Mike Rowe fired back after being told to “stay in your lane” when he stood up for fellow podcaster Megyn Kelly, who warned Apple against “de-platforming” her podcast because she’s a “woman speaking up for girls and her fellow women,” referring to the constantly swirling transgender debate.
The famed “Dirty Jobs” host took to Facebook on Sunday, where he vowed to “stand with” Kelly.
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He also responded to a critic named Jessica, who condemned Rowe for his “desperate grabs at popularity” before telling him, “Stay in your lane, please.”
Rowe wrote in his post that most of his followers agree “the underlying issues – free speech and women’s rights — were worth defending,” although there were clearly a few who felt differently, like Jessica, who described Kelly as “a brainwashed, phobic, fear driven, fear mongering blow hard.”
“The question is, do you care at all about the underlying issues?” the popular podcaster wrote in response. “If not, that’s OK, but if you’re going to share your feelings with six million people, why not take a moment to include some actual thoughts? Specifically, some thoughts on the right to speak freely, and the right for women to compete fairly?”
He added, “Those are the issues in question, not your feelings about Megyn or me. Unless, of course, your feelings are the only thing you have to share?”
Rowe went on to explain that — regardless of how he might feel about a person — he will defend that individual’s right to have and express an opinion on any issue.
“As for your personal comments about Megyn Kelly,” he wrote, “I don’t share your view that she is a ‘farce’ of woman, but, even if I did, I’d support her right to speak freely, and her daughter’s right to use a locker room free of biological men.”
He also responded to the suggestion that, because he is not a woman, he has no right to speak to an issue impacting women. If that were the case, there are a whole host of moral issues — including slavery — that he would be barred from addressing.
“You seem to believe that, because I’m not a woman, I have no right to hold an opinion on anything related to women,” Rowe wrote. “If so, am I also precluded from expressing an opinion on slavery, simply because I’ve never been a slave, or owned a slave?”
“You advise me to ‘stay in my lane’ in much the same way people used to tell women and minorities to ‘know their place,’” he added. “That strikes me as a convenient way for people to silence those with whom they disagree, without offering an actual argument.”
Check out our conversation with Rowe in the CBN News video below:
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