The Daily Wire has been a pillar of conservative media since its founding in 2015. Recent events, however, have plunged the company and its CEO, Jeremy Boreing, into a well-deserved firestorm of media controversy. 

In the world of middle-aged men sporting beards and outdated references, “The Comments Section with Brett Cooper” podcast was a breath of fresh air in the conservative commentary space. 

Cooper seemed on a fast track to stardom. During her two-year run at The Daily Wire, Cooper amassed the second-largest following of The Daily Wire hosts with more than four million subscribers and nearly four billion views. That was, until the voice of conservative Gen-Zers everywhere made a shocking announcement in mid-December. 

“Some of you have heard the rumors online, and the rumors are mostly true,” Cooper said in her final video with “The Comments Section.” “Today, Dec. 10, will be my last day hosting ‘The Comments Section’ and working for The Daily Wire.”

Immediately following Cooper’s announcement, the video cut to a clip of Boreing delivering a stilted message thanking her for her time at The Daily Wire and congratulating her on this new chapter in life.  

After two years of breakout success, The Daily Wire’s starlet left without a clear explanation, and the CEO of the company only sends in a highly corporate video. Why not have an entire episode set aside to explain? Why dedicate two minutes of a celebrity drama update to breaking the news? Something just didn’t feel right. 

The real trouble began, however, when Cooper’s replacement was announced: former producer Reagan Conrad. 

Conrad had been a close friend of Cooper’s for years. She was even the maid of honor at Cooper’s 2024 wedding. Immediately after Conrad took over the show, however, Cooper unfollowed her on Instagram and removed all posts with Conrad in them. Paired with Cooper’s strained behavior during her final video, the whole episode reeks of betrayal. 

Since Cooper’s departure, “The Comments Section” has been hemorrhaging viewers. In the past three months, the channel has lost nearly 500,000. While Cooper’s videos averaged around half a million views, Reagan only gets about 50,000 views per video. By all accounts, the channel is headed toward a slow and painful death. 

The villain here is Boreing, the company’s self-proclaimed “god-king.” Once lauded for his pugnacious attitude toward opponents, he now comes across as an egomaniac whose only interest is saving himself and his company. 

Cooper has remained silent about the whole affair, prompting Boreing to state Cooper has personally offended him by not coming to Reagan’s defense. Many fans of the show and The Daily Wire found this disconcerting. Boreing went out of his way to shame a beloved former employee by insulting her in such a public and personal way. 

This is especially jarring when considering the company’s strict NDA policy when it loses a creator. Cooper is legally barred from being able to discuss her time at and departure from The Daily Wire. 

Viewers may never know what really happened between Cooper and The Daily Wire. As of now, most everything we know about the situation is conjecture. 

The Daily Wire has withstood public scandals before, but this time seems different. Viewers are watching “The Comments Section” fail in real time. Meanwhile, Cooper’s new YouTube channel has amassed more than a million subscribers with only two videos. 

Cooper has a star quality about her that draws listeners in. People want her opinions on everything from public policy to lifestyle hacks to internet drama. Rather than a hatred for liberal ideology, Brett Cooper brought a balanced perspective intermingled with levity and compassion. Viewers walked away from her videos with a sense of hope for the future of America that isn’t common within conservative commentary. 

A conservative media outlet such as The Daily Wire should be held to a higher standard than simply not being “woke”. Conservatives deserve better, more nuanced messaging, as well as greater variety among their commentators. President Trump’s push to allow independent content creators and influencers in the White House press room demonstrates the revolution that’s happening in journalism: Legacy media is out, independent content creators and journalists are in. 

Brett Cooper is an example of this revolution. The Daily Wire succeeded only in betraying their audience’s trust. They blindly assumed viewers would accept whatever The Daily Wire saw fit to give them. Young conservatives of America are speaking up, and it’s time for overly bureaucratic and tired conservative organizations to start listening.

 

Gemma Flores is a sophomore studying the liberal arts.