Steve Bannon sent New Yorker festival down in flames on Twitter

Steve Bannon.
Sean
Gallup/Getty Images

• The New Yorker announced that Steve Bannon, who
  embraces the label of “racist,” would headline its 19th annual
  The New Yorker Festival.
• New Yorker staff members, journalists, and prominent
  celebrities quickly attacked the decision on Twitter.
• Within hours, several top celebrities had announced
  they would not attend the festival.
• The New Yorker reversed course by 5 p.m., saying it
  would look for another format.
• Despite being deeply hated by media figures, Bannon has
  enjoyed significant political success, and arguably dismantled
  a top-tier event celebrating intellectualism in media with just
  the mention of his name. 

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The New Yorker’s choice to have former chief White House
strategist Steve Bannon, widely viewed as a far-right racist and
nationalist, headline its festival brought on a Twitter firestorm
that saw big names pull out in droves and the vaunted magazine
swiftly reverse course.

Early on Labor Day Monday the New York Times reported that
Bannon would headline its 19th annual The New Yorker
Festival.

The editor of the magazine, famous for its deep reporting,
high-minded think pieces, and New York state of mind, would
interview Bannon live on stage in front of an audience.

“I have every intention of asking him difficult questions and
engaging in a serious and even combative conversation,” editor
David Remnick told the Times. 

By 5 p.m. that same day, the New Yorker’s editor, David Remnick,
issued a length statement saying that he had “re-considered”
after talking to colleagues. 

“I don’t want well-meaning readers and staff members to think
that I’ve ignored their concerns,” Remnick wrote in a statement,
adding that “If the opportunity presents itself, I’ll interview
him in a more traditionally journalistic setting as we first
discussed, and not on stage.”

Pulitzer prize-winning New Yorker writer Kathryn Schulz gave
“the gift of honest criticism” to Remnick by tweeting that she was
“appalled” by the decision and sharing Remnick’s email
address. 

And before disinviting Bannon, big names including Jim
Carrey, John Mulaney, Patton Oswalt, and Judd Apatow had all
announced in a similar fashion that they’d no longer attend the
event within minutes of each other.

Even after Remnick backed off from the Bannon interview, late
night host Jimmy Fallon and comedian Hassan Minhaj announced
their departures. 

So in a matter of hours on a holiday Monday, the Twittersphere
rejected and dismantled a festival that represents some of the
top tier of US media intellectualism, all due to Bannon.

Bannon seized upon the opportunity to bash Remnick as a coward,
and to paint the withdrawn celebrities as a mob of over-sensitive
complainers with political motives.

“The reason for my acceptance was simple: I would be facing one
of the most fearless journalists of his generation,” Bannon told The Times. “In
what I would call a defining moment, David Remnick showed he was
gutless when confronted by the howling online mob.”

“Progressives are triggered like never before,” Bannon
continued.

While Bannon refers to himself as an economic nationalist,
rather than a white ethnic nationalist, he has frequently
supported movements accused of Islamophobic or otherwise racist
smears.

But despite Bannon’s close associations with far-right movements
reviled by celebrities and much of Twitter, he’s embraced labels
such as “racist” and enjoyed tremendous success as an early
supporter of and aide to President Donald Trump. 

“You argue for your freedom and they call you a xenophobe. You
argue for your country and they call you a racist,” Bannon said
at a French far-right National Front party conference. “Let them
call you racist… Wear it as a badge of honor. Because every day
we get stronger, they get weaker.”