Sean Hannity went on a tear Wednesday night against Facebook over the social media giant taking down a new interview of former President Donald Trump.

Trump was suspended from Facebook in the wake of the Capitol riots, and CNBC reported a company spokesperson pointed to that as the reason they pulled the video of Trump being interviewed by daughter-in-law Lara Trump.

Former Bush White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told Hannity “this censorship is… one of the reasons we are splitting as a society.”

“Are conservatives supposed to start all their own conservative media and ban Biden and Obama’s voice?” he asked. “Is that the America Facebook wants? This is going in every possible wrong direction. It’s anti-democratic, anti-intellectual, anti-history.”

Hannity read an email Dan Scavino apparently received before commenting, “Now Dan Scavino, who works for President Trump — just ’cause you work for President Trump, you can’t post on Facebook.”

“Why is anybody on Facebook anymore that is a conservative?” he asked. “It’s time to leave, we’re not wanted there.”

Fox News contributor Joe Concha said he wants to know from Facebook “what did he say during that interview with Lara Trump that is so offensive that you have to hide this from the sensitivities of the people that are on Facebook.”

You can watch above, via Fox News.

Photo credit: Spencer Platt / Getty Images

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is still facing intense scrutiny over allegations of sexual harassment and the scandal over nursing home covid deaths.

Back in October, Cuomo released a book called American Crisis on his leadership during the pandemic. The governor was criticized for writing this book in the middle of the pandemic, going back to last August when news broke of the book’s upcoming release.

The New York Times reported Wednesday night on some details of Cuomo’s book deal and how the governor worked on the tome with the help of aides.

Cuomo’s book deal apparently “ended with a high offer of more than $4 million,” the Times said, but Crown Publishing Group “declined to comment on the sale price or confirm that it slightly exceeded $4 million.”

A draft of Cuomo’s book apparently included attacks on Bill de Blasio and even said, “I have accomplished by any objective standard more than any governor in modern history. But I am not a superhero.”

The Times report also said that apparently Cuomo’s book “sold around 48,000 hardcover copies.”

Tucker Carlson’s segment with Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz may have been one of the weirdest interviews the host has ever conducted, but it was a ratings winner for him and the network Tuesday.

Tucker Carlson Tonight, featuring Gaetz’s baffling response to an ongoing Department of Justice sex trafficking investigation, was the top-rated show in both total viewers, with 2.99 million, and in the key demographic of viewers age 25-54, with 506,000, according to data from Nielsen. The Rachel Maddow Show was second, with nearly 2.9 million total viewers, and 460,000 in the demo. Hannity was third, with 2.82 million total viewers, and 451,000 in the demo.

Fox News won the most viewers in total day, averaging 1.52 million, and was a close second in the demo, with 248,000. MSNBC was second in total viewers, with 1.29 million, and third in the demo, with 199,000. CNN averaged the fewest total viewers, 980,000, but was first in the demo, with 249,000.

Fox won prime time in both total viewers, with 2.64 million, and in the key demo, with 447,000. MSNBC was second in total viewers, with 2.07 million, and third in the demo, with 312,000. CNN was third in total viewers, with 1.18 million, and second in the demo, with 315,000.

Fox and Friends swept the early morning, with 1.19 million total viewers, and 205,000 in the demo. MSNBC’s Morning Joe was second, with 1.04 million, and 149,000 in the demo. CNN’s New Day was third, with 482,000 total viewers, and 117,000 in the demo.

The Washington Examiner published documents Wednesday purporting to detail an extortion plot involving Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, his father Don Gaetz, a former Air Force intelligence officer, a former federal prosecutor, and former FBI agent Robert Levinson.

The Examiner report comes one day after the New York Times reported that the Department of Justice is investigating “whether [Rep. Gaetz] had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid for her to travel with him.”

The Examiner shared screenshots of items reportedly in Gaetz’s possession that appear to support his claim that he is the victim of an extortion scheme.

A text message his father Don Gaetz reportedly received on March 16 from former Air Force intelligence officer Bob Kent appears to reference a “plan” that can make Matt Gaetz’s “future legal and political problems go away.” The message makes an oblique reference to “the current federal investigation, and the indictment that is about to be filed against your son.”

The message goes on to detail an alleged attempt to rescue Levinson, if both Don and Matt Gaetz are “willing to help us privately.”

The next day, according to the Examiner, Don Gaetz met with Kent and attorney David McGee, who represents the Levinson family. At that time, Don Gaetz was reportedly presented with a document outlining “Project Homecoming,” which “detailed a plan to save Levinson at the cost of a $25 million loan.”

The “Project Homecoming” document, according to the Examiner, notes that Gaetz is under investigation by the FBI.

“In exchange for the funds being arranged, and upon the release of Mr. Levinson, the team that delivers Mr. Levinson to the President of the United States shall strongly advocate that President Biden issue a Presidential Pardon, or instruct the Department of Justice to terminate any and all investigations involving Congressman Gaetz,” the document apparently says.

“The team has been assured by the President that he will strongly consider such matters because he considers the release of Robert Levinson a matter of National Urgency,” the document says.

Levinson is believed to have been kidnapped in 2007 by the government of Iran while on an unauthorized CIA mission. In March 2020, the Levinson family announced that the U.S. government concluded that Levinson died while in Iranian custody.

The third document in the Examiner story appears to be a March 25 email between Jeffrey Neiman, representing Don Gaetz, and the Department of Justice. Neiman asked for confirmation that the DOJ and the FBI want Don Gaetz’s help in investigating the alleged extortion scheme.

“I can confirm that your client is working with my office as well as the FBI at the government’s request in order to determine if a federal crime has been committed,” Assistant U.S. Attorney David Goldberg responded, according to the Examiner. “This has been discussed with, and approved by, the FBI as well as the leadership of my office and components of Main Justice.”

Gaetz has denied all sex trafficking allegations against him. David McGee’s law firm said that Gaetz’s allegation against him is “false and defamatory.”

Tucker Carlson told viewers on Tuesday night that his interview with Matt Gaetz was “one of the weirdest interviews I’ve ever conducted.”

Gaetz appeared with Carlson to talk about the DOJ investigation into him for, as the New York Times reported, “whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid for her to travel with him.” Gaetz denied the allegations, said he’s being smeared and extorted, and claimed to Carlson his family went to the FBI. He even said his father wore a wire at the direction of the FBI.

Carlson seemed a bit taken aback during the interview, and he led the next segment with this comment to viewers:

“You just saw our Matt Gaetz interview. That was one of the weirdest interviews I’ve ever conducted. That story just appeared in the news a couple of hours ago, and on the certainty that there’s always more than you read in the newspaper, we immediately called Matt Gaetz and asked him to come on and tell us more. Which, as you saw, he did. I don’t think that clarified much, but it certainly showed this is a deeply interesting story and we’ll be following it.”

There was one point during the interview where Gaetz brought up a dinner he and Carlson had once that included a friend of his who was “threatened by the FBI.” Carlson said in response, “I don’t remember the woman you’re speaking of or the context at all, honestly.”

You can watch above, via Fox News.

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Former White House trade advisor Peter Navarro launched into a tirade against Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday — going as far as to slam the infectious disease expert as “the father of the virus.”

Navarro was reacting to a clip from Fauci’s recent interview with CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, during which Fauci said pushing for the development of the coronavirus vaccine was the “best decision” he made.

“That’s when it became very clear that the decision we made on January the 10th — to go all out and develop a vaccine — may have been the best decision that I’ve ever made with regard to an intervention as director of the institute,” he said to Gupta.

“A quick reaction to that?” Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy asked Navarro. “I know that’s gotta be steaming you, Peter.”

Without missing a beat, Navarro then went on a wild rant against Fauci, calling him a “sociopath” and “the father” of the coronavirus.

“Fauci is a sociopath and a liar. He had nothing to do with the vaccine. The father of the vaccine is Donald J. Trump,” said the economist. “What is Fauci the father of? Fauci is the father of the actual virus. Fauci is the guy — this virus, according to [Robert] Redfield at the Centers for Disease Control, came from the Wuhan lab and basically we had Fauci not only funding that lab with American taxpayer dollars, he authorized this thing called gain of function research.

“He allowed the Chinese Communist Party, the People’s Liberation Army to genetically engineer a virus using gain of function,” he continued. “I call it the Fauci virus now. If he wants to be the father of something, he is the father of the virus that’s killed over half a million Americans.”

Campos-Duffy offered absolutely zero pushback regardless of the countless false statements, including the baseless notion that Fauci funded a lab in Wuhan that created the virus. The claim was first made by opinion and news website WorldNetDaily, and was later fact checked as false.

“Well, Peter, we are still trying to get to the bottom of that and we are definitely going to bring you back when we get more information on it,” Campos-Duffy said. “But, you are right, there is a lot of questions out there. Peter, I can’t thank you enough for joining me today.”

Watch above, via Fox News.

Congressman Matt Gaetz (R- FL) appeared on Fox News Tuesday night to discuss the DOJ investigation against him with Tucker Carlson.

The New York Times broke news that Gaetz is under investigation for “whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid for her to travel with him.” Gaetz publicly responded by saying he is the target of an extortion scheme by a former DOJ official.

Gaetz told Carlson, “What is happening is an extortion of me and my family.”

He claimed that his father received a text earlier this month demanding a meeting “wherein a person demanded $25 million in exchange for making horrible sex trafficking allegations against me go away.”

Gaetz said they were so troubled by that they went to the FBI and the FBI, “asked my dad to wear a wire, which he did, with the former Department of Justice official.” He called on the DOJ to release the audio “which will prove my innocence.”

He even suggested the timing of the New York Times report was no accident.

Gaetz gave Carlson a name for the individual he said is extorting him, and said, “I know that there was a demand for money in exchange for a commitment that he could make this investigation go away, along with his co-conspirators. They even claimed to have specific connections inside the Biden White House. I don’t know if that’s true, they were promising that Joe Biden would pardon me. Obviously I don’t need a pardon.”

Gaetz went off as he told Carlson that “people are smeared to try to take them out of the conversation” and that both of them have faced false allegations.

At one point Gaetz made this comment to Carlson:

“You and I went to dinner about two years ago, your wife was there, and I brought a friend of mine, you’ll remember her. And she was actually threatened by the FBI, told that if she wouldn’t cop to the fact that somehow I was involved in some pay-for-play scheme that she could face trouble, and so I do believe that there are people at the Department of Justice who are trying to smear me, you know, providing for flights and hotel rooms for people that you’re dating who are of legal age is not a crime. And I’m just troubled that lack of any sort of legitimate investigation into me… would then convert into this extortion attempt.”

Carlson said, “I don’t remember the woman you’re speaking of or the context at all, honestly.”

When Carlson asked about the allegation he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old, Gaetz said “the person doesn’t exist” and that this is “totally false.”

You can watch above, via Fox News.

Good Morning America host Michael Strahan closed the iconic gap between his front teeth on Tuesday, sharing a video of the procedure with his fans.

Strahan noted in the video that many fans and loved ones have adviced him not to get rid of the defining feature, yet he explained this is something he wanted to do for himself.

Dr. Lee Gause at Smile Design Manhattan performed the procedure, who specifically gifted Strahan with a temporary removable dental piece, according to TMZ.

I did it. #GoodbyeGap pic.twitter.com/0Z5ZcK925c

— Michael Strahan (@michaelstrahan) March 30, 2021

“It’ll be 50 years in the making,” he cracked in the video, later exclaiming, “I love it! Holy fuck!” with a large smile on his face.

Some fans and Twitter users were quick to note that April 1, or April Fools’ Day, is just around the corner, especially as just last week, Strahan wrote that he rocks his “gap with pride.”

I rock my gap with pride! It’s who I am! Which of my friends do you think can rock it with me??? swipe right. @anthonyanderson you are missing out my brotha! #ItDoesntFitEveryone @DeionSanders @TomBrady @GStephanopoulos @RobinRoberts @JayGlazer pic.twitter.com/UJilJUhv7n

— Michael Strahan (@michaelstrahan) March 23, 2021

“I rock my gap with pride! It’s who I am!” Strahan wrote. “Which of my friends do you think can rock it with me???”

The first day of comprehensive coverage of the trial of Derek Chauvin led to a ratings boost for CNN, which was first in the valuable demographic of viewers age 25-54 on Monday. Fox News, meanwhile, dominated in every other ratings category, including scoring big wins in prime time.

In total day, CNN averaged the most viewers in the key demo, 257,000, but had the fewest total viewers overall, with 913,000. Fox was first in total viewers, with 1.49 million, and second in the demo, with 246,000. MSNBC was second in total viewers, with 1.22 million, and third in the demo, with 164,000.

Fox topped the competition in prime time, averaging 2.69 million total viewers, and 472,000 in the demo. MSNBC was second in total viewers, with 1.88 million, and third in the demo, with 247,000. CNN was third in total viewers, with 1.13 million, and second in the demo, with 337,000.

Monday marked a five-day winning streak for Fox and Friends in both total viewers, with 1.19 million, and in the demo, with 217,000. MSNBC’s Morning Joe was second, with 973,000 total viewers, and 141,000 in the demo. CNN’s New Day was third, with 499,000 total viewers, and 125,000 in the demo.

Four of the five most-watched shows, in both total viewers and in the demo, were on Fox. Tucker Carlson Tonight topped both categories, with 3 million total viewers and 501,000 in the demo. Hannity was second, with 2.81 million total viewers, and 486,000 in the demo. The Five was third in total viewers, with 2.77 million, and fourth in the demo, with 414,000. The Rachel Maddow Show was fourth in total viewers, with 2.64 million, but didn’t make the top five in the demo, with 348,000. The Ingraham Angle was fifth in total viewers, with 2.24 million, and third in the demo, with 429,000. The 1 p.m. hour of CNN Newsroom was fifth in the demo, with 380,000, and had 1.18 million viewers total.

CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky gave a very impassioned, dire warning about a new surge of covid cases and deaths on Monday, and she appeared with Rachel Maddow Monday night to elaborate on her fears of where the U.S. could be headed.

“We have so much to look forward to, so much potential of where we are and so much reason for hope, but right now I am scared,” Walensky said during Monday’s White House covid briefing.

Maddow asked Walensky about why she’s warning about “impending doom” with so much “measured optimism” in the country right now.

Walensky said she shares that optimism, given the millions of people being vaccinated every day and how “we can almost see the end.”

However, she is still very concerned about cases going up:

“I’m watching us have increased numbers of hypertransmissible variants. I’m watching our travel numbers tick up, and the sense is, I’ve seen what it looks like to anticipate the oncoming surge. And what I really would hate to have happen is to have another oncoming surge just as we’re reaching towards getting so many more people vaccinated. You know, we’re still losing people at 1,000 deaths a day. And so I just can’t face another surge when there’s so much optimism right at our fingertips.”

Maddow asked if the pace of vaccinations now means that even if cases rise, we won’t see a similar kind of surge in hospitalizations and deaths.

Walensky said it’s a serious question they’re looking at, telling Maddow it could end up being the case that “we’ve done so well in vaccinating the more senior members of our society that deaths might not be what we would expect with prior surges.”

She continued to warn about the serious issue of people facing long-term health impacts of getting the virus.

You can watch above, via MSNBC.

Mehdi Hasan — guest-hosting MSNBC’s All In on Monday — said the media needs to stop normalizing Trump White House official Stephen Miller.

Politico recently faced serious criticism for a recent Playbook item on the current lack of media access at the border that quoted Miller trying to contrast access under Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Hasan brought that up in a segment going on a tear against Miller for “demonizing, mistreating” immigrants and saying he’s “more responsible than anyone for stealing children at the border.”

Hasan called out Politico for quoting Miller “like a pundit whose sage thoughts on immigration we should all take very, very seriously,” and said the media’s tendency to “treat anyone who has held a prominent government position as worthy of respect” can’t and shouldn’t apply to him in particular:

“Stephen Miller does not deserve to be normalized. Some would say he would deserves to be prosecuted. At the very minimum, he deserves to be shunned.”

Hasaon spoke with journalist Jean Guerrero, author of the book Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda. Guerrero said, “This is a story of an extremist who ended up steering national policy and national debate around immigration… He was indoctrinated at a very young age during a difficult time in his life by a man who believes everything we hold dear in American society is a result of white men. And you know, Stephen Miller was radicalized in the way so many other Americans are currently being radicalized.”

You can watch above, via MSNBC.

Screenshot via Twitter.

Rapper Lil Nas X successfully got his new music video to go viral, but a planned cross-promotion for some modified sneakers has now brought a lawsuit.

The video for Montero (Call Me By Your Name) included controversial scenes where Lil Nas X slides down a stripper pole to Hell, gives Satan a lap dance, and then breaks the devil’s neck and takes his horns for himself.

To promote the song, Lil Nas X collaborated with streetwear company MSCHF to sell 666 pairs of modified Nike Air Max 97s that they marketed as “Satan Shoes.” The shoes’ design includes a pentagram pendant, an upside down crucifix, and a reference to Luke 10:18, the Bible verse in which Jesus describes witnessing Satan “fall like lightning from heaven.” Oh, and the shoes also reportedly contain a small amount of human blood in the soles.

According to Entertainment Weekly, the shoes sold out in less than a minute — for the whopping price of $1,018 per pair. The rapper is apparently giving away the 666th pair in a Twitter contest.

if u want the 666th pair of the satan shoes quote this tweet and use #satanshoes to be entered and I’ll pick someone by thursday

— nope (@LilNasX) March 29, 2021

“We do not have a relationship with Little Nas X or MSCHF,” said a statement from Nike after the initial news broke about the Satan Shoes. “Nike did not design or release these shoes and we do not endorse them.”

Nike took another step to further distance themselves from the Satan Shoes on Monday, filing a lawsuit against MSCHF for trademark infringement and dilution (unauthorized use of a famous trademark in a way that lessens or damages the mark). Lil Nas X is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, but Nike could possibly file an amendment to add him later.

“We do not have a relationship with Lil Nas X or MSCHF,” Nike said in a statement “The Satan Shoes were produced without Nike’s approval or authorization, and Nike is in no way connected with this project.”

In the complaint, Nike argued that the “unauthorized” Satan Shoes had caused “significant harm to [Nike’s] goodwill, including among consumers who believe that Nike is endorsing satanism.”

“Decisions about what products to put the ‘swoosh’ on belong to Nike, not to third parties like MSCHF,” the complaint further said, referring to the brand’s famous “swoosh” logo.

The complaint asks for the court to issue an order to “immediately and permanently stop MSCHF from fulfilling all orders for its unauthorized Satan Shoes” and to require them to turn over the modified shoes to Nike for destruction.

Lil Nas X has spent most of the past few days tweeting taunts at his critics, but does seem to have some remorse now that lawyers are involved, tweeting a video of a defendant singing about being sorry with the caption, “me at nike headquarters tomorrow” and another one with a SpongeBob character* begging for change that said “me after the nike lawsuit.”

me at nike headquarters tomorrow pic.twitter.com/iAAdjc8Ele

— nope (@LilNasX) March 29, 2021

me after the nike lawsuit pic.twitter.com/XVLjHlSrru

— nope (@LilNasX) March 29, 2021

Another tweet used a short video clip of the same SpongeBob character* saying he was “just kidding” to share news about the lawsuit.

pic.twitter.com/m0R2Fa3dRU https://t.co/4sVit8vbKY

— nope (@LilNasX) March 29, 2021

Lil Nas X tweeted that the backlash was “putting an emotional toll” on him and his “anxiety is higher than ever” — and then urged his followers to “stream call me by your name on all platforms now!”

i’ll be honest all this backlash is putting an emotional toll on me. i try to cover it with humor but it’s getting hard. my anxiety is higher than ever and stream call me by your name on all platforms now!

— nope (@LilNasX) March 29, 2021

*The author is a cynical Gen-Xer who has gone this long without learning the names of SpongeBob characters (except assuming the yellow rectangular one wearing pants is SpongeBob SquarePants) and sees no reason to start now.