Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

MSNBC Fires Sam Seder Over Roman Polanski Rape Joke Tweet

Sam Seder’s offending satirical tweet. Image by twitter

The comedian and radio host Sam Seder was fired from MSNBC Tuesday evening after a prominent far right figure posted an old tweet from Seder containing a rape joke, the Wrap reported.

Mike Cernovich, who has been called the “meme mastermind of the alt-right,” posted a tweet Seder published in 2009. The tweet was a satirical response to people defending the filmmaker Roman Polanski against charges of raping a teenage girl.

A source inside MSNBC confirmed to the Wrap that the tweet was the reason for Seder’s firing.

Seder has accused Cernovich of a smear campaign after Seder criticized senate candidate Roy Moore over the allegations of sexual misconduct made against him by several women.

“This smear involves the willful misinterpretation of a tweet that I posted in 2009,” said Seder. “I will never be ashamed of criticizing those who would excuse the predation of women or girls. And I certainly won’t be quiet about Roy Moore or a conservative movement that which would defend his actions so they could get his vote in the Senate.”

In an interview with Slate, Seder tried to find a silver lining in his firing.

“The beauty of this thing is that I clearly got under Cernovich’s skin,” he said.

Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.

In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.

At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.

Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly. 

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.