As the fanfare plays, female sprinters at the starting line cast suspicious glances at a man with a wig, while a large wrestler with a goatee takes down a woman who is half his size. An ominous voice-over suggests that women’s sports are being altered. This isn’t a classic comedy about cross-dressing; it’s the trailer for “Lady Ballers,” a new right-wing film that humorously portrays cisgender men pretending to be women to excel in women’s sports. At first, this movie might seem like another instance of conservatives using the same joke repeatedly to mock liberal ideas on gender identity. My research, however, has shown how a broad network of conservative comedy supports right-wing political aims.
Apart from comedy, U.S. conservatives are now creating action films, dramas, and even animated shows for children to build their own entertainment industry, free from what they perceive as Hollywood’s liberal bias. Notable recent efforts include two streaming platforms spearheaded by right-wing figures Ben Shapiro and Jeremy Boreing, who also stars in “Lady Ballers.”
DailyWire+ provides documentaries, Westerns, and faith-based fantasy series. In October 2023, its associated streaming service, Bentkey, launched, focusing on content for children. Although these platforms still have a long way to go before they can compete with giants like Netflix and Disney+, they have managed to capture the attention of politically engaged audiences and might endure longer than previous attempts at creating conservative music and films.
U.S. conservatives have successfully founded and directed numerous news outlets but have had less consistent success in the entertainment sector, including feature films, pop songs, and children’s shows. In 2013, former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum became the CEO of EchoLight Studios, which produced several faith-based films during the 2010s. Likewise, pundit and documentary filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza achieved some minor box office successes with films focused on right-wing conspiracy theories. These projects had limited success because their niche political focus did not align well with the broad reach required for theatrical releases. Other conservative entertainment projects have momentarily gained attention only to fade significantly, possibly due to their close ties to current events that limit their long-term appeal. Kid Rock’s song “We the People” criticized COVID-19 restrictions and “Bidenomics,” while Jason Aldean’s “Try That In a Small Town” sought to capitalize on conservative opposition to Black Lives Matter protests but was released too late to resonate.
A significant success in conservative entertainment is the 2023 thriller “The Sound of Freedom.” The film’s unexpected triumph was due as much to its topic—child trafficking, which appeals to right-wing conspiracy theorists—as to its innovative financing. The film’s producer, Angel Studios, employed an equity crowdfunding approach, allowing 100,000 individual investors to influence the creative and marketing strategies. Then, “The Sound of Freedom” implemented a “pay it forward” marketing tactic that encouraged fans to purchase tickets for friends and family who shared their views. While Angel Studios hasn’t revealed how much revenue this scheme generated, the movie grossed nearly $250 million on a $14.5 million budget. The film’s success was marketed as a rejection of Hollywood’s liberal agenda, a factor likely influencing both the inception and the prospective future of DailyWire+ and Bentkey.
Shapiro is one of the most outspoken supporters of Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, both of whom have taken strong stances against LGBTQ+ rights. They have often accused advocates of “woke gender ideology,” such as Disney, of “grooming” children. By late 2022, DailyWire+ had gained over a million subscribers by offering content that fueled culture war debates. Highlights on the platform include right-wing commentator Matt Walsh’s anti-trans documentary “What Is A Woman?” and educational-looking video shorts from PragerU that promote conservative viewpoints. Additionally, comedies such as “Lady Ballers” are available. Boreing has pointed out the disconnection between viewers’ political beliefs and their entertainment choices. In an interview with The Washington Post, he mentioned that Americans are fed up with supporting media companies that seek to indoctrinate children with extreme race and gender theories just before Bentkey was launched. Bentkey aims to counter Disney with its conservative family programming. “Chip Chilla,” for example, is evidently modeled after Disney’s successful “Bluey,” which follows a family of Australian dogs. “Chip Chilla” is created by Rob Schneider, a former “Saturday Night Live” cast member now known for his anti-vaccine stance, and Ethan Nicolle, who previously worked with the right-wing satire site The Babylon Bee. Bentkey also intends to compete with Disney’s dominance in the princess genre. Its forthcoming film, “Snow White and The Evil Queen,” stars popular conservative YouTuber Brett Cooper and claims to focus on the fairy tale’s traditional social values.
As media companies face a decline in advertising revenue, DailyWire+ and Bentkey are wagering that committed, politically active subscribers will propel their growth. Shapiro’s strategy aligns with that of X, which is also shifting towards a subscription model as its chairman Elon Musk’s unpredictable tweets drive advertisers away. Moving away from the ad-based system of YouTube, Shapiro reached an agreement with Musk to host The Daily Wire’s podcasts on X. Like Shapiro, Musk supports DeSantis, with X, formerly known as Twitter, hosting the candidate’s failed campaign launch in May 2023. With support from this coalition of prominent right-wing voices, conservative entertainment has the potential to engage the Republican audience in novel ways. Liberals should not underestimate the motivational impact this entertainment might have leading up to the 2024 election. Andrew Breitbart, a mentor to Shapiro and a noted right-wing figure, famously stated that politics is influenced by cultural trends.