Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Thursday joined other prominent conservatives in defending Steven Crowder, the conservative YouTuber who led a nearly yearslong homophobic campaign against Vox journalist Carlos Maza.
Cruz took issue with YouTube’s decision to temporarily “demonetize” Crowder on the platform for what the company called “egregious actions,” a move Cruz said was a free-speech issue.
“This is nuts,” tweeted Cruz. “YouTube needs to explain why @scrowder is banned, but @iamsambee (“Ivanka is a feckless c***.”) & @JimCarrey (“look at my pretty picture of Gov. Kay Ivey being murdered in the womb”) aren’t. No coherent standard explains it. Here’s an idea: DON’T BLACKLIST ANYBODY.”
In an earlier tweet, Cruz demanded that YouTube “stop playing God & silencing those voices you disagree with.”
“This will not end well,” he added.
As HuffPost notes:
Cruz’s tweets raise eyebrows for several reasons, not the least of which being that Crowder ― who boasts 3.8 million subscribers on YouTube ― wasn’t banned from YouTube. In fact, the “demonetization” of the ads that YouTube announced isn’t much more than a slap on the wrist.
One step for Crowder to reinstate his status, YouTube said, was to remove links to his merchandise that reads “Socialism is for Fags.” His vile videos would be allowed to remain, and Crowder himself would be allowed to continue making them.
Maza noted that Crowder is frequently seen wearing a homophobic T-shirt in his YouTube videos. The shirt, which he sells in his online store, reads “Socialism is for f*gs.” Displaying homophobic messaging in YouTube videos is a clear violation of YouTube’s policy against malicious bullying.
A lot of people have pointed out that Crowder is wearing a “Socialism Is For Fags” shirt in several of his videos.
Turns out, he sells that shirt to his YouTube fans, and proudly displays it in his Twitter cover photo. What are these platforms doing? pic.twitter.com/x9F6xOFNhk
— Carlos Maza (@gaywonk) May 31, 2019
Maza says he is still being harassed online, as conservatives like Cruz and Ben Shapiro bash YouTube for enforcing its terms of service against a YouTuber who has described Maza as a “lispy queer,” a “gay Mexican” and an “anchor baby,” reports HuffPost.
A U.S. senator is coming to the defense of someone who spent two years calling me a “lispy queer.”
They do this because they know that @YouTube cares more about looking fair to right-wingers than it does about stopping hate speech and harassment. https://t.co/c7Fp1oOGWr
— Carlos Maza (@gaywonk) June 6, 2019
FYI: This is what doesn’t constitute harassment and/or hate according to @TeamYouTube. If you are a member of the LGBTQ community and you work at @YouTube, now is the time to stand up and take a stand. This is bullshit. pic.twitter.com/mnVt6Gkl3x
— Sleeping Giants (@slpng_giants) June 5, 2019
