UPDATED: Glenn Beck goes after Color of Change co-founder Van Jones

Glenn Beck used his popular Fox News show this afternoon to attack the background of Van Jones, a White House environmental advisor who co-founded an African American political advocacy group that organized an advertising boycott of his program.

During his 2 p.m. PDT show, Beck did not address the boycott spearheaded by Color of Change to protest the talk show host’s remark last month that he believes President Obama is “a racist.” 

Instead, he spent a large share of his program suggesting that Jones, who co-founded Color of Change in 2005, is a radical. Jones now serves as a special advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

During a six-minute biographical profile, set to ominous music, Beck said Jones was twice arrested for political protests and has described himself as a "rowdy black nationalist." The talk show host cast the piece as part of a broader examination of Obama's "czars," special advisers to the president who "don't answer to anybody."

"Why is it that such a committed revolutionary has made it so high into the Obama administration as one of his chief advisers?" Beck asked.

Christine Glunz, a spokeswoman for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, noted that Jones has been lauded as an environmental hero and said his entire focus is on “building clean energy incentives which create 21st-century jobs.”

“Glenn Beck is trying to change the subject,” said James Rucker, executive director of Color of Change, who noted that Jones has not been active with the group in almost two years. “The issue is his baseless fear mongering.”

Beck has gone after Jones in the past. On July 28, he called the activist a "self-professed communist" and questioned the role he was playing in the administration. His latest assault on Jones came as Color of Change announced that it has secured commitments from 36 companies who have pledged not to advertise on Beck’s popular program, including Wal-Mart and Sprint. However, some of the companies never had a presence on "Glenn Beck." Representatives of Procter & Gamble and AT&T – listed by Color of Change as companies that had signed onto the boycott – told The Times that their companies did not run spots on Beck’s program to begin with.

While the advertising boycott has generated substantial media coverage, Fox News said it has not impacted the network’s revenues or Beck’s audience. "The advertisers referenced have all moved their spots from Beck to other programs on the network so there has been no revenue lost," a spokeswoman said.

Since his Fox News show launched in January, Beck has attracted a sizable audience with his strident denunciations of the Obama administration and apocalyptic warnings about the country’s direction. Late last month, during an appearance on the morning show “Fox & Friends,” he accused Obama of having “a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture.”

“This guy is, I believe, a racist,” he added.

The flap that ensued did not appear to dampen Beck’s viewership. This month, his show has averaged 2.25 million viewers, 99% more than tuned in during the same period last year, when the network aired “America’s Election HQ” during the time period. And his ratings are up from July, when Beck's program averaged 2.05 million viewers. Fan websites such as Defend Glenn have called for viewers to fight back against the advertising boycott, and some media veterans have denounced the tactic as a suppression of free speech.

The controversy has triggered a broader discussion about the risks to advertisers of running commercials amid the incendiary rhetoric of cable talk shows. Clorox announced last week that it was pulling its ads off all political talk shows.

"We do not want to be associated with inflammatory speech used by either liberal or conservative talk show host,” the company said in a statement. “After a comprehensive review of political talks shows across the spectrum, at this time we have made a decision not to advertise on them. Clorox has done very little advertising on political talk shows overall, and given the sometimes inflammatory nature of these shows, we feel our advertising investment is best directed elsewhere.”

-- Matea Gold

File photo of Glenn Beck by Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times

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As boycott continues, Glenn Beck's audience swells

Comments

[pedro213]

GLENN BECK IS NOT A RACIST, what he said was PURE EMOTION(I do things like that time to time)! Larry Elders knows how it fells to be in this situation?

[justin]

my letter to "color of change" even though they sound like the same old song and dance:

I think your group is a racist organization. I wrote the sponsors of The Glenn Beck Show to let them know if they pull advertising from Beck, I WILL PULL MY DOLLARS FROM THEIR CASH REGISTER. You hide behind the false façade of racism to try and silence dissenting ideas. Groups, such as yours, have tried to beat down differing opinion with political correctness because groups such as yours are very much the racist, projecting your hate on others and trying to intimidate them into silence. I say to hell with you and your group, you will not push me around or silence me. James Rucker, you are the racist and so is Obama. How quickly he came to the defense of his friend Professor Gates. How brashly he turned it into an issue of black and white before he knew the facts. He showed his true colors at the moment when he valued using his bully pulpit to condemn what he did not understand and that is not even touching on his association with Reverend Wright. Yet, you refrained from speaking out against him, why? Because he is black and you mission is not to promote a change, but to usurp power for yourself and this joke of a group color of change.

[TJ]

Glenn Beck is trying to change the subject Mr Rucker? The reason you don't see ducks hanging out with wolves is because their interests are incompatable. You won't find one unpatriotic associate among my friends; not one communist, terrorist, tax dodger, or racist. Thats because our interests are not compatable. According to Mr Rucker, if a guy invents a new "green" lightbulb, it would make absolutely no difference that he rapes babies. As a black man, I was overjoyed to see another black man as president of the United States. As an American, I'm deeply concerned about the folks President Obama surrounds himself with. Neary every one is someone who would not have achieved their position based on background. As a military veteran who's job required a top secret clearance, I can tell you unequivocably that neither our President, nor most of his advisors would be granted such a clearance if they were in the military - because of the very associations you ignore. Integrity and character count.

[Wayne]

Tim and many others who consitently spout the 3/5 argument to support institutionalized racism need to go back and re-read the Constitution of the United States and research the history of our Founding Fathers.

The U.S. Constitution, in Article 1, section 2, elaborates on how representation in Congress for the States shall be determined. The Founding Fathers, most of whom were anti-slavery, wanted to ensure that slave states, with large numbers of non-free residents, did not get disproportionate representation.

Free men, regardless of color or race, were counted as full persons. Indians, who according to the government at the time, were non-taxed, counted as zero. All other persons, meaning those who were not free or Indian, counted as three fifths of a person, for reasons of representation in Congress.

This wasn't racism, it was an attempt to ensure that states with free citizens received larger numbers of Congressional representation and states who depended on slave labor did not.

[Ken Hissner]

"It's not safe for a black man like my husband to go to a gas station without being shot by a white man", said Michelle Obama. Whether Barrack is a racist I am not sure but he sleeps with one.

[HopeNoJoke]

Congrats to the advertisers that are standing up for respect of the Office of the President of the United States of America.

[Suzanne Stockton]

One tribe of Africans would sell another to slave traders, then white owners would buy them. You should remember the recent history in Africa with one tribe trying to annhilate the other. All races are racists! We taught our children to look for the same faith,(Christian) values, etc. when they looked for a spouse and they did. So know we have grandchildren that are a mixture of skin color. The other race in my daughter's life have people who are racist toward her. She is caucasian. Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and others who disagree with liberals don't preach hate they just have a difference of opinion (which is not hateful)and liberals cannot stand that. If liberals have their way freedom of speech is doomed in this country. I am a Christian, caucasion, conservative, college educated educator, proud grandmother of two of the most adorable, smart, mixed race, children on the planet.

[Jack D. Ripper]

"I call Beck a, Man's Man"! Stand up to Obama, makes every Americans DAY! Call it like it is. Oh, I guess I am a Hard Core RACIST now. Great reporting. The Truth shall set us FREE"

[Starship1906]

Glenn Beck is using the Race Card against Obama! What a Great Country we live in...although I don't understand how this makes us work better together on any level as Americans and leaders of the Free World.

[Jane]

Guess I can shop at Target, buy another bleaching product. Not going to be pressured into feeling bad for having opposing views than the presidents. Go Glenn.

[jv]

Wow. I notice how the author changed the subject from Jones to Beck, never mentioning the FACTS about Jopnes, that he is a self declared communist. HIS words, not Becks.
And yoohoo, above poster idiot, NKM...those blacks drug from their homes were brought over by the MUSLIMS who got rich off of selling slaves.
Talk about the dumbing down of America!!! Useful idiot tools, indeed!
Sheesh!!

[Laura]

The reason the so-called progressives think everything Beck says is outrageous is because the mainstream American media is so biased that when new facts come to light or different ideas or opinions are presented, lefties can't process it. The way I see it, the only difference between brainwashed North Koreans and the American Left is the American Left eats better.

[D.P.]

I love the conservatives freaking out about czars. As if Bush didn't have any czars. You Glenn Beck listeners think you are "informed" and that Beck speaks the "truth" because he points out expansions of government power and what he believes to be excessive spending. Defecit this, defecit that, blah blah blah. Who was speaking out against the expansions of government power under Bush? Who was pointing out how unconstitutional the Patriot Act was, and how it was an "Orwellian" affront to our rights and freedom in America? Or about the record defecits racked up under Republican leadership? The Democrats are known as the "tax and spend" liberals, so what does that make Republicans? "Spend and spend" conservatives? How about the fact that executive power expanded greatly under Bush, and that whatever "executive powers" Obama is now wielding only exist because of the Bush administration? How about the irony of somebody like Karl Rove -- an unelected CZAR -- criticizing the existence of czars under Obama? Did Glenn Beck ever criticize Bush for any of this?

Of course not. You right wing lemmings love to think that you are being "informed" by Fox News, when in reality you are just being brainwashed by a conservative propaganda machine run by none other than ultra-rightwing Rupert Murdoch, the un-American billionaire media mogul. Talk about "mainstream media", this guy owns more media than anybody else in the business. And his goal is world domination through misinformation. Convince the poor that it is in their best interests to hand over all power to the rich. You all talk about the slippery slope to socialism, but you completely ignore the slippery slope you're already on to plutocracy, corporatism, and postmodern feudalism.

[LPC49]

Get you r dna tested, as long as you have .00001 % minority in your dna everyone can be a racist!!! YAHOO!!!!

[sin]

The Liberals hate Beck because he speaks the truth and the Liberals do not want the public to actually know what is going on.
Why is it when Liberals protest it is called freedom of speech but when a conservative does it, the left calls us unAmerican, henchmen, radicals, fear mongers? They can dish it out but they are to fragile to take it. I am waiting for the mid-term elections. The Democrats are going to be ousted in record numbers due to their inability to govern.
Bitch, yes. Govern,NO.

[sin]

Beck is getting the rating because a majority of Americans think like him. It is just that most of us prefer to live our lives quietly and not cause trouble. The Liberals in charge now are a minority but they have the loudest mouths and just can't stop from sticking their noses into everyone elses business. We do not think like them, so to them, we are ignorant. No we are not. We just have skills and abilities that let us perform real work for a living. Not like the politicians who do what they do because they are incapable of doing a real job.

[Tim]

Take it to him Glenn!!

[Don]

I think it's funny that some have said they would boycott these companys when "Faux" News said they just moved to another show. You make be hurting your own conservative cause. I love mad Republicans. May you never be in power again.

[Rolo Tony Brown Town]

""Instead, he spent a large share of his program suggesting that Jones, who co-founded Color of Change in 2005, is a radical."

Did you watch the show? He didn't suggest it, he stated a fact. Get your thoughts together, drink a cup of coffee before you touch the computer next time.

[Thomas]

I see Drudge pointed his wackos to this site.....