Crime & Federalism

David Pakman runs a broadcast radio and TV show, and also hosts a YouTube news and commentary site. Known for being hard-hitting, Pakman  thoroughly researches his guests. Before a guest appears on his program, Pakman solicits Twitter for feedback, essentially crowdsourcing his research. Pakman is so thorough that he recently had a guest on to talk about #GamerGate. Pakman confronted this guest with blog posts from over 10 years ago!

Yet it appears Pakman has different rules for different guests. 

Recently Pakman had Chris Kluwe, a former NFL player, on his show. Kluwe is one of those moralists we all know and love. They attempt to throwing lighting bolts down on sinners, when a closer examination reveals they themselves are the biggest sinners.

What did Chris Kluwe know about "underage girls" in "compromising situations"?

For example, Chris Kluwe posted on Twitter that "underage girls" were caught in a "compromising situation" with two Vikings players. Kluwe contined, "Bet you didn't hear about that one in the news. We can do this all day, Vikings. Special teams hears *everything*." Read more, "Chris Kluwe Can't Be Moral Crusader After Cruel Twitter Rant."

Why didn't we "hear about that one in the news"? That would have been a great question to ask Kluwe!

Did Chris Kluwe joke about child rape victims, and if so, why?

According to news reports, "Kluwe used the Sandusky horror in Penn State as the set-up to his joke, which was to walk around the locker room with a hole ripped out of his pants -- in the back, near his rectum -- and said he was a 'Penn State victim.'"

Kluwe seemed to confirm the reports were true, posting on his Twitter, "Over half the team did it for over a month, including asking him if he 'raped any little boys lately,' repeatedly, in front of coaches."

I guess that makes it OK?

Why didn't David Pakman ask Chris Kluwe about the alleged child rape jokes?

It appears that certain questions were off-limits, as Pakman refused to ask Kluwe about two highly controversial and interesting issues. 

How can we know Pakman agreed to not ask certain questions of Chris Kluwe? 

The big reason we know Pakman agreed to refrain from asking certain subjects is because Kluwe signed a non-disclosure agreement with the Vikings. Under this agreement, Kluwe is not allowed to answer these questions. 

Kluwe could not have done the interview unless Pakman agreed to treat these questions as being off limits.

Chris Kluwe threatened to sue me.

Unlike David Pakman, I did not agree to refuse to ask Kluwe hard questions. When I asked him about his failure to report what I interpreted as a rape, he threatened to sue me.

I laughed pretty hard. As Kluwe lives in California, the lawsuit would be struck down under California's very protective anti-SLAPP law.

Kluwe would pay my legal fees while giving me millions in free publicity, as the lawsuit would be international news.

Why didn't David Pakman ask Chris Kluwe about lawsuit threats made against me?

Again, he couldn't.

David Pakman's white lies add up.

After I confronted Pakman with my allegations, he claimed to not know who I am.

That's sort of silly, since Pakman has covered #GamerGate extensively and I have been accused of being a central figure in #GamerGate. Although this is incorrect, my involvement in #GamerGate has been mentioned on MSNBC, Gawker, Newsweek, Boing Boing too many other sites to keep track of

However, Pakman had invited me to be on a guest on his show.

So @dpakman asked me to be on his show before, now claims to not know who I am. Ethical? https://t.co/W4lOAUTpT6 pic.twitter.com/fy3Pc6hyhr

— Mike Cernovich (@PlayDangerously) May 1, 2015

Is David Pakman a journalistic fraud?

Having on a guest and refusing to ask certain hard questions, without disclosing this to viewers, would strike me as highly unethical.

Lying about agreeing to keep certain topics off limits would also be unethical, and in my view fraud.

Pretending not to know who someone you invited on your show as a guest could be faulty memory.

We all make mistakes, and I hope David Pakman owns up to his mistakes, apologizes to his viewers, and moves on stronger than ever.

Heed Warren Buffett, who observed, "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently."