MSNBC Rehires Sam Seder, Lets His Joke About Child Rape Slide

Sexual misconduct has become a big issue in American society and rightfully so. There is no excuse for violating anyone’s personal space, forcing them to do things against their will, and otherwise showing a blatant disrespect for their personal being.

What began with allegations against prominent Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein has turned into an avalanche that is taking down powerful men across America. Prominent news anchors such as Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose have been forced out, while resignations have come from major politicians such as John Conyers and Al Franken.

Then another member of the mainstream media was hit with allegations of improper behavior. Mike Cernovich dug up an old tweet from 2009 in which liberal commentator Sam Seder joked about rape. He specifically stated he didn’t care about Roman Polanski, but then moved to say “but I hope if my daughter is ever raped it is by an older truly talented man w/a great sense of mise en scene.”

His daughter getting raped is fine, he said, as long as it was by a truly talented man.

This comment was truly disturbing for a number of reasons. First, from an optics perspective, it sits horribly right now as sexual misconduct is tearing down powerful men in American culture and politics, as well as the mainstream media. Cernovich is a known opponent of the liberal agenda, and therefore some pass this off as a political play. Perhaps this was a political play by Cernovich, but the fact that he shone light on it doesn’t make it any less reprehensible.

Second, rape is never an acceptable punchline for a joke. It’s even worse when it includes your own daughter. It shows a real lack of respect for his daughter. It also brings his responsibilities as a father into question.

Third, Seder evidently doesn’t even understand what he did when he described the tweet as satire. Your daughter getting raped is satire? Perhaps Seder should be investigated. He may have a stash of something illegal in home. If not, he is at the very least a sick puppy.

But MSNBC knew all of these facts, which is why they told Seder his services would no longer be required by the network and then let him go. But this all changed after an internet backlash from outraged liberals prompted Seder’s firing to be reversed.

Now which is worse here: liberal activists fine with a man making light of his daughter getting raped, or the network agreeing to bring him back because it’s apparently not a big deal?

This raises a lot of questions about the company culture at MSNBC. At a time when many networks are working to clean up their acts in the post-Matt Lauer era, MSNBC evidently lacks the same respect for human beings and for women. Did Sam Seder make a bad joke? He made a terrible joke, but it illustrates a greater problem with the liberal commentator. It calls into question his moral character. It also calls MSNBC’s character into question.

Sam Seder should have been fired by the network, but he never should have been rehired. These are the sorts of things that need to be stopped, not enabled.