One America News Network (OANN) host Dan Ball on Wednesday accused Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson of trying to shut down the network after the 2020 election. .
Ball appeared on Carlson’s show on Twitter to discuss his claims that Democrats were involved in an attempt to shut down the network in 2021-2022. Mr. Carlson first asked the OANN hosts how the problem started, to which Mr. Ball explained their reporting. Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop, first reported by the New York Post. (Related: ‘I can’t deal with lies’: Tucker talks spiritual beings, cults and politics with Joe Rogan)
“So, that’s when it really started, right? They looked at us and said, ‘Oh my God, these guys are going to interfere with the election,’ because we’re going to spit truth to power. Because there are,” Ball said. “They say this laptop is real. That tycoon is Joe Biden. He made millions by using his family and his influence to enrich himself. Well, they didn’t like it very much.
“And of course, COVID-19,” Ball continued. “We’re in the middle of coronavirus. We got the narrative that masks aren’t working. When Joe took over and told everyone to get the vaccine, he said that We were talking about the “winter of death” and all that. We were talking about the irregularities we see with vaccines when it comes to side effects and deaths. They didn’t like it. ”
“So it kind of flows downward from the Hunter Biden laptop story to the coronavirus coverage, and then there’s the 2020 election. And then, of course, talking about election fraud. There were people. They didn’t like it. So it started in a number of ways. YouTube de-monetized us. Top, every time I published an article about Boom, I tried to get a 30-day suspension, a 60-day suspension, or just delete my entire account, and then all of a sudden, I got a letter for about 21 or 22 minutes. I think so,” Ball said.
100 Democratic members of Congress are working to shut down TV networks that criticized them. It’s illegal, but it happens. pic.twitter.com/QgEC8TllgJ
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) May 1, 2024
Ball claimed that Democratic members of both the Senate and Congress wrote a letter recommending that the stations take Fox News, Newsmax and OANN off the air over the coverage. In our 2020 post-election report, politiko revealed that two House Democrats and members of the Energy and Commerce Committee expressed concerns to lawmakers about networks spreading “misinformation” about the election after the events of January 6.
The letter from Democratic California Representatives Anna Eshoo and Jerry McNerney was sent to AT&T, Verizon, Roku, Amazon, Apple, Comcast, Charter, DISH, Cox, Altice, Hulu, and Google’s parent company Alphabet. , asked what a “moral or ethical principle” is. According to Politico, this provision applies when “determining which channels to air or when to take adverse action against a channel,” and whether to continue partnering with Fox News, Newsmax, and OANN. It is said to ask.
“There was a letter from four Democratic senators and two Democratic California congressmen, and they sent a letter to all the satellite and cable companies as well as advertisers,” Ball said. continued.
“They said to kill Fox, NewsMax, OAN, and your old network was named. Now, who is the lowest on that totem pole? That’s why they came after us. They scared away advertisers and kicked us off multiple carriers, including Frontier and Verizon and DirecTV, because the Democrats sent these letters. ”
“What do you mean? So the current members of Congress tried to take the news channels off the air and bankrupt them, but I guess you could call me naive. In the country where I grew up, that kind of thing doesn’t happen. That was never allowed,” Carlson replied.
“We’re not on national television, right? It can’t be. I mean, when I got into it,” Ball said.
“Well, it’s against the law to do that,” Carlson interjected.
“Well, but does this administration care? Look at what the Biden administration has done to this country. Look at the border,” Ball said.
YouTube suspended the network from its platform in 2020 for sharing false information about the coronavirus, which was against the social media platform’s policies. according to Go to CBS News. The strike against OANN forced the network to reapply to the YouTube Partner Program in order to monetize its videos again, the station reported.
OANN also ultimately exited carriers in 2022, including major carriers like Verizon and AT&T, significantly reducing its reach and costing the network millions of viewers. . according to In the New York Times.
Voting machine company Smartmatic sued OANN for defamation over claims of election interference by the network, and settled in April. according to Go to NBC News. Details of the settlement have not been made public, but OANN’s parent companies, Herring Networks and Smartmatic, have agreed to pay their own attorneys’ fees and costs, the outlet reported.
