Glenn had Steven Crowder on his radio program Tuesday to discuss an article on Salon.com by a self described pedophile, who said, "I'm attracted to children, but unwilling to act on it. Before judging me harshly, will you be willing to listen?"
When Glenn first read the article, he said he thought the author must have had a really horrible childhood.
"You have feelings. And now you're not acting on it," Glenn said "As long as you're not acting on it, I'm not going to call you a monster. The minute you act on it, you're a monster."
Crowder, who wrote a rebuttle to the article, put it in a slightly different way.
"I have a steadfast rule. You touch a kid sexually, you deserve a bullet," Crowder said. "If you have sexual thoughts about children, we'll give you a three-second head-start to get out of the building."
Listen to the full dialogue or read the transcript below.
Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors.
GLENN: Steven Crowder is a good friend of the program. And been with us since really we launched TheBlaze. And has gone off and done his own thing. And is on with Dana an awful lot. He is really funny. Really, really smart. And we're honored to have him on the program with us. Steven Crowder, from LouderWithCrowder.com. Now doing a show in Detroit on WAAM. You don't have to be in Detroit to do that, do you, Steven?
STEVEN: No, thank God, I don't. How dare you with that lofty phrase before bringing me out here. Now people are going to have actual expectations.
GLENN: Right. So, Steven, you read an article on Salon. And I've been fascinated by this because I was fast food by the story on Salon where they have a pedophile who said, "I'm a pedophile, but I'm not a monster," which is interesting. "I'm attracted to children, but unwilling to act on it. Before judging me harshly, will you be willing to listen?" Now, I read the first article. And I should say, I didn't sit down and read it. I read it while I was on the air, so I read it quickly. But what I saw in it was, okay, you've had a really horrible childhood. Really horrible. You have feelings. And now you're not acting on it. As long as you're not acting on it, I'm not going to call you a monster. The minute you act on it, you're a monster.
STEVEN: Yeah, you know, I still think -- you're not quite monster, you're like Alice Cooper transitioning. It's sort of your stage at that point. Because if you're having sexual thoughts about kids and impulses, you know, it becomes incredibly problematic.
So I did write a response. And, listen, Glenn, I won't walk it back at all. Let me give some context to people. I said, I have a steadfast rule. You touch a kid sexually, you deserve a bullet. I'm not going to walk that back. Now, what I did say was if you have sexual thoughts about children, we'll give you a three-second head-start to get out of the building. Now, that's symbolism, Glenn, and I'm a comedian. So you shouldn't take it literally. What I'm saying is, you deserve a mental institution. You need to be locked away. Because for me, my priority is making sure the kids are not sexually molested. Making pedophiles feel good about themselves occurs way down the list, like into the seven digits.
And I wrote a rebuttal at Salon.com. My week in the right-wing hate machine didn't get my name right. So I'm thinking, what kind of a cosmic bunny hole did I fall into that a pedophile gets to call me a right-wing monster without even getting my name right?
He compares me to Nazis, Glenn. And his plight to that of the Jews in Auschwitz. So Salon gave him this platform. Now, you know me -- I'm up there in your wonderful affiliate in Detroit. Of course, I do it remotely. Thank God.
But I will admit, I do not in any way -- I'm not the guy who calls for boycotts. I don't believe in them. But in this case, I'm going, okay, the guy is calling me out. He's comparing me to Hitler. I might do a little bit of digging.
It turns out, this guy has had a lot of information out there for a long time. You know, allegedly, from what he has written, he has groomed children. Now, grooming is a pedophile term used to mean introducing them to sexualization. And he directly contradicts what he wrote in Salon.
GLENN: Okay. How do you say he groomed people? What evidence do you have on that?
STEVEN: From his own user name on a message board where he repeatedly talked about being a pedophile and he referred to one of his companions as Kay. The code name he used was Kay. All available information I have confirms that this is the guy without a doubt.
GLENN: And what did he say about grooming?
STEVEN: Here's the thing, it's kind of like if you go on to drug message boards, they use the term "swim." I don't know if you know that. Like, someone I know, not me. I don't know what it stands for. So he was saying, you know, I wouldn't quite say I groomed Kay, but I brushed her hair out of her face on occasion.
Now, grooming is a pedophile term that often includes introducing them to pornography, establishing a romantic relationship, giving romantic gifts. And there is him directly saying -- in Salon, he said I would never act on this. That was the linchpin. That was what provided the propriety to post it on Salon. Well, this guy wants pedophiles to get better.
But we found a post from him where he directly said, if we lived in a much more sex friendly society, of course, I would engage in a sexual relationship with a young girl. And he argues that he's more qualified, pedophiles are more qualified to determine consent than parents because they're more in tune with the romantic needs of children. So this is the thing, Glenn.
GLENN: Oh, my gosh.
STEVEN: I want to be really clear. People can go to LouderWithCrowder.com. We're going to set up a website where people can sign a petition. All I'm requesting -- because I'm a web guy. This shouldn't occur on message boards. But I do think it warrants some kind of investigating from the FBI. Because if Salon is giving an actual pedophile a platform and he is saying these things, that goes beyond the realm of friendly combat and politics on blogs. And I think it's something that requires some serious addressing.
GLENN: Wow, I would agree with that. There's no harm, no foul in looking into something.
STEVEN: Right.
GLENN: You don't think they will actually look into it, do you?
STEVEN: Salon. I don't know.
GLENN: No, I mean the Justice Department. Is this going to the Justice Department?
STEVEN: Well, I know people have been investigated for far less from the FBI regarding child pornography.
GLENN: No, hang on just a second. They will investigate you for far less, but they're not going to investigate Salon for far less.
STEVEN: Well, I want them to investigate this guy, and hopefully Salon can provide some information.
Listen, you're right. You're right. I'll be audited like clockwork. Believe me, I'm expecting it. But maybe Salon didn't know this about this guy that he could be a more active pedophile than they knew.
So the petition is really just to get either Salon to investigate. And if they don't want to do that, get the Justice Department. Hopefully they do. I don't know, Glenn. I could be ignorant. You could be right. Maybe the Justice Department has no interest in finding who is a pedophile, who is not. I could have five on my block, and I would never know. You never know. That's the problem.
And it ruins everything. These people ruin everything. Because you know what the problem is? You and I can't play with like the neighbor's kid anymore. You can't just say hi and make stupid faces. You're worried. You don't know who is a sex offender, and we don't prosecute them.
GLENN: LouderWithCrowder.com is where you'll find this.
STU: You would think with the way it's presented -- let's give Salon the benefit of the doubt, which they do not deserve in any way. But someone comes to them and says, I'm a pedophile. I want to make a case that this should be accepted. And because I'm not acting on it, it's okay. And they don't know about these postings. Maybe they post this as obviously they are the biggest click bait people in the universe. So they are dying for anyone to click on anything. So maybe they post it without checking it out. But when you're giving them the information that this guy has actually admitted this in the past, it's a totally different standard for them. They should look into it themselves. If they don't, what does that say about their organization?
STEVEN: I think you're right. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Let's say the best scenario. Let's say a pedophile comes to TheBlaze. Glenn, obviously I'm not.
GLENN: Let's use another website. Let's say a pedophile comes to LouderWithCrowder.com.
STEVEN: Okay. And it's much more likely. You should see the private messages I get. I wouldn't put it past some of the people who request to contribute.
So someone comes to LouderWithCrowder.com and says, hey, I'm a pedophile. I say, well, what does that mean? They say, well, I'm sexually attracted to children, but I don't act on it. And I would like to write about it on your site. Okay. Let's assume that's the scenario. I can't imagine any parallel universe in which any answer could possibly be appropriate other than no.
(laughter)
STU: That's a fair point.
PAT: It is. It is when you put it like that. You make it sound bad.
GLENN: Hang on just a second. Steven, let's play devil's advocate here. And actually devil's advocate.
STEVEN: Okay.
GLENN: Somebody who says, "I am tortured by this. I had a horrible childhood. I was molested as a kid, and I don't act on it -- I have these feelings. I want them to stop. I want them to stop. And I want people to know what it's like being trapped inside of me."
STEVEN: Right.
GLENN: I think that is actually an interesting story to read. However, let me just say, if it is happening at theBlaze.com, I do a personal investigation myself. I mean, I have everybody -- we have -- we investigate you inside and out to make sure that you are who you say you are and you haven't been on websites, you know, grooming children or anything else. And we as a company would be very, very clear. We don't endorse him, his activities. We are -- he's approached us with this particular story. And we think this particular part of the story is interesting.
STEVEN: Okay. Well, I don't want to speak for TheBlaze. I'll speak for myself. That situation occurred. The molester said, I think my story is important and I could help people. Speaking on behalf of Louder with Crowder, I would say, have you read the comments section? This is not the place to tell your story. This is not a friendly audience. You better go on a couch with a qualified therapist because my platform is not the one for you.
Now, let me give you another comparison. I hate how people bandy about the Nazi comparison. I think if you're talking about an active pedophile, it's getting into the realm of evil that's comparable to the worst evil.
If Hitler walked in. Let's say he was in the cryogenic freezer. You know, Austin Powers. Came out. And he came to me and he said, "Listen, I screwed up. I was very wrong. I would like to come to your barbecue." I would say, "Hey, listen, Hitler, sorry man. I'm glad -- sounds like you've made some real progress. Let's try to create some momentum with that. But you won't come to my barbecue. It's not the place for you."
(laughter)
PAT: I like that you're going to create some momentum with that though, just to help him out on the side.
(laughter)
GLENN: You are truly a funny guy. You are really funny. It will be too bad when we have to have you destroyed in Detroit.
(laughter)
And left by the side of the road at night. Steven, let me change the subjects with you.
STEVEN: Yes.
GLENN: Let me go to Donald Trump. Where do you stand on Donald Trump?
STEVEN: Are you really going to do this to me right now? You know what you're doing.
STU: Big time conservative, right?
GLENN: Big time conservative, right?
STEVEN: Yeah.
GLENN: I would love to make you even more popular. Pedophiles and Trump people are going to love you.
STEVEN: Yes, exactly. Well, let me tell you this, Glenn. As someone who works at TheBlaze, I'm not a big Trump fan. Here's something that is very interesting to me. And new media is great. And I'll bring it back to Trump really quickly. So new media is great because it gives someone like me the same kind of a platform as, you know, someone like you, someone like Fox News who has been around for a long time. I'm able to reach a lot of people, so I'm grateful. Here's the problem, particularly with Facebook, right? Facebook curates what you like. They go, here's your feed. Social media says you like this. You're sharing this. We'll show you more of this. We'll not show you the stuff you're not engaging with.
GLENN: Yep.
STEVEN: So the problem with Trump. I think there's this myth that Fiorina is the establishment candidate compared to Trump. And for all of her faults compared to Trump, who gave hundreds of thousands to the Clintons, who had the Clintons at the family wedding, who supported her in her Senate race, who got up there and supported liberal policies time and time again. Here's the problem, people are so dead-set on selling Trump because like you used the term earlier, click bait. Right? I know Trump is great for ratings to websites.
So these conservative websites, many of them now, let's be honest, work alongside Trump, have been giving people a steady diet for five, six, seven months of nothing but pro-Trump. And anything even remotely critical of Trump -- here's the thing, Glenn -- doesn't even show up in people's news feed. So you want to talk about an echo chamber. The people who are on board with Trump, I get why he exists. I understand it's backlash to the establishment Republican Party. I get it. That's valid. The problem is they've become like the Obama supporters. It's a cult of personality. And you can't even get any remote criticism no matter how valid of Trump in their news feed.
So there is a group of people for whom nobody but Trump will do. So my problem doesn't rest so much with Trump, but for conservatives and conservative media -- and I know you're not among them, so please don't think I'm lumping this with you, but there are some of them out there that have a vested interest in maintaining clicks. And I know for a fact that some of the top conservative websites out there have policies out to their writers, nothing negative of Trump because they don't want to risk the backslash or the boycotts. And I hate to see ball-less conservatives. I hate to see it.
GLENN: Steven, great to have you on. We'll talk again. LouderWithCrowder.com. Steven Crowder.
