Ben Shapiro’s Grift Ran Dry. Now He’s Doing Video Game Reviews?

Ben Shapiro’s grift is running out of money and that means… he’s doing game reviews now?

A lot has been made of The Daily Wire’s sudden layoffs this year. About 13% of their staff was tossed into the wind according to reporting from The Independent. It wasn’t hard to go around social media and find folks giving their opinions about the outlet suffering a massive blow.

What’s Shapiro doing in response to this firestorm? Well, like most people hustling on the Internet, streaming to help keep the lights on. This is far from the first time the conservative host has picked up a controller or called for the keyboard and mouse. But, it’s notable because the commentating landscape is shifting under our feet. 

The clip on social media is from Shapiro’s recent video playing Fortnite. Now, in the past, he’s described himself as “someone who normally doesn’t play video games.” And, to be fair, the video in question would back up his own categorization. 

Still, the more important side to all of this is that the money to straightforward political grifting is decreasing in some of the more conventional spaces. Meanwhile, the money towards streaming commentators who ply their trade through video games, music and culture continues apace.

Will we see more gaming streams for Shapiro moving forward? Possibly. But, if the money continues to be slow, I would take that bet. Just don’t give it to me in V-bucks.

Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire cuts

Times are tough all around the media ecosystem. The Daily Wire is not alone and having to cut staff in these kinds of reductions. But because of the profile that Shapiro enjoys on X and other places, the level of commentary around these cuts were a bit more pronounced.

During a video on his channel, Ben Shapiro said, “The Daily Wire laid off some 13 percent of our workforce since the beginning of the year. And that really sucked. It was truly sad because all those people are great.” 

The media figure would add that he was in the process of finding somewhere for the affected workers to land on their feet. It is kind of surreal to see this man who makes a living off of kicking people when they’re down express this kind of regret.

What happens next for Ben Shapiro?

If you’re looking for a straight up and down answer for why the downturn happened. Look no further than the right’s own pivot to even hard more extreme material that Shapiro provided the on ramp for.

It’s nothing less than tragically comedic that the conservative pundits that are now soaking up all that money from The Daily Wire were enabled in their infancy by Shapiro. In effect, it really does end up being your own people.

(featured image: Gage Skidmore)

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