Progressive Group Ousts Cenk Uygur Over Past Sexist Writing

[4now]

The Justice Democrats ousted Cenk Uygur, one of its founding board members and a creator of progressive online network The Young Turks, following the Thursday revelation that Uygur had authored sexist blogposts in the early 2000s.

The left-leaning political organization, which Uygur and others established this year to support progressive primary challenges against Democratic incumbents in Congress, made the announcement Friday. The group also severed ties with David Koller, who co-founded The Young Turks with Uygur and served as Justice Democrats’ treasurer. A 2004 blogpost in which Koller used degrading language about women he and Uygur met on a road-trip surfaced this week as well.

“The words and conduct in Mr. Uygur and Mr. Koller’s posts degrade what it means to be a Justice Democrat,” Justice Democrats executive director Saikat Chakrabarti said in a Friday evening statement announcing the board’s decision to demand Uygur and Koller’s resignations. “We do not feel that Mr. Uygur is fit to lead or participate in an organization that truly believes women’s issues and the issues of black and brown people are all of our issues.”

The Justice Democrats board reached its decision to call for their departures after hearing Uygur’s “side of the story” and consulting with the political candidates the group has endorsed, Chakrabarti said.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/justice-democrats-ousts-cenk-uygur_us_5a3eb4d1e4b025f99e178181

[JHan]

1. ....

[Cha]

15. ..

lol

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, JHan

[JI7]

2. Its been profitable to pretend to be from the left

But many of us can see he is the same asshole he always was.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

3. Never listened to him or YT. All I needed was a few looks.

Why the hell was the young woman who was sometimes on camera always wearing things like string tank tops with no bra?

That’s the impression I got from a few observations. 👎🏾

[dewsgirl]

4. I watched last year for awhile. Do you mean Anna?

[BlancheSplanchnik]

8. Could be, maybe that was her name.

I’m not certain.

[jmowreader]

11. I think he does

Ana is the only reason to watch TYT.

[Ferrets are Cool]

5. Not to start an argument, but why would it matter WHAT she wore?

Just confused.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

7. To me, she was in there as a professional journalist. Her clothing should reflect that.

Cenk wears a suit. Professional attire has an effect: you’re taken more seriously. I should know..was never able to figure out professional dress that wasn’t a huge pain with stockings n crap. My personal style, particularly in the past, was a little too bohemian, a little too slob, and guess what? I’m still not able to change the old impressions.

I didn’t notice if there were male reporters on the show dressed for a beach volleyball game, or a sexy sexy night at the Club.

If so, then I retract my objection.

[earthshine]

9. Objection sustained!

I am in the minority here. I actually like the YTs in their political and social points of view.

However, the disparity in dress between the women and the men is strange, not commendable, and often very distracting.

The women are "fine." Very fine. But, I do not want to be conscious of that when someone is reading the news to me.

It's very obvious that the women use the revealing style of dress to rack up their YouTube popularity points.

But, the real problem is this ...

The two women I'm thinking of (Hanna and Anna) need to take course in public speaking, as indicated by the number of times they say "uh" and "you know." Hanna makes weird pauses in the middle of sentences and acts like she just learned to read. Anna manages to frequently start talking about herself, and goes into spontaneous ear-grating rants where the pitch of her voice raises substantially. They are awful at reading the news.

I don't tune in much, now. I only occasionally watch the ones where Cenk is one-on-one with the camera.

In the past, I've heard him apologize for his distant past attitudes. I believe he is a reformed man, and that it occurred years ago.

[Ferrets are Cool]

12. I never watched it so I didnt know if it was a relaxed atmosphere or what....

if it was a business atmosphere, then she probably should have leaned in that direction.

[RandomAccess]

6. All critiques of Cenk aside, this is simply asinine.

He said some very crude things in the early 2000s, and was a conservative jerk. AND, he became a liberal, and recanted, AND criticized HIMSELF heavily and openly for his former sexist behavior.

Isn't insisting on everyone to be -- or rather have been -- completely pure for the entirety of their lives asking a little much?

Isn't refusing to accept someone's apology and clear demonstration of being on the right side of things a little too harsh?

I think so. Leaving no room for people to mature, change, grow, "get it," develop as enlightened human beings is a recipe for a very small and narrow (minded) tribe.

Count me out.

(And as I said, this has nothing to do with any OTHER criticism of Cenk -- some of which I agree with to some extent and some of which I do not.)

[KitSileya]

14. His supporters use that defense without irony

While they keep calling Hillary Clinton a Goldwater girl. That tells me all I need to know about his supporters.

I disagree about it being part of being conservative, though. Many are progressive on economic issues, while retaining a deep-seated misogyny. The many virulent Clinton critics in the media and elsewhere who have now been revealed by the #metoo- campaign attests to that.

[OilemFirchen]

10. Next in the barrel: Saikat Chakrabarti

I'm predicting delicious irony.

[DarthDem]

13. Bye, Cenk!

Couldn't happen to a nicer tool.

[Scurrilous]

16. K&R

[maxrandb]

17. Curious how all these prior CON-servatives who claim

To have become liberals, start these obscure groups to "primary" Democrats. Just a coincidence that they end up helping Retrumplicans divide and conquer, I'm sure.