Briahna Joy Gray, Bernie Sanders’s former press secretary and one of the most unhinged leftist commentators who still enjoys anything like a mainstream platform, has been fired from her gig co-hosting The Hill’s YouTube show, “Rising.”
And not only that, The Hill even spelled her name wrong in their termination letter, with the screenshot she posted to Twitter displaying it as “Briana.” Talk about adding insult to injury. To be fair to The Hill, though, her name is ridiculous. As I was typing it at the beginning of this story, I had to check several times to make sure I was putting that stupid “h” where it was supposed to be.
In the tweet announcing her firing, Gray attributed the decision to her vocal opposition to Israel (which she refuses to even acknowledge as a country, preferring circumlocutions like “the land that is now called Israel”).
“It finally happened. The Hill has fired me,” she wrote. “There should be no doubt that @RisingTheHill has a clear pattern of suppressing speech — particularly when it’s critical of the state of Israel.”
It finally happened. The Hill has fired me.
There should be no doubt that @RisingTheHill has a clear pattern of suppressing speech — particularly when it’s critical of the state of Israel.
This is why they fired @kthalps, & it was only a matter of time before they fired me.… pic.twitter.com/lLqgWjgOIV
— Briahna Joy Gray (@briebriejoy) June 6, 2024
“This is why they fired [Katie Halper], & it was only a matter of time before they fired me,” Gray added. Halper was fired from “Rising” in Sept. 2022 after calling Israel an “apartheid state” in a segment The Hill refused to air.
The last straw appears to have come Tuesday when Gray visibly expressed her disdain for the sister of an Israeli Hamas hostage. “I really hope that you, specifically, will believe women when they say that they got hurt,” interviewee Yarden Gonen said.
Gray responded by rolling her eyes and sighing loudly before abruptly cutting off the interview.
The Hill’s @briebriejoy rolling her eyes and sighing after Yarden Gonen, sister of a hostage in Gaza, asking her to believe rape victims.
No low this person won’t sink to, truly disgusting. pic.twitter.com/d3A5mW0lsK
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) June 5, 2024
This was nothing new for Gray. When Hamas fighters stormed into Israel to rape and murder a bunch of molly-addled desert ravers, she lost no time in pointing out who the real victims were. On Oct. 13, she posted a tweet accusing Israel of using “lies about rape” to claim the moral high ground. The New York Times, the United Nations and everyone else not fully infected with brain worms now admit that Hamas weaponized sexual violence against Israelis during the Oct. 7 massacre.
The same day she posted that tweet, Gray launched into a fiery exchange with libertarian “Rising” co-host Robby Soave after attributing Israeli “embellishments” of Hamas atrocities to their desire to “flatten” Gaza.
Soave responded by accusing Gray and other “idiotic, leftist, terrorist sympathizing people” of not caring “about the dead Israelis.” (RELATED: ‘I DONT GIVE A F***, BRIAHNA!’: Robby Soave Comes Completely Unstuck Over ‘Terrorist Sympathizing’ Left Live On Air)
Gray insisted she did not believe Israel’s oppression of Palestine justified terrorist attacks, though she echoed the assertion of multiple Harvard student groups that Israel was entirely to blame for the violence. How you can believe both those things at once is a mystery to me.
Never seen Robby like that https://t.co/HtzvtLHtHv pic.twitter.com/k11EZaxY4c
— Rust Cohle’s Burner 🇧🇧 (@WoLf_PaK_MeMbA) October 13, 2023
Then, in May, Gray participated in a debate on the Israel-Gaza conflict moderated by podcast host Konstantin Kisin. To say it didn’t go so well for her would be an understatement. She repeatedly dodged Kisin’s questions, and at one point drew heckles from some audience members (and laughter from one of her opponents) when she suggested that calls to abolish the state of Israel are not about “killing all of the Jews,” but about creating a pluralistic democracy “like what we have here in the United States of America.”
Her side got absolutely trounced in an audience survey taken after the debate.
Then, things somehow got even worse. According to The New Republic, Gray threw her mic to Kisin and told him, “This is the most Islamophobic, racist audience I’ve ever seen. It’s disgusting. I hope someone drops a bomb on this entire building.”
DEI Barbie is upset.
Imagine participating in a debate about Israel and Palestine.
Imagine answering literally zero of the questions you were asked.
Imagine talking over everyone else and being disrespectful to fellow panellists and the moderator.
Imagine storming off stage…
— Konstantin Kisin (@KonstantinKisin) June 2, 2024
I imagine her superiors at The Hill weren’t too happy about that. Being belligerently ignorant is one thing, but you can’t publicly wish flaming death on a room full of people who disagree with you. (RELATED: ‘What Was The Crime?’: Progressive Activist Has Historic Meltdown On Piers Morgan Over Simple Question)
I’m sure Gray will stick around on the lefty podcast circuit. When it comes to mainstream publications and respectable debating gigs, though, she’s finished. And good riddance. I don’t have a problem with Gray’s extremism. I like plenty of “extreme” right-wing figures. I’m pretty extreme myself. But contrast Gray with someone like Michael Knowles, who can assert that transgenderism should be “eradicated from public life” and still charm a whole panel of OnlyFans thots on the “whatever” podcast.
Gray’s problem isn’t her takes. It’s the impregnable arrogance that, in her opinion, absolves her of any need to be respectful or winsome. She’s shrill, mean and proud of it. We need a lot less of that.
