Attempts by a tech correspondent at BuzzFeed to interview “fashionable and culturally-forward” Trump supporters ended in disaster as young conservatives took to social media to ridicule the reporter instead of answering his questions.
Numerous young conservatives have been approached by Joe Bernstein, BuzzFeed’s Senior Technology Reporter, in an attempt to learn more about Donald Trump’s younger, hipper contingent of supporters.
In certain cases, Bernstein has gone as far to desperately contact the students on multiple social media platforms. He even contacted one Trump supporter’s tattoo artist.
One American University Student, Nathalie (@EastCoastAlt), felt particularly singled out by his messages, and accused the reporter of “creeping” on her.
https://twitter.com/EastCoastAlt/status/729880106726985728
https://twitter.com/EastCoastAlt/status/729895772444106752
Shortly after, multiple users tweeted in defense of the woman, some calling for his removal from BuzzFeed’s staff.
@BuzzFeed @BuzzFeedBen wht kind of employees do u have that harass girls on social media?Fire this guy.Disappointing https://t.co/Dj9hAUWKrr
— Elsa aka Snapple jax (@elsaxhc) May 10, 2016
https://twitter.com/BroGod1992/status/729913076024225792
https://twitter.com/bakedalaska/status/729907337306112000
Ew this guys disgusting https://t.co/jepbuQOhS3
— 😌 (@danactivated) May 10, 2016
Screenshots show that Bernstein approached each interview target with the same general statement: “I’m working on a piece about fashionable/culturally-forward young people who are for Trump.” Bernstein also mentioned that he found these college students via bigger pro-Trump accounts.
Of course, Bernstein doesn’t inform his potential interviewees how the information will be used. Not long ago, Bernstein wrote a hit piece against Breitbart Tech’s Milo Yiannopoulos with information he acquired from a “former intern”.
The article fell flat, with even left-wing journalists at Vox and MSNBC suggesting that Bernstein might have been trolled by Yiannopoulos himself.
In addition to conservative college students, Bernstein has also approached former BuzzFeed employee, Tim Treadstone (better known by his online moniker “Baked Alaska”) for comment on the same topic.
In his email to Treadstone, the BuzzFeed reporter refers to the typical Trump supporter as a “basement-dwelling memelord” and says he’s shocked to see this new rise in “social media savvy hipsters”. Bernstein also name drops Milo in the email, which outlines his motive.
Naturally, Treadstone didn’t reply.
Apparently determined, Bernstein went as far as to reach out to Treadstone’s personal tattoo artist. By this point, Joe Bernstein had been declined interviews dozens of times, but continued pressing on, tracing back to friends of friends in Trump-supporting circles.
Countless interview attempts later, the recipients of Joe Bernstein’s messages decided they’d had enough. As word spread, the pro-Trump Twitter community decided to reject the BuzzFeed reporter in public as well as in private.
Bernstein’s desperate manner is apparently well known in pro-Trump circles, and it became evident that none of the big players in the community would give him an interview, including our own Milo Yiannopoulos.
This resulted in hundreds of Twitter users banding together to simultaneously give Bernstein a comment he could use in his next piece:
https://twitter.com/MikeMa_/status/729878786725052416
https://twitter.com/DantteSmith/status/729881986198704129
Yo @Bernstein here's my comment: you're a cuck
— Jason (@PartyGoy) May 10, 2016
https://twitter.com/konradsux/status/729879170709250048
https://twitter.com/VeyGraphics/status/729879420215906304
Yo @Bernstein, here's my comment: you're a cuck.
— Spectator (@unspectateur) May 10, 2016
Mike Ma is a Vine comedian and contributor to Breitbart Tech. You can find him on Twitter at @MikeMa_.
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