later blast publicly as a “slave contract.”
In January, without naming names, Crowder used the Daily Wire contract to hawk his latest grift to build out his email list, “Stop Big Con.” After Boering went public by detailing the contract, including the textbook provisions that Crowder used as evidence that “Big Con” is “in bed” with Big Tech, Crowder dropped what he thought was an A-bomb: an audio tape of his call with Boering discussing contract negotiations.
While Crowder’s decision to release the audio tape obviously soured his reputation around the Way Too Online center-right blogosphere, it did something much more consequential: Crowder fired the first shot in making clandestinely recorded and leaked media fair game.
Without Crowder releasing the Daily Wire audiotape — and blowing up his relationships with half of what he calls “Big Con” in the process — right-wing audiences would probably have never been so prepared to take seriously a videotape leaked by his soon-to-be-ex-wife, Hilary.
But now, it’s fair game, and considering Crowder’s handling of his own divorce and women’s issues more generally, conservatives have been rightly appalled. Consider why Crowder, who lives in Dallas and scoffed at a $50 million offer, only owns one car. That wasn’t because the Big D is known for its public transit — urban sustainability think tank, the Center for Neighborhood Technology, ranks it 29th in the country, behind the public transit systems of Buffalo and Honolulu — or because of finances. Rather, abusers commonly cut off their victims’ access to autonomy, including that of transit.
That would at least be in line with some of Crowder’s public statements about women’s autonomy and divorce during the period (we now know) Hilary was beginning divorce proceedings.
Fortunately, the greater right-wing media ecosystem has recognized Crowder’s documented behavior toward his wife as abusive. But there is a particular irony in the fact that his reputation would almost surely have remained untarnished had he never waged war on his friends, made clandestine recordings fair game, and dragged his wife into the court of public opinion.