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Larry Elder

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Larry Elder
Larry Elder at Camp Pendleton in 2013 (1).jpg
Elder in 2013
Born
Laurence Allen Elder

(1952-04-27) April 27, 1952 (age 69)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Education
Occupation
Political partyRepublican
Website

Laurence Allen Elder (born April 27, 1952) is an American conservative[1] talk radio host, author, politician, and attorney who hosts The Larry Elder Show. The show began as a local program on Los Angeles radio station KABC in 1993 and ran until 2008, followed by a second run on KABC from 2010 to 2014. The show is nationally syndicated, first through ABC Radio Networks from 2002 to 2007 and then Salem Media Group since 2015.

Elder has written nonfiction books and a nationally syndicated column through Creators Syndicate. Elder is currently a candidate for governor of California, running as a Republican to replace Gavin Newsom in the 2021 California gubernatorial recall election.

Early life and education

Elder as a high school senior in 1970

Elder was born in Los Angeles and grew up in the city's Pico-Union and South Central areas. His father Randolph (1915–2011), who was born in Athens, Georgia, was a sergeant in the United States Marine Corps during World War II and moved to California from Georgia after the war during the Second Great Migration.[2] After working as a janitor at Nabisco, Randolph Elder opened a cafe in Pico-Union around 1962.[2] Following his father's passing in 2011, Larry Elder recalled: "Gruff and blunt, my dad often intimidated my two brothers and me. But we never doubted his love or his commitment to his family."[2] In 2013, Elder and his brother Kirk accepted a Congressional Gold Medal from U.S. Representative Dana Rohrabacher on their father's behalf.[3] Larry Elder's mother Viola (née Conley, 1924–2006) was originally from Toney, Alabama. She was a clerical worker for the United States Department of War during World War II.[4]

An honors student who also took advanced courses at Fairfax High School, Elder graduated from Crenshaw High School in 1970 and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1974 from Brown University. He then earned a Juris Doctor from University of Michigan Law School in 1977.[5]

Legal career

After graduation, Elder joined the Cleveland law firm Squire, Sanders & Dempsey. In 1980, he founded Laurence A. Elder and Associates, a legal executive search firm.[5] Elder stepped down from operating Elder and Associates around 1987 but continued to own the firm until 1995.[5]

Media career

Elder in the 2000s

Television, film, and video

After a successful audition, Elder began co-hosting Fabric, a topic-oriented television show produced by Dennis Goulden that aired on Cleveland's PBS member station WVIZ in 1988.[6][5][7]

In 1997, Elder hosted the PBS program National Desk[8] along with fellow conservatives Fred Barnes and Laura Ingraham.[9] Elder hosted the segments Redefining Racism: Fresh Voices From Black America[8][10] and Title IX and Women in Sports: What's Wrong With This Picture, which criticized Title IX.[9]

In 2000, Elder won a Los Angeles Area Emmy Award for his KCAL-TV News special Making Waves – LAUSD. Between 2000 and 2001, Elder hosted the court series Moral Court, distributed by Warner Brothers Television.[11] In 2004, he hosted The Larry Elder Show, a syndicated talk show distributed by Warner Bros.[12][13]

In 2005, Elder created a self-financed film called Michael & Me, in which he offers a rebuttal to filmmaker Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine.[14]

In 2007, Elder was one of the rotating talk hosts auditioning for the slot vacated by the now-canceled Imus in the Morning on MSNBC.[15] However, the job went to Joe Scarborough instead.

Elder is a columnist with Creators Syndicate. His newspaper and online column are carried by Investor's Business Daily, World Net Daily, Townhall.com, Jewish World Review and FrontPage Magazine.[citation needed]

He hosts a video series published by The Epoch Times.[16]

Radio

In 1994, Elder began hosting a weekday evening talk show on Los Angeles talk radio station KABC.[17][18]

From 2002 to 2007, Elder's show was nationally syndicated by ABC Radio Networks and its news-talk network, ABC News & Talk. After Citadel Broadcasting took over most of ABC's radio operations in 2007, syndication of Elder's show was discontinued in favor of Mark Levin, and the show reverted to a local show in August of that year.[citation needed]

December 12, 2008, was his final day on KABC.[18] Elder then began a daily live podcast as well as a webcast starting in December 2009.[19] On September 27, 2010, Elder returned to KABC.[20][21]

On December 2, 2014, Elder was fired from KABC following his afternoon broadcast.[22] He was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2015.[23]

On June 1, 2015, Elder joined the lineup of CRN Digital Talk Radio Networks. His program is heard from noon to 3 PM on CRN Channel 1 and is replayed from 3 to 6 PM on CRN Channel 5.[24]

In August 2015, The Larry Elder Show began national syndication through the Salem Radio Network, including Los Angeles station KRLA.[25]

Jean Guerrero, in a 2020 interview on NPR, said that Elder had told her that he had invited Stephen Miller on his radio show as a guest a total of 69 times, having been impressed with Miller after he had first called in to the show as a high school student. Miller, who cites Elder as an influence, later became a Trump administration official and the architect of Trump's immigration policies.[26]

Writing

In the late 1980s, Elder wrote op-eds for local newspapers in Cleveland.[5] In 1998, Elder began writing a nationally syndicated column through Creators Syndicate.[27] Elder wrote a weekly column for the Los Angeles Daily News until April 2012.[28]

Political positions

Elder's views are conservative[1][29] and right wing.[30] Elder is a registered Republican;[1][31] in 2021, he stated that he had voted for the Republican candidate in every presidential election since 1980 after voting for Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1976.[32] Elder labels himself a "small-l" libertarian as opposed to a member of the Libertarian Party.[1][31]

He is an ardent supporter of former President Donald Trump, frequently praising him on Twitter.[30][33][34] Elder has argued that it is unfair to blame Trump for the 2021 United States Capitol attack.[32] Elder did however oppose Trump's support for tariffs and the reduction of US troops from Afghanistan.[35]

Economic issues

In his 2000 book, The Ten Things You Can't Say In America, Elder laid out a 10-point plan to "save America". He called for abolishing the Internal Revenue Service, creating a national sales tax, reducing government by 80%, ending welfare and entitlements, abolishing the minimum wage, and eliminating corporate taxes.[36][37]

Elder opposes minimum wage laws, arguing that "The ideal minimum wage is $0.00."[38] He opposes universal basic income.[39] Elder opposes California's unpaid family leave law.[29] In his 2020 film Uncle Tom: An Oral History of the American Black Conservative, Elder criticizes the War on Poverty.[40]

On a CNN Crossfire segment in 2013 along with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Elder attacked Christie for accepting the "architecture of the welfare state" and claimed that "government took almost 50 percent of the American people's money" through mandates,[41] a claim he supported by referring to an analysis by the conservative advocacy group Americans for Tax Reform.[42] PolitiFact rated his claim "Mostly False".[42][43]

Elder has been critical of public-sector labor unions, especially the California Teachers Association.[44] He contends that some 15,000 California teachers are "incompetent"[44] and previously proposed that thousands of teachers in the state be fired.[32] He later said that he favored more charter schools and private schools instead.[32]

Social issues

Elder has argued that Roe v. Wade should be overturned,[32] calling the decision "one of the worst decisions that the Supreme Court ever handed down."[29] He has called abortion "murder"[29] and believes that abortion laws should be decided at the state level.[32][29]

Elder has a history of making anti-LGBT remarks on Twitter. He has repeatedly used male pronouns when referring to transgender women, such as Playboy model Ines Rau and fellow gubernatorial candidate Caitlyn Jenner.[30]

In 2021, Elder accused California of having a "soft-on-crime ethos"; he opposes a California law that banned police from using certain chokeholds.[44] Elder opposes 2014 California Proposition 47, which reclassified as misdemeanors many lower-level drug and property crimes that had formerly been felonies, and said that if elected governor he would press for the proposition to be repealed.[44]

Science, environment, and COVID-19 pandemic

During his media career, Elder published and gave airtime to misinformation and fringe views on scientific topics, such as secondhand tobacco smoke, climate change, and COVID-19 treatments.[29]

In a 2000 book, Elder suggested that the health hazards of secondhand tobacco smoke had been exaggerated, rejecting the scientific consensus that secondhand smoke is a serious threat that caused 2.5 million deaths in the half-century before 2014.[29]

Elder's website once described climate change as a "myth"; in a 2008 interview, he called climate change a "crock," disparaged Republicans such as John McCain and George W. Bush, who acknowledged climate change, and said that global warming is not a "big peril" to planet Earth.[29] In 2021, Elder acknowledged that the climate is warming,[29] but refused to accept the overwhelming scientific consensus that human activity is the primary contributor,[32] claiming that concern about climate change is "alarmism."[32][29]

In 2021, Elder pledged to remove current statewide public health mandates for state government workers in California, such as COVID-19 vaccine requirements, face mask requirements, or regular COVID-19 testing.[32] In 2020, while denying that Donald Trump mismanaged the response to COVID-19, Elder sought to justify Trump's refusal to wear a mask in public and defended Trump's mass political rallies that he continued to hold at the height of the pandemic.[45] In 2021, he did not challenge a call-in listener to his radio show who espoused COVID-19 misinformation suggesting that COVID-19 vaccines were dangerous and part of a Bill Gates-orchestrated plot, and a page on Elder's website promoted the call-in listener's comments by saying, "You'll want to hear this physician's take on the vaccines."[29]

Elder has proposed suspending or waiving the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act, contending that doing so would speed up housing construction.[44][32][29]

Political activities

Roll Call reported that Elder contemplated a possible run for the United States Senate against California Senator Barbara Boxer in 2010.[46]

2021 California gubernatorial recall election

In July 2021, Elder announced that he was running against Governor Gavin Newsom in the 2021 California gubernatorial recall election.[47] He said that he was encouraged to run by fellow conservative talk-radio figure Dennis Prager, a mentor to Elder.[29]

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber initially omitted Elder's name from the list of candidates to be on the ballot, saying that he failed to submit complete tax return information, required for candidates after the recent passage of Senate Bill 27, which mandated tax return disclosure for both presidential and gubernatorial candidates in order to appear on a primary ballot (the presidential requirement was struck down by the courts). Elder sued, saying that his paperwork was properly submitted.[48][49] On July 21, 2021, Judge Laurie Earl of the Sacramento County Superior Court ordered Elder's reinstatement to the recall ballot, holding that Weber improperly disqualified Elder, who had "substantially complied" with disclosure requirements, and that the tax return requirement in Senate Bill 27 applied to "direct primary election" ballots and not special recall elections.[50][51][52][53]

After his entry, Elder has been regarded as the front-runner on the election's replacement question. However, he has refused to participate in debates, or even to share a stage with certain other candidates at Republican party events.[54]

In mid-August, Elder came under criticism for his past statements about women. As noted above, he wrote that "Women know less than men about political issues, economics, and current events." Other public comments have included suggesting that women who took part in the 2017 Women's March were obese and unattractive, scoffing at premenstrual syndrome by saying PMS stands for "Punish My Spouse", endorsing pregnancy discrimination by employers, and claiming that statistics about domestic violence against women are exaggerated to promote feminism.[55] In addition, his former fiancee, Alexandra Datig, accused him of abuse. She said he demanded she show devotion by having "Larry's Girl" tattooed on herself. During an argument, she said he brandished a gun in a threatening manner.[56] After Datig's allegations became public, The Sacramento Bee editorial board and fellow candidates Kevin Faulconer and Caitlyn Jenner called for Elder to withdraw from the race.[57] Elder has denied Datig's accusations.[58]


The LATimes Editorial Board described Elder as the worst of all recall candidates, though they found replacing Newsom with any recall candidate bad and suggested keeping Gavin Newsom.[59]

In an August 20, 2021 LATimes column titled, "Column: Larry Elder is the Black face of white supremacy. You’ve been warned," the LATimes suggested Larry Elder of racial bias, which Larry Elder later denied on Tucker Carlson's show and asked, "Do I look like a white supremacist?"

On September 2, CNN reported Larry Elder in 2011 had twice been accused of sexual misconduct, but denied those allegations. In one case though, Elder apparently retorted, "If you had seen her, you would know that the picture would be a complete defense. I'm just saying."[60]



Bibliography

  • Elder, Larry (2001). The Ten Things You Can't Say in America. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0-312-28465-9. OCLC 47859180 – via Google Books.
  • Elder, Larry (2003). Showdown: Confronting Bias, Lies, and the Special Interests that Divide America. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0-312-32017-5. OCLC 53143426.
  • Elder, Larry (2009). What's Race Got to Do with It?: Why It's Time to Stop the Stupidest Argument in America (Revised ed.). New York: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 978-0-312-54147-7. OCLC 243544859.
    • Originally published as Stupid Black Men: How to Play the Race Card and Lose. New York: St. Martin's Press. 2008. ISBN 978-0-312-36733-6. OCLC 263707542.
  • Elder, Larry (2017). Double Standards: The Selective Outrage of the Left. Hermosa Beach, California: Creators Publishing. ISBN 9-781945-630651. OCLC 1038079231.
  • Elder, Larry (2018). A Lot Like Me: A Father and Son's Journey to Reconciliation: A Memoir. Washington: Regnery Publishing. ISBN 9781621577973. OCLC 1019746878.
    • Originally published as Dear Father, Dear Son: Two Lives...Eight Hours. Washington: WND Books. 2012. ISBN 9781936488452. OCLC 800025121.

Filmography

  • Redefining Racism: Fresh Voices from Black America
  • Title IX And Women In Sports: What's Wrong With This Picture? Whidbey Island Films
  • For Goodness Sake II (1996) – Elder hosts the "Diversity Through Character" segment.[61]
  • Michael & Me (2005)
  • Uncle Tom (2020)

See also

References

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Braxton, Greg (September 27, 2010). "Larry Elder returns to airwaves on KABC-AM". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c Elder, Larry (April 5, 2011). "My father passed away late last week. He was my hero". LarryElder.com. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  3. ^ Harrer, Jacob (August 19, 2013). "Montford Point Marine awarded Congressional Gold Medal posthumously". 1st Marine Division (United States). Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  4. ^ "Viola Elder". Los Angeles Daily News. June 16, 2006. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e French, Ellen Dennis (2000). "Larry Elder 1952–". Contemporary Black Biography. Archived from the original on February 14, 2012. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  6. ^ Gillespie, Nick; Kurtz, Steve (April 1996). "Elder Statesman". Reason. Archived from the original on January 28, 1998. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  7. ^ Elder 2000, p. 111
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b David Lewis, Hollywood Star Walk: Larry Elder, Los Angeles Times (April 27, 2015).
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b Jerold M. Starr, Air Wars: The Fight to Reclaim Public Broadcasting (Temple University Press, 2001), p. 32.
  10. ^ Redefining racism : fresh voices from black America, WorldCat.
  11. ^ "Elder to Make the Judgments on 'Moral Court'". September 29, 2000.
  12. ^ The Larry Elder Show: TV Series, IMDb.
  13. ^ Brian Lowry, The Larry Elder Show, Variety (September 19, 2004).
  14. ^ Perry Seibert (2015). "Michael & Me". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 19, 2015.
  15. ^ Lycan, Gary (May 13, 2007). "Radio: Elder calls MSNBC stint a 'blast' – Entertainment – OCRegister.com". OCRegister.com. Archived from the original on December 25, 2007. Retrieved April 28, 2009.
  16. ^ Weigel, David (July 22, 2021). "The Trailer: Whatever happened to Medicare-for-all?". The Washington Post.
  17. ^ Borge, Jason (July 1995), "Local Hosts Resist Radical Right's Aerial Assault" (PDF), Los Angeles Radio Guide, 1 (8), pp. 19–23, retrieved May 28, 2020 – via AmericanRadioHistory.com
  18. ^ Jump up to: a b "Larry Elder Departs From 790 KABC". Talk Radio 790 KABC. December 11, 2008. Archived from the original on December 17, 2008. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  19. ^ "Larry Elder Returning With Daily Podcast in December". OCRegister.com. November 12, 2009. Retrieved November 18, 2009.
  20. ^ "Larry Elder returning to KABC". Orange County Register. September 22, 2010. Archived from the original on September 25, 2010. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  21. ^ "'The Sage of South Central' Returns Home". Talk Radio 790 KABC. September 22, 2010. Archived from the original on March 21, 2011.
  22. ^ "Conservative talk show host Larry Elder fired by KABC". Southern California Public Radio. December 3, 2014.
  23. ^ Carla Marinucci (July 12, 2021). "Conservative talk show host Larry Elder announces recall bid on radio". Politico.
  24. ^ "Laradio.com". Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  25. ^ Elder, Larry. "KRLA/Los Angeles Adds CRN Digital Talk Radio's Larry Elder For Nights". allaccess.com. allaccess.com. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  26. ^ Lulu Garcia-Navarro (August 16, 2020). "'Hatemonger' Tracks How Right-Wing Media Shaped Trump Policy Architect Stephen Miller". NPR.
  27. ^ "Larry Elder". www.jewishworldreview.com. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  28. ^ "Columnists". Los Angeles Daily News. Archived from the original on May 16, 2012. Retrieved May 28, 2020.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)As of that date, Elder's most recent and final Daily News column was from April 19, 2012.
  29. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m James Rainey & Seema Mehta (August 10, 2021). "Larry Elder's outspoken conservative radio rhetoric is under scrunity in recall election". Los Angeles Times.
  30. ^ Jump up to: a b c Andrew Sheeler (August 4, 2021). "A right-wing talk show host is leading the California recall election polls. Who is he?". Sacramento Bee.
  31. ^ Jump up to: a b Jones, Robert L. (September 8, 2010). "Interview with Larry Elder". The Atlas Society.
  32. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j Emily Deruy (August 3, 2021). "Recall election: Conservative radio host Larry Elder on Gavin Newsom, COVID and whether Trump lost in 2020". The Mercury News. Bay Area News Group.
  33. ^ "Gov. Newsom says recall candidate Larry Elder will roll back California laws". Los Angeles Times. August 6, 2021. Retrieved August 9, 2021.
  34. ^ Haskell, Josh (August 5, 2021). "Larry Elder: 'I have no intention of getting rid of the minimum wage'". ABC7 Los Angeles. Retrieved August 9, 2021.
  35. ^ "GOP's Larry Elder looks for shock win in California recall".
  36. ^ Larry Elder (September 11, 2000). "The Ten Things You Can't Say in America". Publishers Weekly.
  37. ^ William H. Peterson (October 1, 2001). "The Ten Things You Can't Say in America by Larry Elder". FEE.
  38. ^ "'The ideal minimum wage is $0.00.' Leading candidate to replace Newsom wants no requirement". Sacramento Bee. 2021.
  39. ^ Elder, Larry (December 26, 2019). "America's Real 'Freedom Dividend': Hard Work and Pro-Business Policies". Creators.com. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
  40. ^ John Kass (July 1, 2021). "Column: What frightens the American left: Larry Elder's new documentary 'Uncle Tom'". Chicago Tribune.
  41. ^ Anthony Zurcher (November 14, 2021). "The risky business of fact-checking opinions". BBC.
  42. ^ Jump up to: a b Katie Sanders (November 11, 2013). "Larry Elder Says Government Takes Almost 50 Percent of the American People's Money". Tampa Bay Times.
  43. ^ Katie Sanders (November 4, 2013). ""When you add a dollar value to mandates," government took almost 50 percent "of the American people's money."". PolitiFact.
  44. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Tom Coulter (August 2, 2021). "GOP recall candidate Larry Elder aims to help voters 'connect the dots'". The Desert Sun. Palm Springs, California.
  45. ^ Elder, Larry (October 10, 2020). "Attacks on Trump's COVID-19 response persist – what about errors by Biden and Fauci?". Foxnews.com. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
  46. ^ "California: Ex-Talk-Show Host Eyes Boxer Challenge". rollcall.com. April 21, 2009. Archived from the original on July 18, 2010. Retrieved June 12, 2009.
  47. ^ Seipel, Brooke (July 12, 2021). "Conservative talk radio host Larry Elder enters California recall election against Newsom". TheHill. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  48. ^ Blitzer, Ronn (July 20, 2021). "Larry Elder suing California secretary of state over recall ballot access". Fox News.
  49. ^ "GOP radio host Larry Elder sues to get on California ballot". Associated Press. July 20, 2021.
  50. ^ Pollak, Joel (July 21, 2021). "Talk show host Larry Elder reinstated in California recall". Politico. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  51. ^ Meghan Roos (July 21, 2021). "Larry Elder Celebrates 'Total Victory' as Judge Backs His Bid to Join California Recall". Newsweek.
  52. ^ Alexei Koseff (July 21, 2021). "Recall lineup thrown in doubt as judge orders Elder's reinstatement". San Francisco Chronicle.
  53. ^ Rosenhall, Laurel (July 22, 2021). "Republican Talk Show Host Larry Elder Makes California Recall Ballot After All". Time of San Diego. Retrieved July 23, 2021. I don't find that the recall election is a direct primary election ballot," she said. "And I don't find that Mr. Elder was required to file tax returns at all.
  54. ^ Marinucci, Carla (August 18, 2021). "GOP frontrunner's recall campaign strategy rankles some Republican activists". Politico PRO. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  55. ^ "'Women exaggerate the problem of sexism': Top California recall candidate Larry Elder has a long history of making disparaging remarks about women". CNN. August 20, 2021. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  56. ^ Marinucci, Carla (August 19, 2021). "Elder's ex-fiancee said he brandished a gun at her". Politico.
  57. ^ White, Jeremy B. (August 20, 2021). "Jenner, Faulconer call on Elder to exit California recall". Politico PRO. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  58. ^ White, Jeremy B. "Republicans avoid Elder allegations during recall debate". Politico PRO.
  59. ^ Facebook; Twitter; options, Show more sharing; Facebook; Twitter; LinkedIn; Email; URLCopied!, Copy Link; Print (August 13, 2021). "Editorial: Los Angeles Times recommendation: No on Newsom recall, Faulconer on Question 2". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  60. ^ CNN, Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck. "Larry Elder disclosed sexual harassment allegations on 2011 radio show, but implied one woman was too ugly for it to be true". CNN. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  61. ^ For Goodness Sake II. May 19, 1996. OCLC 370275688.

External links

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