Todd Starnes Permanently Banned from YouTube: 'They No Longer Want Conservatives'

Conservative commentator and radio talk show host Todd Starnes says YouTube has permanently shut down his account. 

In a recent blog post, Starnes explains that he had posted a video of a recent gay pride parade in Seattle. He criticized the event because it featured naked male cyclists "exposing themselves in front of children".

"Within minutes – my entire YouTube account was terminated. It was the last straw," he wrote. "YouTube accused me of severe and repeated violations of their community guidelines."

Starnes provided a message from the media platform that stated: "It's our job to make sure that YouTube is a safe place for all. If we think a channel severely violates our policies, we take it down to protect other users on the platform – but if you believe we've made the wrong call, you can appeal this decision." 

He says he appealed the decision but was denied without explanation. 

"What I find especially troubling about the YouTube ban is that it had nothing to do with my opinion," he told CBN News in a statement. "Whenever I posted videos the descriptions were very straightforward — no editorial opinion. The video that got me terminated was of the Seattle pride parade. I noted that 'This is what Seattle’s family-friendly gay pride celebration looks like.'" 

“YouTube has a right to ban whatever content they desire, but they should at least be honest and tell viewers and premium subscribers that they do not support free speech. Clearly, they will ban any content that violates their political, philosophical and ideological agenda," Starnes added.

The radio host believes it wasn't the LGBT parade post that was the biggest problem. In his blog post, he contends YouTube considers his most flagrant violation to be a video he posted of former President Donald Trump. He says the media platform labeled Trump's remarks misinformation. 

And it reportedly wasn't the first time YouTube had pulled Starnes' content. 

In April, the platform banned a video of Trump reacting to a decision to indict him over the alleged falsification of business records.

"Clearly, they no longer want conservatives to be a part of their community. Or Trump supporters. Or anyone who believes it's wrong for men to parade around naked in public. Or anyone who holds a view that might offend the progressive fascists who run YouTube these days," Starnes wrote online. 

"Honestly, maybe it's best I got removed from YouTube. I have no interest in being a part of such an intolerant and perverted community," he added. 

CBN News reached out to YouTube for an explanation on why Starnes was canceled, but we did not receive a reply at the time of publication.

However, Starnes did reply to CBN News saying, “While I’m disappointed that YouTube has decided to banish me, I’m okay with their decision. Those same videos are now posted on my personal website and not only are they making money, but we’re getting tremendous viewership. It’s YouTube’s loss."

Broader Big Tech Censorship

As we have reported, Big Tech has been censoring conservative voices for years.

In 2021, YouTube removed all the pro-life content from LifeSiteNews' page. And later that year, YouTube removed conservative host, Steven Crowder, from its partner program indefinitely, no longer allowing him to make money from ads running with his videos. 

"This really isn't just about us. We can find ways that we can broadcast to you," Crowder said. "But this is the world's most powerful company – arguably, when you look at YouTube, Google, Alphabet – and they make sure that they ghost you where people cannot find, not us, but the point of view."

Crowder hosts "Louder with Crowder", a daily political podcast, and has millions of social media followers. 

The social media platform removed Crowder's video containing references to black farmers and slavery.  The company said the video violated its COVID-19 misinformation policy and not its policy concerning hate speech, according to HITC.com.

"What YouTube is saying is these ideas are so dangerous that we can't address them or rebut them, we can't criticize them, we just have to extinguish the opinions entirely. We have to eradicate these opinions from the planet because we can't deal with them," Crowder's lawyer added.