The media has generated another “fake news” controversy by branding Trump supporting Susan Olsen–who played youngest daughter Cindy Brady on the iconic sitcom The Brady Bunch–as a “homophobe” after the actress called out a gay leftist activist for cowardice and duplicity in politically incorrect terms.
Headlines like ‘Brady Bunch’ Alum Susan Olsen Fired From Radio Gig After Homophobic Tirade and the Washington Posts’s article Former ‘Brady Bunch’ star fired from radio show after vulgar, homophobic rant began blaring last week after Olsen had a nasty Facebook exchange after being confronted by a gay actor after appearing on the radio talk show Two Chicks Talkin’ Politics that Olsen co-hosted with a friend. As USA Today reported:
A Los Angeles radio station says former Brady Bunch star Susan Olsen has been fired after she got into an online confrontation with openly gay actor Leon Acord-Whiting.
LA Talk Radio announced Friday that it does not tolerate hateful speech and that it has severed ties with the host.
The station “takes pride in its close and collaborative relationship with the LGBT community, and will continue to provide a home for those who have hopeful and positive messages of togetherness and tolerance to share with our listeners,” LA Talk Radio posted on Facebook. “We will always support all of our friends around the world.”
However, the establishment left out important details, such as the fact that Olsen was first attacked by Leon Acord-Whiting – not for any comments she made about the obscure actor, but simply for supporting Donald Trump.
After appearing on the show–but before any rant from Olsen–Acord-Whiting posted on Facebook that Olsen should be fired for her pro-Trump, anti-jihadist political views. Acord-Whiting wrote:
It is wildly irresponsible for LA Talk Radio to allow a Trump fanatic to co-host one of their programs, where she can spew her idiotic lies unchecked. (Being a liberal and a patriot are mutually exclusive? Hillary is causing the protests & hate crimes? The Koran is a political tract?) As much as I love Sheena Metal, I think LA Talk Radio needs to give “Cindy Brady” her walking papers. I will not listen to or appear on any shows there from this point forward until she’s gone. This isn’t just disagreeing on, say, tax plans or foreign policy. Susan Olsen spreads outrageous misinformation & it is dangerous and unprofessional.
Olsen described the show on Radio Stranahan by saying, “We had what I thought was a great show and during the commercial break, this Leon guy takes my hand and looks me in the eye and says ‘I can’t believe I’m arguing with Cindy Brady.’ At the end of the show we were fist bumping, taking selfies, it was a great show. I came home and, to me, all I did was post the archive of the show to say ‘we really had a great show last night’. It was not on my mind one bit.”
Olsen questions Acord-Whiting’s decision to attack her after the show was over, telling Radio Stranahan, “I think he waited until got home and had all his nasty little friends tell him, ‘You might be able to make hay with this.'”
The Brady Bunch star was shocked, telling Radio Stranahan, “In the first place, this man posted a public statement wanting me to be fired. I don’t think I’ve ever been so blindsided in my life, than having this guy who was fist-bumping me calling for me to be fired.”
Olsen then responded on Facebook and got into an online fight with Accord-Whiting. The fateful moment came when Olsen privately responded with a post that blasted the actor and used NSFW language and a number of words that are synonymous with “coward”, saying to Acord-Whiting via Facebook message:
Hey there little pussy, let me get my big boy pants on and reallly take you on!!! What a snake in the grass you are you lying piece of sh*t too cowardly to confront me in real life so you do it on Facebook. You are the biggest faggot ass in the world the biggest pussy! My Dick is bigger than yours Which ain’t sayin much! What a true piece of sh*t you are! Lying faggot! I hope you meet your karma SLOWLY AND PAINFULLY
Acord-Whiting took the private message public.
Olsen has since apologized, saying “I do regret that. I said nasty words that hurt people that I really love. And I do regret that.”
Olsen’s treatment however stands in contrast to other celebrities who have made offensive comments. Comedian Tracy Morgan said onstage in 2011 that he would “pull out a knife and stab” his son if he were gay, but Morgan managed to keep his job on NBC’s 30 Rock. Morgan’s 30 Rock co-star Alec Baldwin also famously had a telephone rant, calling his own daughter “a rude, thoughtless, little pig.” Baldwin was allowed to stay on 30 Rock and has gone on to become a hero to the left for mocking Donald Trump on SNL.
Olsen and the people who know her best are shocked by the accusation of “homophobia” since Olsen has done things in the past such as writing an article for the Huffington Post in 2013 where she supported same-sex marriage, based on her experience with her TV Dad, actor Robert Reed, who played Mike Brady. When Reed passed away in 1992, his doctor wrote on his death certificate that Reed’s H.I.V. infection was a “significant condition[s] contributing to death.”
Reed’s daughter Karen called into Radio Stranahan to express her support for Olsen and to dispute the charges of homophobia, saying “If anybody knows anything about homophobia, I do. I lived through it my entire life.”
Reed’s daughter called the accusations against Olsen “absolutely insane,” saying, “That’s why I’m calling in. That is absolutely the most ridiculous statement I have ever heard in my entire life. My father loved her and she loved my father. Period.”
Another fact distorted by the mainstream media was reports of Olsen being fired for her remarks. Olsen states that this is inaccurate as she was never hired and additionally never received money for co-hosting the radio show, saying “That was not a job, that was a hobby.”
Not content to simply say that Olsen said something that many would find offensive for its crudity, the establishment press needed to play the identity politics game and label her an a homophobe. Headlines like Esquire magazine’s Turns Out Cindy Brady is Homophobic were irresistible to the media, giving them curiosity click-bait as well as a way to unfairly slam Donald Trump and his supporters once again.
Olsen says she plans to continue speaking out politically.
Follow Breitbart News investigative reporter and Citizen Journalism School founder Lee Stranahan on Twitter at @Stranahan.