Matt Walsh | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Walsh in 2022 | |
| Born | (1986-06-18)June 18, 1986 (age 39) |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2010–present |
| Employer | The Daily Wire |
| Known for | Opposition toLGBT community,anti-transgender commentary,conservative views |
| Notable work | |
| Movement | American conservatism,2020s anti-LGBT movement in the United States |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 6 |
| YouTube information | |
| Channel | |
| Years active | 2012–present |
| Genre | Political commentary |
| Subscribers | 3.26 million |
| Views | 1.31 billion |
| Last updated: August 17, 2025 | |
Matt Walsh (born June 18, 1986) is an Americanright-wing political commentator and podcast host. He hosts the podcastThe Matt Walsh Show, and regularly appears on theAmerican conservative websiteThe Daily Wire. Walsh has authored four books and starred in The Daily Wire documentary filmsWhat Is a Woman? andAm I Racist?
Walsh began his career in 2010 as a talk radio host for two stations inDelaware, before moving toKentucky and launching his own website in 2012.[1] He leftWLAP in Kentucky when his show was canceled in December 2013 and joinedBlaze Media in 2014.[2] He joined The Daily Wire in 2017, and began hostingThe Matt Walsh Show in 2018.[3] Walsh has appeared on several nationally syndicated publications and talk shows.[4][5]
Walsh opposestransgender rights and has campaigned in opposition to groups providing or encouragingtransgender health care, particularly for minors.[6][7][8][9] In 2022, Walsh releasedJohnny the Walrus, a children's book in which he compared being transgender to pretending to be a walrus,[10] andWhat Is a Woman?, a documentary film aboutgender identity in the United States.[11] Walsh has campaigned against several hospitals, comparing the transgender healthcare they provide tochild sexual abuse,genital mutilation, andrape.[12][13]
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Walsh was born and raised inBaltimore County, Maryland.[14]
He began his career as atalk radio co-host ofThe Matt and Crank Program atWZBH 93.5 FM inGeorgetown, Delaware, from early 2010 to August 1, 2011. Walsh then moved toRehoboth Beach, Delaware, withWGMD 92.7 FM later that month, where he worked for less than a year.[1][15] In 2012, he moved toLexington, Kentucky, joiningNewsRadio 630 WLAP[citation needed] and launching a website, The Matt Walsh Blog, in which he discussed various issues from a conservative point of view.[2] Walsh announced in December 2013 that he was "leaving radio forever" to focus onblogging after his show was canceled.[1][2]
Walsh began working for conservative media outletBlaze Media starting in October 2014.[citation needed] He was also a contributor toHuffPost[16] and began writing forThe Daily Wire in October 2017.[citation needed] He has appeared onTucker Carlson Tonight,[4][17]The Ingraham Angle,[18]Fox and Friends,[19][20]Dr. Phil,[5] as well as thepodcastThe Joe Rogan Experience.[21]
Walsh hostedThe Matt Walsh Show onYouTube starting in April 2018 on weekdays; it is an hour in length.[3] According to Walsh, the show made $100,000 per month through advertisement revenue. Walsh announced in April 2023 that the show was being moved to the Daily Wire website after his YouTube channel was demonetized for repeatedly misgendering transgender womanDylan Mulvaney.[22]
Walsh's work has been supported byJ. K. Rowling,[23]Elon Musk,[24][25] and some Republican legislators.[26][27] Rowling argued that Walsh's work "exposed" the "incoherence of gender identity".[28]
In 2023, Walsh starred in aDaily Wire comedy film,Lady Ballers, which debuted on December 1, 2023. He portrayed the character of Kris Dilby, a "woke"beatnik.[citation needed]
St. Francis Xavier College Church, atSaint Louis University, canceled a speech by Walsh that it had planned to co-host withYoung Americans for Freedom in December 2021. The church said it had decided that Walsh's "provocative positions on immigration, on communities of color, on Muslims, and on members of the LGBTQ community" were "in contradiction to Jesus' great commandment to love God and love our neighbor".[29][30] Walsh subsequently spoke at a different St. Louis venue.[31] In 2023, theUniversity of San Diego, a private Catholic educational institution, refused Walsh permission to speak on campus, for the reason that they regarded his opinions as "grossly offensive".[32]
On March 29, 2022, Daily Wire'sDW Books published Walsh's children's bookJohnny the Walrus, which compares being trans to identifying as awalrus.[10]
FormerFox News hostTucker Carlson called the book "hilarious".[33] Conservative news websiteTheBlaze called the book "an effort to push back against radicalgender ideology which defies biological reality".[34] The satiristAndrew Doyle, writing inUnHerd, praised the book for mocking the "indoctrination of the young".[35]LGBTQ Nation denounced the book, calling it "anti-transgender" and a mockery of transgender youth, whilePinkNews referred to it as "hateful" and "transphobic".[33][34] It was listed as the bestsellingLGBT+-related book onAmazon in December 2021 before Amazon recategorized it to Political and Social Commentary. Walsh called the recategorization "an unconscionable attack ongay rights and a horrific example ofhomophobia andgay erasure".Target removed the book from its online bookstore on the same day.[36]
Walsh's online documentary,What Is a Woman? was released by The Daily Wire on June 1, 2022, at the start ofPride Month. In the film, Walsh asks various people the question, "What is a woman?" while presenting his own views on the topic.[42] Walsh had asked the same question in other appearances, including aDr. Phil show on January 19, 2022, withtransgender andnon-binary people.[43][44] On June 14, Walsh published a book based on the documentary, entitledWhat Is a Woman?: One Man's Journey to Answer the Question of a Generation through DW Books.[45]
The documentary received a divided reception from critics and political commentators. Detractors, such as AJ Erkert ofScience-Based Medicine and Erin Rook ofLGBTQ Nation, denounced the film as "propaganda", "transphobic lies", and "science denying". Erkert compared the documentary to theantiscience filmsVaxxed andExpelled.[46][better source needed][41] Conservative commentators, such asRich Lowry andRod Dreher, praised the film as "mesmerizing" and "excellent".[47][48] Dimitrije Vojnov ofRadio Television of Serbia said that Walsh could become theAmerican right's equivalent ofMichael Moore, and just as biased.[49]
Eventbrite banned screenings of the documentary due to the service not permitting content that promotes "hate, violence, or harassment towards others and/or oneself". Walsh denied that the documentary was hate speech and accused Eventbrite of hypocrisy for permitting the screening ofdrag shows that allow children in attendance, which Walsh considers a form ofgrooming.[50]
In February 2022,Eli Erlick, atransgender activist, alleged that Walsh had invited dozens of people to participate in the documentary under false pretenses.[51][52]Kataluna Enriquez,Fallon Fox, and other transgender public figures corroborated the account. Walsh created a group called the Gender Unity Project, which the activists said attempted to lure them into participating in the film.[52][53] The Gender Unity Project's Twitter account and website[54] were taken down shortly after the allegations went public.[55] Erlick claimed there were at least 50 other recruited interviewees, including a 14-year-oldtransgender girl.[55][56][57]
Walsh'sWhat Is a Woman? college tour attracted protests of his appearances for screenings atUniversity of Houston and theUniversity of Wisconsin.[58][59][60][61]
For JunePride Month of 2023, The Daily Wire madeWhat is a Woman? available for free on Twitter. The Daily Wire CEOJeremy Boreing tweeted that Twitter had canceled a plan to promote the video for "hateful conduct," reportedly because ofmisgendering, and said the video was being suppressed. Twitter CEOElon Musk initially agreed to lift only some restrictions, but after pressure removed all restrictions and personally promoted the video.[62][63] Chiefs of Twitter's trust and safety division left the company on the same day.[62] The film's tally on Twitter showed more than 62 millionviews (previously known asimpressions[64]) as of the afternoon of June 2 and 177 million for the week.[62][65]
Walsh starred in, co-wrote, and co-produced the documentary filmAm I Racist?, released on September 13, 2024, which lampooned thediversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) movement.[66] Described as amockumentary in the style ofBorat,[66][67] it grossed $12.3 million against a production budget of $3 million, becoming the highest-grossing documentary film of 2024.[68]
Walsh's views have mainly been described asright-wing as of 2022[69][70][71] andconservative,[72][58] as well asfar-right.[73][74][75] His commentary is sometimes described by media outlets astrolling or provocation.[76][77][78][38] He labels himself a "theocraticfascist" in his Twitter biography,[79][80] which he said was an ironic response to an opponent using the label as an insult.[81][better source needed]
Walsh has argued that the trial ofKenosha unrest shooterKyle Rittenhouse, who was acquitted, was malicious prosecution.[82] He has argued for banningpornography and supports restrictingabortion.[83][better source needed] Walsh has argued thatozone depletion andacid rain were never serious problems.[84]
In 2022, Walsh supported the far-right white nationalistGreat Replacement Conspiracy Theory, arguing that it "isn't a conspiracy theory. There's nothing wild or speculative about it. It's just a fact."[85][86]
Regarding the casting ofHalle Bailey in the 2023 live-action version ofThe Little Mermaid, Walsh said on The Daily Wire, "from a scientific perspective, it doesn't make a lot of sense to have someone with darker skin who lives deep in the ocean," and suggested that the mermaid should be translucent instead. Walsh's commentary was mocked onCNN by digital senior entertainment writer Lisa France, who said "racism is real, unfortunately, and people get so offended".[87] Later, Walsh said that "Translucent rights are human rights".[88] He calledanime "satanic" in an answer to viewers' questions in one of his videos, adding "I have no argument for why it's satanic. It just seems that way to me."[89][90] He has calledmulticulturalism a "failed experiment".[91][better source needed] In April 2024, Walsh generated controversy for praising white nationalist organizationVDARE, claiming it was being targeted by a government investigation due to its "inconvenient and unpopular beliefs."[92][93]
After thekilling of Austin Metcalf, Walsh commented: "Young black males are violent to a wildly, outrageously disproportionate degree. That’s just a fact. We all know it. And it’s time that we speak honestly about it, or nothing will ever change."[94][better source needed] In early May 2025, Walsh supported Shiloh Hendrix, the white Minnesota womancaught on video using the wordnigger several times towards a 5-year-old black child and the black man who filmed the incident. Walsh expressed satisfaction with Hendrix having raised $500,000 on thecrowdfunding siteGiveSendGo and hoped that she would raise $500,000 more, saying it was "time to start swinging back."[95]
Walsh is an opponent of theLGBT rights movement, particularlytransgender rights and the idea of being transgender in general.[10][96]
Walsh opposes same-sex adoptions, arguing that it is better for a child to grow up without an arm than with same-sex parents.[97][98][99]
Walsh supports the pseudoscientific practice ofconversion therapy, claiming it is an effective method for changing sexual orientation, as this is not innate, because "There is nogay gene no matter how hard they look for one", and that "no sane person thinks that" there are "homosexual infants".[100][101]
In February 2021, after aGallup poll showed a sharp increase of people who identify asLGBT, especiallybisexual andtransgender, inGeneration Z compared to previous generations, Walsh accused "the media, Hollywood, and the school system" of "recruiting" children into the LGBT community. Other commentators quoted byPinkNews argued that Walsh was wrong, attributing the increase to different factors, including an easing of social stigmas among younger people.[102]
Shortly after theRussian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, Walsh accused PresidentJoe Biden offeminizing theU.S. military and recruitinglesbians who he said "can't do three pushups", and said that it was "not a coincidence that [Russia's invasion] happened after Biden spent his first year in office focusing primarily onwokeness".[103]
The New York Times columnistMichelle Goldberg argued that Walsh's commentary, as well as that of other right-wing commentators, have caused an increase ofanti-LGBT violence and sentiment in the United States.[104]The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) described Walsh as one of the "peddlers of fear and disinformation about LGBTQ people" in the wake of theClub Q mass shooting in November 2022.[105] Walsh had previously said opposing all-agedrag events was like fighting cancer,[73] and "just like cancer, stopping it is not a gentle or a painless process".[104][106] Following the shooting, Walsh described critics of his rhetoric as "soulless demons" and "evil to the core", accusing them of using the shooting to "blackmail us into accepting the castration and sexualization of children".[107][108] He also rhetorically asked those on the left who felt that "the drag queen-child combination" would lead to "violent backlash" from right-wingers, "if it's causing this much chaos and violence, why do you insist on continuing to do it?"[109][110]Jeet Heer fromThe Nation described Walsh's comments, along with those of a few other right-wing figures, as "implicitly a threat," saying, "The right is trying to create a newlynching culture, with LGBTQ people as the target."[110]
In April 2023, Walsh defendedUganda's anti-homosexuality bill, arguing that LGBTQ rights in Africa were a form ofneocolonialism. The bill would enforce life in prison for anybody identifying as gay or bisexual. Walsh argued that opponents to the bill "don't think that Uganda has any particular right to govern itself and have its own culture and its own way of life."[111]
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Walsh has repeatedly opposed thetransgender community[10] and "gender ideology",[112] notably with his children's bookJohnny the Walrus,[10] his documentaryWhat Is a Woman?,[52] and campaigns involving hospitals and schools.[6][113] Walsh and his campaigns are sometimes described asanti-trans andtransphobic.[69][57][41][58] Progressive magazineThe New Republic named Walsh "Transphobe of the Year" in 2022, saying he "has made a name for himself by demonizing medical professionals and pushing conspiracy theories about 'grooming' and pedophilia in the LGBTQ community",[69] also claiming that transgender people "already are pedophiles in a certain sense",[citation needed] and that "transgenderism" is a myth invented to legitimize sexual deviance.[citation needed] Walsh has referred to being transgender as a "delusion" and a "mental illness",[61] also drawing comparisons to schizophrenia and claiming that transgender people are all narcissists.[citation needed] He has also argued that transgender people cannot "defend the logic of trans ideology" and that they have "embarked on a campaign to restructure all of human society".[112] Walsh argues that biological sex is what determines if someone is a man or a woman.[112] He has said that "I truly see the fight against gender ideology as the last stand forWestern civilization... Because if the sane side loses this, it's over."[112]
Walsh has compared givinghormone treatments andgender-affirming surgery for transgender youth to "being sexually violated in a way that is just as depraved or damaging as molestation or rape". In May 2021, Walsh called doctors who perform gender-affirming surgeries fortransgender youth "Nazi scientist-evil", "pedophiles", and "plastic surgeons basically acting likeLeatherface fromThe Texas Chain Saw Massacre";[12][10] similarly, he said that "The trans agenda was invented by pedophilic psychologists, degenerate quacks, lunatic sexologists, literal Nazi scientists, and other assorted deviants."[citation needed] Walsh's views are in opposition to the stance of leading American medical groups, which have established guidelines to treat transgender youth; those groups and some research say that denying such care can lead to higher rates of suicide and other mental health issues,[6][71] but Walsh blames society's acceptance of transgender people for this.[citation needed] He has also referred to these surgeries as "castration",[112] and called to make them illegal for everyone,[114] also praising Russia for doing that, along with banning trans adoption in 2023.[citation needed]
Walsh rented an apartment in Virginia for one day in 2021 to qualify to speak out against the Loudoun County School Board for allowing transgender students the use of restrooms matching their gender identity.[113] During his speech, which he later featured in his filmWhat Is a Woman?, Walsh said: "You are all child abusers. You prey upon impressionable children and indoctrinate them into your insane ideological cult, a cult which holds many fanatical views but none so deranged as the idea that boys are girls and girls are boys."[41]
In January 2022, Twitter suspended Walsh's account for 12 hours for tweets it deemed as hateful content against transgender people.[115][better source needed] In October 2022, Walsh encouraged his followers tomisgender transgender people, writing that "we have made huge strides against the trans agenda", and that theacquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk, which he called "the liberation of Twitter", will allow them to "ramp up our efforts even more".[116]
In November 2022, Walsh was challenged as a guest on the podcastThe Joe Rogan Experience for suggesting that "maybe millions of kids" had been put ontopuberty blockers. Producer Jamie Vernon interjected and stated that only 4,780 children had been put on puberty blockers within the past five years. Walsh lowered his guess to "hundreds of thousands" and said he "could be wrong", adding, "who are you gonna trust when they're telling you the numbers?"[21]
In February 2023, Walsh said he "would rather be dead" than have a trans child.[117]
In August 2022, Walsh accused transgender activistEli Erlick of being a "confessed drug dealer" targeting children because of a deletedInstagram post in which she proposed sending surplushormone therapy prescriptions—including hundreds of doses oftestosterone,estradiol, andspironolactone—to transgender youth for free within states attempting to criminalize transgender healthcare for minors. Walsh reported her to theUniversity of California, Santa Cruz, where she was aPhD candidate. When the university did not respond to Walsh's report within a day, he said it was "time to escalate" and shared the contact information of various leaders of the university, while threatening to further escalate to the Board of Trustees, the university's donors, and to organize a protest on campus if the university continued to not respond.[118][7] The university said it "strongly supports transgender members of our community" and "takes allegations of illegal activity seriously, harassment included". Some conservative commentators reported Erlick to theU.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.[7] Erlick claimed to never face investigation.[citation needed]
In 2022, Walsh campaigned against hospitals providingtransgender health care for youth.[6][119]Boston Children's Hospital, one of the hospitals denounced by Walsh and other right-wing figures, reported harassment, death threats, and a hoax bomb threat in August 2022 that led to a woman's arrest in September.[6][71][120]
In September 2022, Walsh made accusations against another hospital,Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), and its transgender clinic inNashville, Tennessee.[13][6] Walsh said on his show that VUMC doctors "castrate" and "drug and mutilate" children.[121] He said on Twitter that VUMC considered transgender health care a "money-maker", that it threatened "consequences" for medical staff who declined to provide care, and that it tried to "enforce compliance" from hesitant parents of transgender youth.[6][13] Walsh criticized VUMC's "trans buddies" program and called its patient advocates "trans activists".[122]The New Republic described the accusations by Walsh as "cherry-picking informational content" and noted that Walsh had singled out doctors by name.[119]Tennessee GovernorBill Lee and other Republicans in the state called for an investigation into the hospital.[13][122] Walsh tweeted about meeting with Tennessee lawmakers on a bill to shut down the clinic.[119] VUMC reported harassment and threats against its staff, and there were calls for murders and arrests of VUMC doctors in far-right groups onReddit and4chan.[6] Vanderbilt took down its webpage about the clinic and said that Walsh had "misrepresent[ed] facts about the care" it provides.[6] On October 7, 2022, VUMC announced that it would pause gender-affirming surgeries for minors and review its practices.[123] Since 2018, VUMC provided an average of five such surgeries to minors annually. All patients were over 16-years-old and obtained parental consent. None had received genital surgery.[123]
Walsh spoke at a Nashville rally organized by The Daily Wire called "The Rally to End Child Mutilation" on October 21, 2022, in opposition to transgender health care for minors. The rally, whose headline speakers included Tennessee Republican state senatorJack Johnson and representativeWilliam Lamberth, senatorMarsha Blackburn, and former congresswomanTulsi Gabbard, drew between 1,500 and 3,000 people, including supporters and protesters.[27][8]
After South Dakota GovernorKristi Noem permitted businesses to require aCOVID-19 vaccine for their employees, Walsh criticized her by writing that she was only considered a frontrunner for the2024 United States presidential election because of her physical attractiveness.[124] After Noem called his commentmisogynistic, Walsh said he had no regrets but would "accept apologies from all of the performative idiots pretending to be offended by it".[125][better source needed]
When U.S. representativeAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted photos of her grandmother's house in Puerto Rico that was unrepaired in 2021, four years afterHurricane Maria, and blamed former PresidentDonald Trump for not doing enough to help the recovery, Walsh criticized Ocasio-Cortez for not providing the money herself. He launched acrowdfunding effort to pay for the repairs and raised $100,000 in the first 24 hours, reaching the set goal of $48,990, but the grandmother refused the funds andGoFundMe shut the effort down after raising $104,000, with all of the money being returned to the donors. Ocasio-Cortez responded to the criticism by saying, "Myabuela (Spanish: "grandmother") is okay ... but instead of only caring for mine & letting others suffer, I'm calling attention to the systemic injustices you seem totally fine [with] in having aUS colony."[126]
Walsh criticizedDonald Trump in November 2022 for nicknamingRepublicanFlorida governorRon DeSantis "Ron DeSanctimonious" ahead of theNovember 2022 midterm elections.[127]
In January 2025, Walsh publicly declared that the United States government should end financial support forIsrael, stating in a tweet that: "Countries that cannot function without US foreign aid should simply not exist. You have no right to exist as a nation if your existence depends on forced donations from the citizens of another country. Take away all foreign aid permanently and let the chips fall where they may". In response to this the CEO ofThe Daily Wire put out a tweet stating his disagreement with Walsh that he thought Israel should receive American aid, but that it wasn't a problem that they disagreed.[128]
| Year | Title | Type | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | What Is a Woman? | Documentary | Himself | |
| 2023 | Chip Chilla | TV series | Tyrant Rex | |
| 2023 | Lady Ballers | Film | Kris Dilby/Himself | |
| 2024 | Am I Racist? | Documentary | Himself |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Produced by the Daily Wire and fronted by conservative commentator Matt Walsh
It does say in my Twitter bio that I'm a theocratic fascist, well because a few months ago someone sent me a message, trying to insult me, and the message said: 'hey, y'know, you should put theocratic fascist in your Twitter bio because that's what you are.'
Daily Wire host Matt Walsh said he hopes Shiloh Hendrix raises another 'half-million dollars' over the viral video of her calling a young child the 'n-word,' saying 'it was time to start swinging back'
| International | |
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| National | |
