Daily Wire co-CEO Jeremy Boreing revealed Thursday that Twitter canceled a deal with the conservative media company to stream its hit documentary “What is a Woman?” for free on the social media platform due to “misgendering.”
After Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media platform and his promised dedication to free speech, The Daily Wire sought a deal to stream Matt Walsh’s “What is a Woman?” on Twitter for the documentary’s one-year anniversary. Initially, Twitter responded enthusiastically to the idea, even offering The Daily Wire a package to purchase a whole page for Twitter users to view the film, Boreing said. That changed after the platform asked to view a screening of the film.
“After reviewing the film, though, Twitter let us know that not only could we no longer purchase the package they offered, they would no longer provide us any support and would actually limit the reach of the film and label it as ‘hateful conduct’ because of ‘misgendering.’” Boreing said in a Tweet thread explaining Twitter’s reversal.
“Specifically: In the film, a father refers to his 14-year-old daughter as ‘her,’ and a store owner uses the ‘wrong’ pronoun in a confrontation with a transgender woman,” Boreing continued.
Twitter canceled a deal with @realdailywire to premiere What is a Woman? for free on the platform because of two instances of “misgendering.”
I’m not kidding.
Here’s what happened:🧵1/16
— Jeremy Boreing (@JeremyDBoreing) June 1, 2023
The groundbreaking documentary released last summer was watched by people in over 70 countries, even as legacy media reviewers ignored the film and its effect on the culture. Soon after its release, “What is a Woman?” became the most-watched movie at home, according to Rotten Tomatoes, which also showed that audiences scored the film with a 97% rating.
The documentary arguably sparked a movement to protect children from the harmful effects of sex change procedures. Following the film’s release and Walsh’s subsequent rallies and events speaking out about the tragic consequences of so-called “gender-affirming” care, at least a dozen states have banned transgender surgeries on minors.
Twitter, which was taken over by Musk last October, seemed to be the perfect place to celebrate the film’s success and give more people an opportunity to view it for free. Last week, The Daily Wire began streaming all of its shows on the platform after censorship campaigns from YouTube and TikTok targeted Daily Wire hosts. But despite the recent changes at Twitter, Boreing said the company fell back into its old ways when pressed on its reason for labeling “What is a Woman?” as “hateful conduct.”
“We reminded Twitter they removed ‘misgendering’ from their policy, that the term ‘misgendering’ itself is misleading, and that enforcing such a policy places them on the side of the most radical elements in society — the side most opposed to their commitment to free speech,” the Daily Wire co-CEO tweeted. “Twitter clarified they only removed ‘misgendering’ from their policy because they didn’t need to be that specific, but that they still consider ‘misgendering’ abuse and harassment. They gave us the opportunity to edit the film to comply. We declined.”
“When we asked how much they would limit the visibility if we posted the film anyway, Twitter replied that our own followers would not be able to see it in their feeds. This, they said, is part of their ‘speech not reach’ policy.”
Musk, who received constant criticism from the Left after buying Twitter, named Linda Yaccarino, an NBC Universal executive and World Economic Forum official as the company’s new CEO earlier this month, a move that worried conservatives who had high hopes Twitter would offer both sides on the political spectrum a fair medium for debate.
“[Musk] is not beholden to conservatives. He has the right to run his business as he sees fit. But if Twitter is going to throttle one side of one of the most important debates facing society, it cannot claim to champion free speech,” Boreing said. “I hope [Musk] will reconsider this terrible policy.”
The Daily Wire will still stream “What is a Woman?” at 8:00 p.m. ET Thursday on its Twitter page, and a Daily Wire Twitter space will start 30 minutes before the film begins.