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Mike Nelson (of MST3K fame) is a conservative POS (and so is the person who created Earthworm Jim)

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Billfisto

Billfisto

Member
Oct 30, 2017
15,174
Canada
Gross. Like others, I'd known he was conservative, but I always figured his lack of a Twitter account or any real visibility on social media meant that he was at least reasonably ashamed of it, given the current climate.

To find out that he's doing a podcast with Doug TenNapel and likes Dennis Prager, though? Jeeze. How can he be that dumb?

Everyone else in their orbit seems to be decent, too. Bill, Kevin, Frank, Jonah, Trace, Joel, and J. Elvis all seem to check out.
 
Dehnus

Dehnus

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
1,900
Doomguy Fieri said:
Bill Corbett seems legitimately surprised and upset by this on Twitter. Not good folks. I'm starting to feel uneasy about the future of RT.
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That's weird, I knew for a good decade. The man said it in interviews that he basically saw Islam as the evil behind all things bad in the world. I mean the interview were he declared his love for Dennis Prager is like from 2003 or something.

I'm not buying that they didn't know. Maybe didn't care due to it being a professional relationship.. but know they did.
 
RetroMG

RetroMG

Community Resettler
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
6,765
ElectricBlanketFire said:
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(Kind of) funny side-story, I showed this short once to a girl I was dating, and she somehow missed that all of the jokes about sexism in this short are... jokes. She thought, for example, that the line "most houses don't have maids... they have daughters" was dead serious and was incredibly upset that I found the whole thing funny. We had to stop and sort the whole thing out. (She still didn't find MST3K funny even after she knew that they were poking fun at the sexism of the era.)

Doomguy Fieri said:
Bill Corbett seems legitimately surprised and upset by this on Twitter. Not good folks. I'm starting to feel uneasy about the future of RT.
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I don't know if this helps, but I've noticed more and more that they're putting out more stuff from people other than Mike, Bill and Kevin, which makes me think that the guys realize that they are getting older and need to be thinking about a time coming soon when they aren't doing this anymore. I think there's a chance that this story ends with at least Mike (and probably all three) stepping back and letting other people take on terrible movies.

Now, in that case Mike would probably still be making money on it since he started the thing, so you'd have to square how you feel about THAT.

I should also state that I have no evidence of this other than it feels like they're putting out more riffs that aren't the Big Three.
 
BringBackSonics

BringBackSonics

Member
Oct 27, 2017
45,540
Seattle
ElectricBlanketFire said:
Joel replies to a fan. Interestingly, he says the person is wrong about his talent and importance to MST3K's history, but doesn't address the podcast.

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Yeah, Mike has always been talented, there used to be polls (maybe on era?) where more people preferred Mike than Joel. I do wonder if it changed based on when people picked up the show. I started watching when Joel was the main host, and I know others picked it up when Mike was the host.
 
Choppasmith

Choppasmith

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,430
Beaumont, CA
RetroMG said:
(Kind of) funny side-story, I showed this short once to a girl I was dating, and she somehow missed that all of the jokes about sexism in this short are... jokes. She thought, for example, that the line "most houses don't have maids... they have daughters" was dead serious and was incredibly upset that I found the whole thing funny. We had to stop and sort the whole thing out. (She still didn't find MST3K funny even after she knew that they were poking fun at the sexism of the era.)
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I have a similar story when not too long ago I showed my uncle Last Clear Chance. The guy playing the police officer is a frequent star on Adam 12 something he watches a LOT



And somehow he just...tunes out the commentary, he takes the short dead seriously. Anyway, sorry if this is getting off topic. I agree with everything else you said. I've seen previews of the other stuff or best of compilations for Youtube and it's just not the same. I feel like the only other people I could watch is Bridgett and Mary Jo. I would't mind a return of Cinematic Titanic. I know it's not everyone's favorite and their idea of intermissions really fell flat but it was such a GREAT riffing lineup!
 
ElectricBlanketFire

ElectricBlanketFire

What year is this?
Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,944
RetroMG said:
(Kind of) funny side-story, I showed this short once to a girl I was dating, and she somehow missed that all of the jokes about sexism in this short are... jokes. She thought, for example, that the line "most houses don't have maids... they have daughters" was dead serious and was incredibly upset that I found the whole thing funny. We had to stop and sort the whole thing out. (She still didn't find MST3K funny even after she knew that they were poking fun at the sexism of the era.)
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This is my go-to short when introducing people to the show. One time, I sent it to someone and not only did he not think it was funny, he literally didn't understand the concept of the show.

It was bizarre.
 
Nairume

Nairume

SaGa Sage
Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,019
This is super anecdotal and was almost a decade ago now, so take it as you will, but I once attended a convention where the entire core cast over the years minus Mike were there for a series of different panels. The first panel they did (one that was just J. Elvis Weinstein and Kevin Murphy talking about being Tom Servo) had them point out their castmates in the audience and they all passed off the excuse for Mike being the one person not there as him being at a wedding. Since I was insanely lucky enough to be sitting right in front of the rest of the cast (they had hidden themselves in the audience so they could heckle Weinstein and Murphy), my group and I got to hang out with them for a bit since they found out that my group was going to be going to the next panel they were going to anyway. Stuff got said that made it seem pretty obvious that, while they respected the work Mike did, they mostly didn't think highly of him as a person and were perfectly happy to get to enjoy the weekend without him being around. It actually sounded at the time like the wedding thing was just an excuse.
 
Teapot Jeffries

Teapot Jeffries

Member
Nov 2, 2019
960
Update: Mike responded via the Rifftrax Twitter account
zcNHnsZ.jpg
 

FantaSoda

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,992
I don't know how I feel about this. I don't want to believe this about Mike but who you keep as company says a lot about you.
 

FantaSoda

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,992
super etrian odyssey said:
it's a decent statement, outside of the "if anyone was offended" deal. he had to know about doug's intensely homophobic views prior to joining the podcast, though.
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It is hard for me to believe that he didn't know or that this wasn't a factor that brought them together in the first place. I feel like we should judge people by their actions not by their associations but what a fucking association. Doug is about that life.
 
Sanjuro

Sanjuro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,364
Massachusetts
Joel was always my favorite over Mike, not to say he wasn't enjoyable. While I knew he was more conservative for years now, it came generally across as nothing more than how right leaning Simpsons writers handled the subject.

It's a decent statement he made. Has he actually spoken out on any of these subjects on any of the podcasts?
 
lenovox1

lenovox1

Member
Oct 26, 2017
8,995
Jokerman said:
You can say that Mike successfully keeps his political opinions out of his comedy, but when he appears on a podcast called 'I Can('t) Breathe, the fucking week after George Floyd's death, then just being an utter dirtbag tarnishes your material no matter how well you keep the two apart.

liketreeswalkingpod.com

Episode 509 — I Can('t) Breathe — Like Trees Walking Podcast

liketreeswalkingpod.com liketreeswalkingpod.com
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Unless something pops up beyond the first two minutes, this episode tackles racial and social injustice through the lens of a pastor's point-of-view. It is not political or even negative.

You couldn't listen to two minutes?
 
Jokerman

Jokerman

Member
May 16, 2020
7,000
lenovox1 said:
Unless something pops up beyond the first two minutes, this episode tackles racial and social injustice through the lens of a pastor's point-of-view. It is not political or even negative.

You couldn't listen to two minutes?
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You only listened to two minutes? He doesn't even start his sermon till after then. It wasn't overtly racist, but the way he talks about having black colleagues who preach more conventionally was in those first two minutes and is framed worryingly.
 
lenovox1

lenovox1

Member
Oct 26, 2017
8,995
Jokerman said:
You only listened to two minutes? He doesn't even start his sermon till after then. It wasn't overtly racist, but the way he talks about having black colleagues who preach more conventionally was in those first two minutes and is framed worryingly.
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Iiiii'd rather avoid being preached to by white evangelicals(?) about how black lives actually really, truly do matter this time. I haven't had a hernia yet, and didn't want this to be the day I developed one.

I only listened to that much because the podcast itself has an incredibly vague description.
 
BebopCola

BebopCola

Member
Jul 17, 2019
2,085
Rowsdower said:
Finding out Mike is a fox news type conservative hurts. I guess it's up to me if I can do the "separate the art from the artist" thing.
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Look, not only was Rowsdower an incredible character, but the actor who played him worked in the medical field until he died a few years ago, helping people as best he could. Keep the username.
 
Arrowgigantic

Arrowgigantic

Banned
Nov 25, 2017
237
Axe Cops Are Bastards

I hope the kid brother that wrote it grows up to be a decent human being though. He didn't know.
 

Deleted member 5666

user requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,753
jred250 said:
I don't know how I feel about this. I don't want to believe this about Mike but who you keep as company says a lot about you.
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Mike has openly stated he is a loyal Republican. It isn't an accusation. Mike is very open about being a Republican.

"I read the National Review cover to cover. Check in at Townhall.com every day. Check the Washington Times daily. Listen to Dennis Prager and Michael Medved on a regular basis. Read Mark Steyn with regularity. Read the Weekly Standard. So, yes, I do vote Republican."
 
Sanjuro

Sanjuro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,364
Massachusetts
Cheebo said:
Mike has openly stated he is a loyal Republican. It isn't an accusation. Mike is very open about being a Republican.

"I read the National Review cover to cover. Check in at Townhall.com every day. Check the Washington Times daily. Listen to Dennis Prager and Michael Medved on a regular basis. Read Mark Steyn with regularity. Read the Weekly Standard. So, yes, I do vote Republican."
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Have we identified why we should condemn Mike Nelson though?
 

Deleted member 5666

user requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,753
Sanjuro said:
What has he said on any of that though?
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Nothing in his statement. He has openly declared he is a conservative Republican and reads alt-right websites. He notably did not disavow any of that in his statement.

Nelson is undoubtedly still right-wing given he has openly bragged about it in the past and on the podcast. I think people forget he has been on this podcast many times and was openly right-wing.

Going "hey I am not racist!" doesn't excuse his extreme right-wing ideology which he has previously proudly declared.
 

Deleted member 5666

user requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,753
As a reminder Mike Nelson still took part openly in the racism on the podcast. He still openly declared support for Trump in the podcast. His statement avoids all that pretty shamefully.
 
Sanjuro

Sanjuro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,364
Massachusetts
Cheebo said:
How is making racist Muslim jokes not enough to discard him? How is him openly supporting Trump not enough to discard him?


Mike Nelson makes offensive comment about muslims, peddles in corona conspiracy theories, and supports Trump.
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Because your reply is telling me I don't know about something that you never posted.

I'll listen...somehow.
 
chrominance

chrominance

Sky Van Gogh
Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,797
I didn't know about Mike Nelson (I'd only ever watched random MST3K stuff on YouTube and never really bothered to look further into it) and this is really disappointing to me. Luckily, Joel Hodgson and Hatsune Miku, the true hosts of MST3K, remain untainted.
 
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