A video of Russell Brand launching into a histrionic outburst against MSNBC and anchor Rachel Maddow went viral on Saturday as he tried to equate MSNBC to Fox News.
In the two-minute clip from HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” the comedian accused political analyst and fellow guest John Heilemann of hypocrisy for criticizing Fox News from “within the castle of MSNBC.”
Brand claimed that MSNBC was fundamentally no different from Fox News, asserting that both channels are merely “mouthpieces for their affiliate owners in Blackrock and Vanguard,” naming a pair of controversial investment firms.
All this, he loudly insisted, contrasts with the “real journalism” of National Security Agency consultant-turned-Russian defector Edward Snowden and former RT host Julian Assange.
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Heilemann and Maher finally managed to cut in on Brand, with the host and the Recount founder telling the Get Him to the Greek star that he was engaging in “false equivalency.”
“You don’t actually know anything about any of these organizations you’re talking about. You went on MSNBC once. Big fucking deal,” said Heilemann before challenging Brand to provide evidence that MSNBC had ever engaged in comparable practices to Fox hosts’ amplification of election fraud conspiracies they knew to be false.
Brand was unable to provide an instance in which MSNBC’s reporting was comparable to Fox hosts repeatedly airing conspiracy theories about President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory over ex-President Donald Trump that recent court filings show the conservative network’s stars referred to as “total bs” and “mind-blowingly nuts.” The network’s founder Rupert Murdoch even admitted in a deposition that some of the station’s top shows “endorsed” these baseless allegations, which form the basis of a $1.6 billion defamation suit Dominion Voting Systems has brought against the channel.
Instead, Brand went into a diatribe about MSNBC “deliberately” referring to ivermectin as a horse medicine “when they know it is an effective medicine.”
However, studies have repeatedly shown that ivermectin, which can treat parasite infestations in humans and animals, is not an effective treatment for COVID-19.
Brand ended his tirade by invoking Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
“Did you not just listen to Bernie Sanders, someone who plainly, legitimately believes in this country and believes it’s possible to change, but is bound by corruption, is bound by the lobbying system?” said Brand of the independent lawmaker, who is a frequent guest on MSNBC.
Watch:
Russell Brand ENDS the career of MSNBC host.
this is as close as you can get to a murder on live TV
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) March 4, 2023
