SACRED: There's nothing wrong with being 23!

WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 2024

There's something bad wrong with this: There's nothing wrong with being 23. Almost everyone knows that.

There is something wrong with our failing American culture. Frequently, the elements of this cosmic dysfunction are almost wholly ignored.

So it was this Monday night, when the Fox News Channel aired its latest edition of the primetime "cable news" program, Gutfeld! 

There's nothing wrong with being 23, and almost everyone knows it. There's something cosmically wrong with this garbage can program—and it's one of the two or three most watched programs in all of "cable news."

We mention age for a reason. That night, the program's bosses had assembled the usual collection of flyweights to assist the program's termagant host in butchering the evening's familiar pseudo-discussions. 

There's nothing wrong with being 23! Under the circumstances, something that's wrong may be lurking within this recent profile in the New York Post:

Meet Emily Austin, the social media star behind DAZN’s Devin Haney-Ryan Garcia promotion

For a fight between two boxing stars—Devin Haney vs. Ryan Garcia Saturday night at Barclays Center—who are so active on social media, DAZN added a social media star to help in its broadcast and promotion. 

Emily Austin, a sports and entertainment host who has recently begun dabbling in political commentary as well, was recently announced as DAZN’s social presenter throughout fight week.

She was featured on multiple DAZN social channels, interviewing a plethora of the biggest figures around the fight. 

Few in media have as large of a following as Austin, which she has now brought to one of the most anticipated fights of the year. A host of her own “Hoop Chat” podcast, a Miss Universe judge and owner of her own “People’s Beauty” skincare company, Austin has 2.1 million followers on Instagram and 512.8K followers on TikTok.

[...]

Originally focused on sports, particularly basketball and the NBA, Austin has recently delved into politics. 

She is an ardent pro-Israel activist, and has been outspoken since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and has even met with former hostages who were released. She’s become a regular guest on “Gutfeld!” and has plans to launch her own political show on various social media platforms. 

There's nothing wrong with being 23. At least in theory, there's nothing wrong with being "a sports and entertainment host," or with being the owner of your own skincare company.

At least in theory, and in most contexts, there's nothing wrong with any of that! At least in theory, there may be something wrong with employing the person described in that April 20 profile in the way the Fox News Channel now does.

Emily Austin, 23, isn't just "a sports and entertainment host." (For the record, she's also a model and actress, according to the leading authority on her career). 

It isn't just sports and entertainment! At age 23, Austin has also "begun dabbling in political commentary," according to the profile in the Post. 

As the profile notes, that largely refers to the fact she has become a regular guest on The Channel's Gutfeld! program, one of the most disordered programs in the history of TV news.

Austin made her latest appearance this past Monday night. Before we start to show you where that went, let's go back to the beginning.

According to that profile in the Post, Austin was recently announced as DAZN’s "social presenter," whatever that is, for an upcoming "fight between two boxing stars."

That said, does anyone know what DAZN is? As it turns out, The Shadow knows—and The Shadow tells us this:

DAZN

DAZN (pronounced "da zone") is a British over-the-top sports streaming and entertainment platform. Founded in 2007 as Perform Group via the merger of Premium TV Limited and Inform Group, it is owned by Access Industries, the investment group founded by Sir Len Blavatnik, and is headquartered in London, England...

The DAZN platform was founded in 2015 and broadcasts live and on-demand sport in over 200 countries worldwide with a strong domestic presence in Italy, Spain, Germany, Japan, France, Portugal, Belgium, Taiwan, the United States and Canada, where it has key domestic broadcast rights. It is considered to be Europe's largest digital sports broadcaster with over 75 programming rights. As of 2023, the service has 20 million paid subscribers globally.

Outside of streaming, DAZN has since expanded into in-play betting, gaming, e-commerce, merchandise and ticketing...

According to that leading authority, DAZN isn't just a "sports streaming and entertainment platform." It's an over-the-top streaming platform, whatever that may mean. 

In theory, there's nothing wrong with any of the additional material in that thumbnail profile. Indeed, betting and gaming have become increasingly large components of American sports culture.

At any rate, there we see what DAZN is. As for Austin herself, she has hired on to be a presenter—and she has recently begun to dabble in politics, for example on the Gutfeld! program.

Also this:

Thanks to the democratization of media, Austin has plans to launch her own political show on various social media platforms.  At any rate, there she was, this past Monday night, seated as part of the four-member Gutfeld! panel. 

Let it further be said that, as judged by conventional norms, the model and actress is highly telegenic. Also, as we've already mentioned, she's 23 years old.

Full disclosure! You don't have to be a telegenic young woman to serve on a Gutfeld! panel! Austin shared air this enchanted evening with Dr. Drew Pinsky, a 65-year-old (male) "American media personality" and the former host of the Loveline TV program.

Full disclosure! Pinsky's commentary this evening was almost as fatuous as that which was offered by Austin. There's nothing wrong with being 23, or even with being 65. But there's something bad wrong with the moral garbage can and the journalistic gong show The Channel cracked open this night.

With apologies, we're going to wait until tomorrow to start to show you what was said on Monday's evening's program. Spoiler alert:

The journalistic content arrived in a Volkswagen bus which was crowded with clowns. The moral content may have been worse.

As we showed you yesterday, the program opened with what has become a standard theme for the program's 59-year-old bad boy host. The program began with what has become his nightly joke about Hunter Biden trying to "date" his stepmother. 

In yesterday's report, we transcribed the content of Monday night's joke. Last night, the 59-year-old man with the mountain of rage visited the theme again, two minutes into his program. 

Citizens, there he went again! Last night, his sally was substantially edgier. Here's what the termagant said:

GUTFELD (7/23/24): Speaking of Jill, where's she been, huh? And come to think of it, where's Hunter? 

Hmmmmm.

[AUDIENCE CHUCKLES, GROANS]

I hope they're not [BLEEP]ing.

[AUDIENCE ROARS]

(Feigning incomprehension) What? I mean—

Just hoping! It's a good hope!

"Didn't see that one coming, did ya?" the humorist now wonderfully said.

Each person can assess the suitability of this latest sally by this show's irrepressible host. For the record, the fact that his verb was BLEEPed by The Channel suggests to us that this is what he actually said to his shrieking studio audience:

GUTFELD: Speaking of Jill, where's she been, huh? And come to think of it, where's Hunter? 

Hmmmmm.

[AUDIENCE CHUCKLES, GROANS]

I hope they're not f*cking.

[AUDIENCE ROARS]

(Feigning incomprehension) What?...

We'll assume that's what he actually said—in his program's second minute! But this is becoming a standard theme. It's becoming the way he now kickstarts his program on a nightly basis.

We each can assess that as we will. It seems to us that this turn in American journalistic culture is worth recording for the sake of posterity.

Last week, we recorded, for posterity, the behavior of five employees on a Fox & Friends Weekend program. This week, we think it's worth recording some of what happened on Monday evening's Gutfeld!

Each citizen can assess the suitability of that early jest. In all honesty, there can be little doubt about the subsequent journalistic content of Monday evening's program.

Full disclosure: Gutfeld! is a primetime nightly program on the nation's most watched "news channel." For purposes of corporate misdirection, it's masqueraded as a "comedy show" on that "cable news" channel. 

In reality, Gutfeld! is a propaganda program—a program whose guests will push the Fox News Channel's political scripts with stunning fidelity, but also with astonishing dumbness.

Emily Austin, age 23, has begun to dabble in politics. Dr Drew, age 65, was the longtime Loveline host.

On Monday night, they were joined by a 400-pound former professional wrestler and by a comedian who is cast as the program's more thoughtful "libertarian." All such players seem to know that they're being paid by Fox to promulgate ownership's scripts

Why was Austin on that program? Tomorrow, we'll force ourselves to start to show you some you some of the things she said. Her political dabbling was astoundingly bad on this particular evening. Pinsky's dabbling wasn't much better, and for sheer unvarnished dumbness, Gutfeld himself came close to taking the cake.

Conspiracy theories were floating about, most of them involving the imagined machinations of "Dr. President Jill." This program is a braincell-devouring moral cesspool, night after night after night. 

"Sacred Troy must die," Hector of the shining helmet once quite famously said. He delivered this prophecy to Andromache, his generous wife.

As our own sacred culture continues to die, the people who went to the finer schools agree not to notice or comment.

Has the first lady been BLEEPing her son? Over there, on the Fox News Channel, telegenic young people are dabbling in news and inquiring minds want to know.

Tomorrow: Yes, it was really this stupid