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Is ‘Let’s go Brandon!’ a form of hate speech?

by Joe Concha, Opinion Contributor - 11/02/21 7:00 AM ET
by Joe Concha, Opinion Contributor - 11/02/21 7:00 AM ET

It’s at the top of the charts on iTunes. 

It’s prevalent at college football games, NFL games, NASCAR and at the World Series — even in states that went for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. 

 

“Let’s go Brandon!” got its start exactly one month ago at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, courtesy of an NBC Sports reporter who was interviewing driver Brandon Brown after he won his first Xfinity Series race. A crowd behind Brown was chanting “F*** Joe Biden.” The reporter claimed the crowd was actually chanting “Let’s go Brandon.” And, thanks to social media, it went viral in a hurry. 

 

Now it seems that wherever the president goes, “Brandon” follows. 

Conservatives have embraced the chant as another example of liberal bias in the mainstream media, while liberal Twitter has gone off the deep end in attempting to decode it. But things really came to a head when a Southwest Airlines pilot may (the jury is still out on this) have said “Let’s go Brandon” while updating passengers during a flight. He actually may have said “Let’s Go Braves” in honor of the National League-champion Atlanta Braves, but it’s too difficult to tell. 

  

No matter. The outrage machine on the left got amped up to 11, including by the AP reporter who first recounted what she thought she heard from the pilot over the PA system. Colleen Long even went so far as to demand comment from said pilot during the flight, who was behind a locked cockpit door for safety reasons at the time. 

 

Two CNN national security analysts also weighed in, including Asha Rangappa, a former FBI agent, who absurdly equated a joke like “Let’s Go Brandon” with declaring “Long Live ISIS.” 

 

Another analyst, Juliette Kayyem, speculated, without a hint of evidence, that the pilot may have anger issues – for perhaps telling a joke – or is a substance abuser.  

 

 

The ridiculous backlash prompted Southwest to launch an investigation. 

“Southwest is conducting an internal investigation into the recently reported event and will address the situation directly with any Employee involved while continuing to remind all Employees that public expression of personal opinions while on duty is unacceptable,” the airline told the AP. “Southwest does not tolerate any behavior that encouraged divisiveness, as it does not reflect the Southwest Hospitality and inclusiveness for which we are known and strive to provide each day on every flight.”

This is how it works: Mock the current president – who is struggling mightily, to the point that 71 percent of Americans believe the country is on the wrong track – and be prepared to lose your job. Just ask comedian Dave Chappelle about what’s considered to be the right jokes and wrong jokes to make. Fortunately for sanity, Chappelle is fighting back against the cancel-culture brigade. 

 

We’re all old enough to remember when actor Robert DeNiro said something far worse about then-President Trump in using an actual F-bomb on national television during an awards show:

  

… Or Madonna saying she was thinking of blowing up the White House not long after Trump was elected: 

 

… Or onetime NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick for making political statements during games and being hailed as a national treasure for doing so: 

… Or the Virginia cyclist who “flipped off” a Trump motorcade before running for public office based on her newfound celebrity, and actually won the election. 

 

All in the name of free speech. 

But to the left, free speech is a thing only when it’s the right speech — that is, speech they agree with. And that’s a whole bowl of wrong. 

“Let’s go Brandon!” is a rallying cry for the right. Sane people aren’t offended by it. 

It’s not hate speech. It’s harmless political speech. 

And the more the hypocritical woke mob tries to suppress it, the louder and more widespread that chant will get. 

Joe Concha is a media and politics columnist for The Hill and a Fox News contributor.

Tags Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Brandon Brown CBS News Dave Chappelle Donald Trump Joe Biden leftist media bias southwest airlines trumpism

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