Why I won’t listen to the Chief Twit anymore – Leo Laporte
Posted on June 3rd, 2009 by Mike in Soapbox, blogLeo Laporte has finally caused me to unsubscribe from his podcasts. Over the years, I’ve been a fan of Leo. I’ve heard some stuff from people that say he’s not the best guy to work with but I discount that as sour grapes by someone who isn’t as successful.
A few months ago, I heard him say on his live stream, that Cali Lewis wasn’t welcome on his shows anymore because she voted for John McCain and Sara Palin. His said he can’t stand “those” types of people and that anyone who would vote for them was mentally ill (or something close to that)
It’s well known that he’s very left leaning but if you listened to his shows, almost none of that came though and his tech info and delivery is top-notch! But that kind of stuff in uncalled for. Cali and Neal are also great people and have a good tech show that is delivered well. Their political beliefs are not part of their show.
The last TWIT (This week in Tech) that I listened to, Leo made it clear that he’s a liberal and that he thinks that conservatives belong in an insane asylum. That’s fine that he believes that and if he was doing a political show, it would be great that he says that, but I think it’s just plain stupid that he would put that in his tech programming. He’s going to alienate half of his audience.
If he’s biased about that on his show, then, what else is he biased about?
How about products he endorses? If say a large domain name and hosting company doesn’t advertise with him, what would he say about them?
The answer:
The last straw happened on a recent “Tech Guy” show which is one of his podcasts along with being his Radio Show on Premiere Networks (the same people that pay Rush Limbaugh ironically). At the beginning of his show, he started ranting about Godaddy.com and Godaddy founder Bob Parsons. His problem (get this) was that there were too many hot women on godaddy’s site and in their ads. HUH? Mr. Liberal doesn’t like to see girls on websites or in TV ads? WTF? He thinks that godaddy is exploiting women.
Well, I can tell you, if he didn’t do it, these women would go find someone else to “exploit” them. Mr. Parsons pays these women very well and they seem very willing to work for Godaddy.
Leo says he will never buy anything at Godaddy.com and he urged his audience not to as well.
Could it be, he used the exploiting women thing as an excuse to blast godaddy.com because they won’t advertise with him? He said they have wanted to advertise and he refused. Maybe so but maybe not. You decide.
I just know that it would be very hard for me to take anything he said about something as unbiased truth about a product, service or anything else after hearing the godaddy thing.
Ever notice no matter what he’s talking about, it’s the best thing ever? His Windows weekly show, he praises Microsoft for about everything. Then on his MacBreak Weekly show he slams Microsoft. On his open source show, he loves linux and puts down commercial software.
In my opinion, the wolf’s sheepskin is developing large tears and I will no longer be a fan. Too bad, because I liked Leo for a long time and will miss his co-hosts. Any suggestions on who to listen to now?
-Mike
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I stopped listening to Leo several months ago. Sitting here right now, I don’t remember what it was that he said, but it was politally biased and, at least to me, alienating. To be fair, I don’t give Rush Limbaugh much of my time either because he is so far the other direction.
In Leo’s case, I’d have been happy to keep listening to the tech info but he should leave it to that. Tech news & no political points of view. Cali & Neal are, IMHO, heads above Mr. Leporte.
I also stopped listening to that show several months ago! I found the guy to be useless and full of shit! He never had the answers for callers tech questions! The guy is a hack!
Mike Check out the linuxoutlaws podcast! These guys are great and funny as hell! Watch out for there “crap alert.” They are on twitter and all the other social networks! http://linuxoutlaws.com/
I too don’t give much time to Rush. He’s entertaining at times. I’m not down on Leo because he’s liberal. I’m down on him because he is not really who he seems to be. My opinion is that podcasters (and to some extent broadcasters) need to be genuine. I try to do that in my podcasts. Sometimes you can’t say everything but everything you say should be the truth as you believe it either way. Also, a tech show is not the place to rant about politics. I would listen to a Leo politics show because he would be genuine (or I assume he would be) I likely wouldn’t agree with him but I might listen to it. I listen to lots of things I don’t agree with as long as the presenter is who they say they are. Leo is more of a fake is what I’m trying to say. Too bad, because he’s real good at what he does.
-Mike
Laporte’s Cali Lewis comment caused me to discount everything that comes out of his mouth. Who is the real Leo? Obviously he’s smooth, skilled and charming, but so are great used car salesmen and slick politicians. He can turn fake, sickly-sweet sincerity on and off like a spigot, which makes him at best a tech-world con artist. Who is the real Leo Laporte? Is he a happy-go-lucky guy, or a miserable, angry, egomaniac? I believe that after all these years the real Leo is finally cracking through the pretty blow-dried, manicured make-up mask.
I still listen to TWIT as long as the guests are interesting. If the guests aren’t interesting, I quickly turn it off and skip to something more interesting, which is just about ANY other podcast of the 50+ podcasts subscribed to.
The Laporte rant on Bob Parsons just blew my mind! This self described “left coast liberal” gets all offended at some scantily clad women? Wow! I just couldn’t believe it. And for him to set back and tell all his listeners to no use GoDaddy right there on the air. Man oh man.
Ironically, just two weeks before on his This Week In Tech show he along with John C. Dvorak hosted Becky Worley and Molly Wood to some wine and lots of suggestive “smack’ talk. Oh, how offensive and demeaning this is to professional women! Are women nothing but easy sloshes waiting for some old men to serve wine to and have one liners thrown at them about smoking dope and taking their tops off. Kind of hypocritical isn’t it.
Oh and lets not forget that on this very show this “group” took the time to take some cheap shots at Sarah Palin with the crackho.com spoof. Leo roared in laughter at how some person managed to do a re-direct from Palin’s official site to the “crack ho dot com” site. Laporte’s a real man on this one.
One thing I’ve noticed is that old Leo really gets carried away when there’s women around. Again, it looks like he’s trying desperately to come off as being young and hip.
Leo’s gig will do nothing but decline from here on out…unless he gets a grip. Once appealing to the masses, he’s letting his politics get in the way….way too much. It’s a shame. I used to really like this guy.
I was turned off of Leo when he said that he looks forward to the day when America elects an athiest president and gets rid of all the foolish Christians. I don’t think he should mix his political views into his show in the way that he is doing. Perhaps ditto for religious (if he has any).
You asked who else to listen to. My favorite tech shows are Mike Smith of miketechshow.com and Mike Smith and Carey Holzman of tech-vets.com. I do listen to some episodes of computer America but they cover a wide range of interests and I find only some of them worthy of my time.
I agree with the premise that Leo has slipped a cog. I listened to him do his “Tech Guy” stuff today. He is like one of those guys at a party that is fun to talk to for about ten minutes. After about ten minutes you realize how full of hot air he is.
I like listening to Mike and Carey. Mike’s poor english drives me crazy, but he does know his stuff.
I wonder if he’s been reading this? He went off the deepend the other day! I only now this because Trucker Tom played the audio clip, otherwise I would not have heard it. Funny stuff!
Thanks for the useful info. It’s so interesting
There’s a big difference between being a conservative and voting for Republicans at this stage in the game, after 8 years of Bush. Their need to support their leader in all things has made them a caricature of a party, with hypocrisy, bigotry, jingoism, corporatism, neoconservatism, and fascist chauvenism as the guiding principles of the party.
Most people abhor politics. They avoid it where they can, they ‘just want to be left alone’, and they statistically vote whatever they voted (or their parents voted) four years ago. These people are the only reason McCain got anywhere close to 50% of the vote. Those of us with the luxury of having the time to pay attention rather than relying on corporate advertising, and the interest to go through the primary sources and keep track of what is said and done in politics, are overwhelmingly shifted to one side of the political spectrum at the moment.
Would an impassioned plea for McCain/Palin/GOP have made me lose a friend? I rate it 50/50. It really does mean something when someone absorbs the politics of hate so deeply and can look beyond obvious incompetence if means ‘their team wins’.
I look forward to voting Republican again – when we’re out of the current half-dozen crises this country has fallen into in the years of Bush/Cheney, and we get a non-corrupt candidate who represents conservatism without Reaganomics, theocracy, a police state, or absolute commitment to Israel. Ron Paul might have been that man, if he was a tad less extreme and a tad less popular in the racial militia set.
Conservatives need to remember their commitment to individual human and constitutional rights sometime, and have at least a passing commitment to the success of this country & its people rather than their political party. Until then, I’m going to be shouting them down with Leo and voting for Democrats who don’t hold all of my ideals.
Leo is a two faced ass. he picks on parsons but look at what he chooses for flickr groups – NAKED IN THE USA and UPSKIRTS – NO PANTIES ALLOWED.
check it out for yourself
http://www.flickr.com/people/leoville/
Leo since the last year has really lost me. I always felt he was a left coast liberal, but hearing him brag about Steve Job’s back scratches assuming mass orgies during a volley ball game, he’s lost me. Many of you are right, he plays up to whatever the show is about and bashes everything else, I would consider that zero integrity. I listen to Rush quite a bit among many others, but I know where the entertainment line begins and ends.