PragerU CEO Marissa Streit and PragerU personality Xaviaer DuRousseau slammed the Daily Beast for publishing three “totally made up” hit pieces against the conservative organization in one day. “They do such junk journalism,” Streit said, to which DuRousseau added, “This is why the mainstream media is losing — because this is embarrassing.”
On Thursday’s episode of DuRousseau’s recently launched show, Respectfully, Xaviaer, the two broke down the Daily Beast going on a fake news rampage this week, publishing three hit pieces against PragerU in one day. The pair also discussed how important it is for the public to critically analyze news stories in order to determine their accuracy.
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“Daily Beast is out of control,” DuRousseau said. “They wrote three hit pieces in one day to try to bring down PragerU.”
“When it comes to understanding the truth and what’s really happening in our country, we need to be able to distinguish between what is a lie and what is accurate,” he continued. “We need to get more people to be literate when it comes to the media and the press particularly.”
DuRousseau then cited the first Daily Beast headline, titled, “Conservative Crusader Played Secret Role in Spread of ‘Anti-Woke’ Schooling.”
“There is nothing secretive about PragerU Kids,” Streit laughed. “In fact, we wanted to make it the opposite of a secret. Our entire intention is to produce content and make sure that people are aware of it — as many people as possible.”
“The fact that they think there’s anything nefarious or secretive about this is so absurd,” the PragerU CEO added. “They just do such junk journalism.”
In the article, Daily Beast amusingly claims to have found secret information involving an Oklahoma superintendent “encouraging the spread” of “anti-woke” materials in schools, presenting this as a nefarious act — a bizarre suggestion, especially given that President Donald Trump’s landslide victory in the 2024 election, which included winning the popular vote and every swing state, sent a clear message that the American people are vying to see the era of “wokeness” come to an end.
Streit explained that Daily Beast paid Berlin-based reporter Sean Craig around $250 for a hit piece on PragerU, but in the pursuit of finding negative information on the organization, Craig couldn’t find anything, “so he made a story out of nothing.”
“The allegation is that [Oklahoma Superintendent] Ryan Walters introduced us to the superintendent of South Carolina, Ellen Weaver,” Streit expounded. “I don’t even know why that would even be an allegation, because even if he did, there’s no issue if two superintendents talk.”
“Actually, you would hope that superintendents would do that,” the PragerU CEO added.
Nonetheless, “It wasn’t Ryan Walters who introduced us to Ellen Weaver,” Streit continued. “It was actually one of the families that we knew in the Carolinas who felt very passionate about PragerU in schools.”
DuRousseau chimed in, noting that “even if Ryan Walters was the one who made the introduction, since when is networking illegal?”
“Oh my gosh, he had the audacity to connect us with someone,” DuRousseau quipped, adding that even if this were true, “That’s still not a story.”
Streit then stressed the importance of people critically analyzing news stories they come across, as headlines like this can be incredibly misleading.
“It’s classic media literacy, because really all that matters to anybody is probably the headline, and the headline is just totally made up about some sort of secret nefarious agenda that the superintendents are conspiring with PragerU,” she said.
As Breitbart News reported, PragerU has been very public about their initiative to offer educational material in schools that celebrate the rich history and values of the United States, as well as their goal in fixing the broken education system in the U.S.
DuRousseau then cited a second Daily Beast article by the same journalist, headlined, “Climate Deniers Chased Out of LA HQ by Wildfires While Still Blaming Blazes on ‘Environmental Regulations.'”
Streit explained that Daily Beast had requested comment regarding the first article about the superintendents on the same day the wildfires began raging in Los Angeles.
“Many of our employees were evacuated from their homes that day, because we have team members that live all over the city,” she said, adding that she had received an email from Daily Beast at around noon asking her to respond to a question about the superintendents by the end of the day.
“That is not exactly the first thing on my agenda when I’m dealing with the safety of our team members and our headquarters,” Streit asserted. “So we responded to them and said we’re sorry, but we cannot meet this deadline — we have to deal with our offices and the fires that are raging in Los Angeles.”
“And so this pathetic junk journalist decided to turn that into a hit piece,” the PragerU CEO added.
DuRousseau added, “This is why mainstream media is losing. This is why so many people are going to alternative forms of media, because this is embarrassing.”
He then cited another article — published by New York Magazine — about CJ Pearson, a conservative activist who works alongside PragerU.
DuRousseau explained that the article was about “CJ Pearson, a black man,” who “hosted a party that [New York Magazine] deemed as this ‘all-white, no blacks allowed party’ over inauguration weekend.”
The article, titled, “The Cruel Kids’ Table,” was later blasted on social media and accused of cropping black people out of the main photo.
Elon Musk also reacted to the article, writing in an X post, “They literally did the meme” and sharing a popular, widely spread meme encapsulating media bias and misleading headlines.
They literally did the meme https://t.co/8lyhInTn76 pic.twitter.com/zctJWbpdzW
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 28, 2025
“You can see how they selectively cropped out multiple black people,” DuRousseau said, before pointing out that Daily Beast was on the scene again, writing an article about the article.
“And instead of discussing the truth, they just continued with this narrative,” DuRousseau declared.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
