Right-wing podcaster Matt Walsh reportedly caught trying to trick trans people into being interviewed for anti-trans documentary
Transgender activist Eli Erlick revealed Monday that right-wing podcaster Matt Walsh was behind a documentary for which Erlick and several other individuals received misleading requests to be interviewed, The Daily Beast reported.
Erlick tweeted Monday that Walsh's "crew is trying to trick trans people into joining a fake documentary. His producers set up a whole front organization" called the Gender Unity Project "and tried to recruit me into his next anti-trans documentary."
Erlick followed up with screenshots of emails from the film's associate producer "Makenna Lynn," who she later learned was really Makenna Lynn Waters, a producer on The Matt Walsh Show. The Gender Unity Project, Erlick said, turned out to be registered to right-wing documentarian Justin Folk.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Erlick said "at least nine people have personally told her that Walsh's team approached them, and that one actually filmed scenes for the deceptive documentary" and spoke with Walsh personally, the Beast reports.
According to Erlick, those contacted included transgender MMA fighters Fallon Fox and Alana McLaughlin, several surgeons who provide gender-affirming care, and Debi Jackson, whose 14-year-old transgender daughter appeared on the cover of National Geographic.
Waters reportedly told Jackson the film would "not include any bigotry" in an effort to convince her and her daughter to be interviewed.
Walsh, who works for Ben Shapiro's conservative media company The Daily Wire, has become one of the most prominent anti-trans voices on the right. Last month, he appeared on Dr. Phil to debate two trans activists.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
"I could sit here and say that I feel like a tomato plant, but that doesn't mean I actually am," Walsh said on the show.
Walsh also wrote a children's book that uses a boy who thinks he's a walrus as an allegory for transgender youth.
He tweeted last month that he was preparing an "assault on gender ideology" that would make the Dr. Phil appearance "seem tame and boring by comparison."
Grayson Quay was the weekend editor at TheWeek.com. His writing has also been published in National Review, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Modern Age, The American Conservative, The Spectator World, and other outlets. Grayson earned his M.A. from Georgetown University in 2019.
-
It Was Just an Accident: a ‘striking’ attack on the Iranian regimeThe Week Recommends Jafar Panahi’s furious Palme d’Or-winning revenge thriller was made in secret
-
Singin’ in the Rain: fun Christmas show is ‘pure bottled sunshine’The Week Recommends Raz Shaw’s take on the classic musical is ‘gloriously cheering’
-
Holbein: ‘a superb and groundbreaking biography’The Week Recommends Elizabeth Goldring’s ‘definitive account’ brings the German artist ‘vividly to life’
-
Judge orders release of Ghislaine Maxwell recordsSpeed Read The grand jury records from the 2019 prosecution of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will be made public
-
Miami elects first Democratic mayor in 28 yearsSpeed Read Eileen Higgins, Miami’s first woman mayor, focused on affordability and Trump’s immigration crackdown in her campaign
-
Ex-FBI agents sue Patel over protest firingspeed read The former FBI agents were fired for kneeling during a 2020 racial justice protest for ‘apolitical tactical reasons’
-
Trump unveils $12B bailout for tariff-hit farmersSpeed Read The president continues to insist that his tariff policy is working
-
Trump’s Comey case dealt new setbackspeed read A federal judge ruled that key evidence could not be used in an effort to reindict former FBI Director James Comey
-
Moscow cheers Trump’s new ‘America First’ strategyspeed read The president’s national security strategy seeks ‘strategic stability’ with Russia
-
Trump tightens restrictions for work visasSpeed Read The length of work permits for asylum seekers and refugees has been shortened from five years to 18 months
-
Supreme Court revives Texas GOP gerrymanderSpeed Read Texas Republicans can use the congressional map they approved in August at President Donald Trump’s behest
