In response to the controversy, The Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon posted, “Some of our readers have expressed concern about this report, suggesting it did not meet the high journalistic standards they’ve come to expect from us. We want you to know that we’ve listened to you. We’ve heard your voices. And they are stupid.”
For his part, Ramaswamy seemed to take the joke in stride. When conservative commentator Matt Walsh argued that Ramaswamy was “not in the slightest bit offended,” Ramaswamy replied, “I’m a ‘survivor,’” along with a laughing emoji.
Notably, this is not the first time The Babylon Bee has courted accusations of racism. In April 2022, the Christian satire site came under fire after posting an article titled “China Introduces New Head Of COVID Policy Dr. Anthon-Yong Fauching.” A photoshopped image featured Dr. Anthony Fauci with a “Fu Manchu” style goatee, wearing a conical hat, and standing in a rice field.
As the joke came at a time when America was experiencing a surge in anti-Asian sentiments and an uptick in racially targeted violence against Asian Americans, a number of Christian leaders were quick to denounce it.
In response to the uproar, The Babylon Bee managing editor Joel Berry told ChurchLeaders, “We don’t care what a couple of self-righteous, race-obsessed Pharisees have to say about us.”
The Babylon Bee Also Accused of Ableism
Also this week, The Babylon Bee was accused of ableism for a satirical headline that read, “Delta Introduces New Short Plane For Special-Needs Pilots.”
The joke was intended as a jab at the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion practices of Delta Airlines, which became the subject of public controversy late last week.
“How do you not see how offensive this is?” one person replied. “As the parent of a child with intellectual disabilities, this is a sincere question: How do you not see that you have made some of our most vulnerable humans a punchline?”
“Someone let Babylon Bee know that my son isn’t the punchline to their joke that dehumanizes the disabled while making no sense,” said someone else.
Another said, “Increasingly convinced the editors of the Babylon Bee do not know Jesus.”
RELATED: The Babylon Bee Founder, Editor-in-Chief Locked Out of Twitter for ‘Hateful Conduct’
ChurchLeaders has reached out to The Babylon Bee’s managing editor Joel Berry for comment and will update this article in the event of his reply.
