Rebel Media - Ezra's Giant Shit Sandwich

In the wake of the Charlottesville fiasco, Alberta Tories are turning their backs on Ezra Levant's Rebel Media over its ties to the alt-right white supremacist movement.

Doug Schweitzer, facing a tough battle against leadership frontrunners Jason Kenney and Brian Jean, took to Twitter on Saturday to accuse the right-wing media outlet of defending the white supremacists during its coverage of the violence.

In a tweet over the weekend, UCP leadership candidate Doug Schweitzer accused The Rebel of "defending Nazis" in its coverage.

Just before the fatal collision, Rebel personality Faith Goldy was livestreaming from the scene and condemning authorities for allowing counter protesters to rally, after they declared the white supremacist march an illegal gathering.

Goldy was still live when the car crashed into the crowd where she stood.
"We heard the Rebel Media providing coverage on it and right before the individual was hit by that car and died, they were offering soft support to some white supremacist groups that were out there," Schweitzer said to CBC News on Monday.

He said Rebel has evolved from a site that offered a "fresh voice for issues" into a platform for the alt-right.

Ezra runs for cover.

Levant himself issued a memo on The Rebel website Monday distancing his organization from the neo-Nazis marching through Charlottesville.

He also distanced the organization from the alt-right label, saying it has evolved from "unashamed right-wingedness, with a sense of humour" to something driven by white nationalists focused on race.

"That term now effectively means racism, anti-Semitism and tolerance of neo-Nazism," he wrote.

Brian Lilley takes a powder.

The co-founder of Rebel Media, Brian Lilley, has decided it's time to di di mau. 

The departure, he wrote, was “a long time coming. What may have started as a concern over the harsh tone taken on some subjects came to a head with this weekend’s events in Charlottesville, Virginia. What anyone from The Rebel was doing at a so-called ‘unite the right’ rally that was really an anti-Semitic white power rally is beyond me.”

“What The Rebel suffers from is a lack of editorial and behavioural judgment that left unchecked will destroy it and those around it. For that reason, I am leaving.

“As a serious journalist with nearly 20 years’ experience at the highest levels in this country, and abroad, I cannot be a part of this.

“I am not comfortable being associated with a group that, rightly or wrongly, is being increasingly viewed as associated with the likes of Richard Spencer. Like many of you, I had family that fought the Nazis, I never want to be in the same room as one. I am also not comfortable with the increasingly harsh tone taken on issues like immigration, or Islam. There are ways to disagree on policy without resorting to us versus them rhetoric.”