I didn’t really want to talk about Steven Crowder, but I think there’s something to say which goes beyond tearing down a grifter.
According to Wikipedia, Crowder got his start in show business as a child voice actor for a PBS cartoon. In 2009 he started getting some traction on Fox News and other conservative outlets doing satire. That’s a big jump for someone who was only 22 years old at the time. Three years later he was married and a year after that he was fired by Fox News, which turned out to be a good thing for his career. In 2017 he launched his podcast and a YouTube channel, Louder with Crowder, which just kept growing and growing. On election night he had more viewers than the cable news networks.
He became a meme. How much more famous can you get?
This year his reputation has unraveled before our eyes. Now we know that his downfall started long before his infamous recorded call with Daily Wire’s Jeremy Boreing and subsequent attacks on former friends. In 2021 his wife filed for divorce, which only came to light after his former co-host Dave Landau recently revealed what a tyrant Crowder was at the show. And the damning evidence against Crowder’s character just keeps rolling out, perhaps culminating in video doorbell footage showing him berating and threatening his wife.
He’ll always have his friends and defenders. That’s what the cult of personality provides.
Too many people are acting as if this is something new. It’s not. In the late 50’s Bud Schulberg wrote A Face in the Crowd, which virtually parallels Crowder’s ascent and subsequent fall. The 1957 film directed by Elia Kazan was Andy Griffith’s film debut. Like Crowder, most of us were first introduced to Griffith as something of a good-natured clown. We all know Griffith’s charm. What shocks us is seeing how he portrayed menace.
Thank God the film wasn’t a success and Griffith decided to go in a different direction.
However, A Face in the Crowd should be essential viewing in every media literacy class. It’s the story of Larry “Lonesome” Rhodes, a folksy drifter discovered by a radio journalist in an Arkansas jail. When he proves popular with live audiences, she gets him his own radio show, sponsorships, and ultimately in front of the TV camera. Rhodes is witty, charming, and controversial. It’s not long before he has powerful political sway.
“I’m not just an entertainer. I’m an influence, a wielder of opinion, a force… a force!”
But behind the scenes Rhodes is scum. He destroys his one wholesome relationship, and he’s taken down by an open mic, 1957’s equivalent of a video doorbell. All because he got too big, too fast, and lacked the humility to realize the danger. The spotlight grew the seed of pride sown into our souls from the beginning of creation. And Rhodes liked it. There but for the grace of God go I the way of Lonesome Rhodes and Steven Crowder.
How will Crowder’s story end? Schulberg told us, I have no doubt.
Suppose I tell you exactly what's gonna happen to you. You're gonna be back in television. Only it won't be quite the same as it was before. There'll be a reasonable cooling-off period and then somebody will say: ‘Why don't we try him again in a inexpensive format. People's memories aren't too long.’ And you know, in a way, he'll be right. Some of the people will forget, and some of them won't. Oh, you'll have a show. Maybe not the best hour or, you know, top 10. Maybe not even in the top 35. But you'll have a show. It just won't be quite the same as it was before. Then a couple of new fellas will come along. And pretty soon, a lot of your fans will be flocking around them. And then one day, somebody'll ask: ‘Whatever happened to, a, whatshisname? You know, the one who was so big. The number-one fella a couple of years ago. He was famous. How can we forget a name like that? Oh by the way, have you seen, a, Barry Mills? I think he's the greatest thing since Will Rogers.’ [You can watch the video here]
Guys like Crowder will always rise and fall.
We can say we always knew Crowder was flawed, that it would come to this. We can say the same thing about Lonesome Rhodes the first second he’s on the screen. But unless we’re willing to look in the mirror and remind ourselves that we aren’t immune from hubris ourselves, regardless of our degree of success, it does us no good to point out the speck in Brother Crowder’s eye. We should pray for Crowder and his broken family, yes. But we should also pray for ourselves, and anyone else stepping into the spotlight.
