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Tim Dillon: tech billionaires are giving influencers kickbacks

Comedian Tim Dillon has said he thinks tech billionaires may be giving influencers kickbacks to push their politics:

While many influencers are stupid enough to support the status quo for free, stupidity alone can only explain so much.

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In the 2024 election campaign, Donald Trump managed to win over many modern cultural figures, including streamers, podcasters, and comedians.

Dillon is interesting because he has both supported and spoken out against the Trump administration. At the same time, he’s far from the only comedian to recoil at what Trump 2 looked like in practice:

While Trump’s second administration is significantly worse than the first, there were definitely warning signs. The key indicator was ‘Project 25’ – a right-wing plan to move the US in an increasingly authoritarian direction:

As these comedians have pointed out, Trump did attempt to put some distance between himself and Project 25. We’re not saying this to defend them, however; we’re saying it to highlight that comedians probably shouldn’t make politics a key pillar of their content if they’re so easily duped.

To be fair to Dillon, he’s certainly more thoughtful than Andrew Schulz, as the clip at the top shows.

Tim Dillon on ‘tech money’

Speaking on Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Dillon said:

If you have not one reservation about what’s going on over there, I’m not saying, I’m not saying you have to feel one way or another way, but if you don’t have any reservation, if you have no reservations about what’s happening with all these kids getting killed, I don’t know, I can’t trust you.

Dillon then moved on to Peter Thiel – the tech billionaire whose company Palantir has become increasingly involved in the NHS:

As Megan Sherman wrote for the Canary in 2024:

The already crisis-ridden NHS lunged further into decline, having capitulated to a shady deal with Palantir – a nefarious organ of surveillance activities with a poor reputation. The move stoked vast outcry from conscientious civil society actors, and for good reason. This ill-advised contract binds the NHS in corporate servitude and contradicts its core values.

Moreover, the decision was reached by means that shielded negotiations from scrutiny sufficient and necessary to ensure the decision was made in the public interest. By agreeing to let Palantir supply the technological framework for managing patient data, NHS negotiators have opened the door for them to bulk harvest patient data, a power Palantir will abuse.

Back to the video, Dillon said:

If you don’t have any reservations about Palantir taking everyone’s information… I don’t know if I can trust you

He added:

I think they’re buying people left and right. This is my guess. They try to buy me… I get invited to these dinners. I don’t go. I’ve been invited to Thiel’s house multiple times for dinner. I don’t go.

He noted that those inviting him said:

We’d like to discuss dinner. We’d discuss the media and culture. No, thanks. Appreciate it. Appreciate it. That’s fine. Don’t need to. Here’s what I’m doing every week. I’m discussing the media.

Dillon also claims he’s seen behind the curtain:

But I’ve been to some of these places. I’ve sat in these houses in Austin with these tech people. And I know what they want. And I know what they want me to go out and cheerlead for and say, well, it’s actually a great idea.

And there’s probably a lot of money in it. There’s probably a lot of money. And I just can’t do it. It’s not because I’m some great moral person. I just, I wouldn’t be good at it.

While Dillon doesn’t name any names, the comedian Duncan Trussell recently attracted criticism for his evolving stance on Palantir. As the man himself said, his change of heart came after he met Thiel through his friend Joe Rogan:

To be fair to Rogan, his support of Thiel may now be shifting in line with public opinion:

Image problems

The problem Thiel has is that he thinks he can enjoy public support by winning over influential celebrities. In reality, the more the public sees him, the more they’ll say things like this:

Featured image via Youtube

By Willem Moore

This post was originally published on Canary.