Far-right podcaster and self-described “theocratic fascist” Matt Walsh once again grabbed attention for himself by making deliberately outrageous comments, this time claiming that anime is “satanic” while admitting he has no basis for that observation.
While rapidly rising the ranks as one of the most influential anti-trans voices on the right, Walsh has also used his perch at Ben Shapiro’s conservative outlet The Daily Wire to trollishly whine about whatever outrage du jour bubbles up in right-wing media’s forever culture war.
Whether claiming there’s no scientific basis for a fictional Black mermaid, accusing “morbidly obese weirdo” Lizzo of “desecrating American history” by playing an old flute, or saying the racist Great Replacement theory is “just a fact,” Walsh’s perpetual aggrievement and casual bigotry have remained a feature of his commentary.
In a clip first flagged by Media Matters’ Jason Campbell, Walsh was asked by a viewer for his thoughts on anime. And just as he’s done in the past with things he disdains, Walsh immediately tied it to Satan.
“It’s really popular amongst teens and young adults. I think it’s all satanic,” he declared before noting he had no evidence to back up that assertion.
“I have no argument for it. I have no argument for why it’s satanic,” Walsh added. “It just seems that way to me. All anime to me seems weird—just like bizarre, creepy.”
The Daily Wire provocateur and apparently self-appointed self-help guru wrapped up by declaring that adults should never watch animated movies or series.
“In general, I don’t think that adults should be—whether it’s anime or any other kind of cartoon, with rare exception—adults really shouldn’t be watching cartoons in general, I would say,” he stated.
Walsh seems to have a lot of thoughts on what adults and children should or should not be doing with their time. He has previously called adolescence a “modern plague” and suggested that girls as young as 16 should marry and become pregnant. “At about 16, you’re an adult who is mature and can make decisions—you are that at 16. I don’t care what anybody says,” Walsh said during his tenure as a morning radio shock jock.
After the clip of his claims about satanic anime went viral on social media, Walsh took to Twitter to snark that Media Matters is always “highlighting my most important take” before adding a trollish “defense” of his remarks.
“I’m catching some heat because I said that anime is satanic,” he tweeted. “I just want to clarify that yes it will literally lead to demonic possession in upwards of 87 percent of cases, studies show.”
Of course Walsh doesn’t actually believe anime leads to demonic possession or that those studies exist, but it’s yet another example of how he has ascended the ranks of right-wing media by tossing off glib, often hateful but always self-serious commentary before claiming to have been trolling the libs all along.