Dumped MSNBC Contributor Sam Seder Raises $10,000-Plus for GoFundMe Defense Fund

Network dropped Seder for now-deleted 2009 tweet about Roman Polanski and rape

Sam Seder MSNBC
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A GoFundMe campaign for Sam Seder has raised more than $10,000 within a day after TheWrap reported that MSNBC would cut ties with him over a 2009 tweet about rape and Roman Polanski.

The tweet — which Seder has said was a joke — was first brought to wide attention last month by the pro-Trump provocateur Mike Cernovich.

“MSNBC just caved to Mike Cernovich, an alt right figure immersed in the white supremacy movement and who launched the PizzaGate conspiracy!” wrote Seder, who launched the GoFundMe for himself on Monday.

“Cernovich, a defender of rape culture, pressured MSNBC to fire Sam Seder by intentionally taking a tweet of Sam’s out of context — a tweet where Sam was defending women against supporters of Roman Polanski,” Seder wrote. “David Duke himself tweeted to celebrate MSNBC’s decision”

Seder’s contract with MSNBC ends in February and he has no scheduled appearances between now and then, a spokesperson for the network told TheWrap. A person familiar with the matter said the contract would not be renewed as a direct result of the issue.

“Internally there was disgust over the tweet,” said the individual.

“Don’t care re Polanski, but I hope if my daughter is ever raped it is by an older truly talented man w/a great sense of mise en scene,” wrote Seder in the now deleted post from 2009.

An archived version can be viewed here.

Seder has steadfastly insisted that his original tweet was intended to be satirical and aimed at liberal apologists for Roman Polanski’s behavior.

While Seder has not responded to multiple requests for comment from TheWrap, he addressed the matter on his podcast several days ago, accusing Cernovich of using the tweet to wage a pressure campaign against him.

“This smear involves the willful misinterpretation of a tweet that I posted in 2009,” said Seder, who said Cernovich and his allies were deliberately misrepresenting him to silence his criticism of Roy Moore and President Trump. “I will never be ashamed of criticizing those who would excuse the predation of women or girls. And I certainly won’t be quiet about Roy Moore or a conservative movement that which would defend his actions so they could get his vote in the Senate.”

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