Earlier this week, Adult Swim confirmed that they’ve canceled their new show Million Dollar Extreme Presents: World Peace not long after Brett Gelman severed ties with the network over the “alt-right†show as well as their treatment of women, and during his podcast/Facebook Live show Office Hours today, Tim Heidecker got into a heated confrontation when Million Dollar Extreme’s Sam Hyde called in and accused him of personally lobbying Adult Swim to get his show off the air. Here’s an excerpt from their conversation:
Hyde: Didn’t you campaign against our show? Didn’t you talk to people and tell them you didn’t like the show?Â
Heidecker:Â Nope.
Hyde: You didn’t?Â
Heidecker: Sam, I’ve talked about this for the past three weeks on the show. I’ve been very honest and forthright about my experience with the show and with your audience, and that’s really all I have to say about it. I’ve been pretty straightforward about it. I’m sorry that impression exists online from a bunch of Reddit posts and fantasies…Â
Hyde: You’ve been pretty supportive of the effort to get the show pulled down, because why? Because it’s racist? Because I wore blackface, which Sarah Silverman does ten times a year?
Heidecker: But there’s no evidence of me doing anything. What have I been doing? It’s all innuendo and hearsay.Â
Hyde: I’ve heard reliable people say that you were instrumental, that Judd Apatow went to talk to Adult Swim to ask for it to be pulled down.Â
Heidecker: You know when the last time I talked to Judd Apatow was? The Bridesmaidsrelease party.Â
Hyde: You’ve been supportive of your buddy Brett Gelman, who has…Â
Heidecker: Yeah, exactly. The word “buddy†is key here. I’m supportive of whatever he wants to do. He says he doesn’t want to make shows for Adult Swim anymore, not just because of your show, but because of their issues with women, and I’ve got my own thoughts about that. When people were asking me what I thought about Gelman making his statement, I said I support my friend, because I support whatever he wants to do. And then I said – cause they were saying “Why don’t you quit too?†– I’m not gonna fucking quit, that’s stupid. That’s all I said.Â
Hyde: Shouldn’t Abso Lutely be employing more women though?Â
Heidecker: We employ a shitload of women! Half the people on the Decker show right now are women, and we work every day to get more women’s shows on the air – we pitch shows with women, we bring women in. So we do what we can do.
Earlier in the show, Heidecker revealed that he’s received death threats, threats against his family, and some of his personal information has even been leaked online by angry MDE fans since the cancellation, and while Heidecker did notify Adult Swim about all the online harassment he’s received from Hyde’s fans, the cancellation was a decision from the network – not from Heidecker himself. Hyde seems to be in denial about the online harassment his fans have thrown at Heidecker, Brett Gelman, and others, although a quick glance at Heidecker or Gelman’s Twitter mentions proves Heidecker right. Here’s an excerpt from Hyde’s second call on the show where they talk about the online attacks:
Hyde:Â I have heard that you campaigned to get our show taken off the air.Â
Heidecker: That is wrong, Sam, and listen to me: It is wrong. Now, like I have said on this show many times, I have expressed to people there and to people around me that I have been attacked online by people in your name. I don’t know if it’s you or whoever it is, but it’s people saying…Â
Hyde: It’s not me.Â
Heidecker: Okay, it’s not you, but it’s people over and over again, coordinated, consistent, nasty, violent…Â
Hyde:Â [laughing]Â
Heidecker: No, listen. Violent death threats – all that shit coming at me, and all I said – all I ever said to anybody about this subject – was “That audience is an issue.†That is an issue that [it] doesn’t seem to be dealing with, so…Â
Hyde: The coordinated attacks against you are a result of you expressing anti-Trump sentiments and expressing egalitarian, all-inclusive open borders, and that has nothing to do with our show. That’s not related, so the hell that’s been brought screaming down upon your head has to do with your song “I Am A Cuck.†It has nothing to do with me or my show.Â
Heidecker: But Sam, that song was written after months and months of people calling me every name that I said in that song. That didn’t come out of nowhere, that’s just a reaction.Â
Hyde: That’s not my fault.Â
Heidecker: I’m not saying it’s your fault. And like I said, I’ve never said anything to the people that we both know [about] what they should do or what I’m going to do if they don’t do something. Do you understand?
Hyde later says he’s been blacklisted by Adult Swim, demands that Heidecker get his show back on the air, and lashes out again about his fans’ online harassment by falsely claiming “Our audience is not fucking with you.†It’s a messy conversation, and while Hyde seems to be looking to get a big “gotcha†moment on Heidecker, the moment for Hyde just never arrives.