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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Saturday Night Sludge Open Thread: Jimmy O’Keefe Just Wants to Be SEEN!

Saturday Night Sludge Open Thread: Jimmy O’Keefe Just Wants to Be SEEN!

by Anne Laurie|  February 11, 20239:00 pm| 54 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Grifters Gonna Grift, Republican Venality

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I hope someone secretly records it.

— Jay Black (@jayblackisfunny) February 10, 2023

Since my religious beliefs hold there’s nothing wrong with a little Saturday-night schadenfreude…

… An internal message sent to Project Veritas employees by the organization’s executive director, Daniel Strack, said that O’Keefe would be taking “a few weeks of well-deserved PTO.” An image of the message was shared by a source familiar with the organization’s internal operations, and its authenticity was confirmed by a current employee. When reached for comment on his personal cell phone, O’Keefe said nothing in response and did not respond to follow-up calls and text messages. Through a Project Veritas spokesman, Strack later released a statement on behalf of the organization. “Like all newsrooms at this stage, the Project Veritas Board of Directors and Management are constantly evaluating what the best path forward is for the organization,” the statement read in part. It did not directly address questions about O’Keefe’s employment status. “There are 65+ employees at Project Veritas dedicated to continuing the mission to expose corruption, dishonesty, waste, fraud, and other misconduct in both public and private institutions,” the statement read. “To our supporters: We hear you, we care about you, and we will never give up.”

O’Keefe is his organization’s guiding ideological force and onscreen face, but his status as its day-to-day manager has become uncertain amid reports of internal turmoil, lawsuits from former employees, leaks about its internal workings, and a federal investigation into its conduct in purchasing a diary stolen from Ashley Biden, the president’s daughter. Strack’s internal message to employees made reference to what he called “a distracting time” and said that a board meeting had been held to discuss “the health of the organization” and that while “we have not come up with final solutions yet we have made a few immediate decisions.” The message said two top Project Veritas executives, including the nonprofit’s chief financial officer, had been “reinstated.” Multiple sources said that the pair had recently been fired by O’Keefe.

A meeting of the Project Veritas board is scheduled for Friday, when O’Keefe’s potential removal is set to be discussed, according to one source familiar with the matter. The source said that Project Veritas was currently divided between a group of employees who are perceived to be loyal to O’Keefe, including his communications adviser, R.C. Maxwell, and the board, which has been dissatisfied with what it perceives as O’Keefe’s mismanagement. Matthew Tyrmand, a conservative journalist who serves on Project Veritas’ board, said he was about to walk into a meeting and could not talk when reached on his cell phone on Wednesday. When asked specifically if O’Keefe was being ousted, he replied: “I just said I was walking into a meeting and this was not the appropriate time. What don’t you understand about that?” He did not respond to subsequent phone calls. Two other board members did not respond to phone messages.

As rumors of O’Keefe’s potential ouster circulated among his friends and enemies on Wednesday, his usually pugnacious Twitter and Instagram accounts were silent…

Even as O’Keefe continued his confrontational act, long-standing infighting at the Project Veritas headquarters in Mamaroneck was coming to a head. Over the dozen years since he founded the nonprofit in a carriage house behind his parents’ home in suburban Westwood, New Jersey, the group has grown from a shoestring YouTube prank operation into a large, ideologically driven news organization with an annual operating budget of more than $20 million. But former employees describe O’Keefe as an erratic and often angry boss. According to a letter dated February 6, which was circulated by Project Veritas staff who were critical of O’Keefe’s management, he “berated” and fired the organization’s CFO, Tom O’Hara, and its chief strategy officer, Barry Hinckley. Hinckley later wrote a message to the staff saying he had “stood up to a bully” and had lost his job as a result. The letter included an 11-page list of testimonials from anonymous current employees, describing O’Keefe, in the words of one, as a “power drunk tyrant.”…

Making naughty YouTube videos about the staff of that Obama person is one thing, Mr. JOKe. Spending *our* millions to get crosswise of Mr. Biden and his vicious, extremely professional law squad, however: Not best management practice.

If James O’Keefe really feels he is being forced out at Project Veritas, why doesn’t he secretly record his organization’s own Board and then release the footage in a selectively edited video?

— Trevor Confiscates Gas Stoves For The DNC (@ObamaClintonDem) February 10, 2023

My heart goes out over the employment conditions of a bunch of weasels who make a living trying to get people fired through highly manipulated hidden video. https://t.co/8p62gyjkZC

— Panda Bernstein (@J4Years) February 9, 2023

I’ve been keeping an eye out for (possibly willfully misedited!) leaks from the Friday meeting, but I guess they’re all prepping for their all-singing, all-dancing Superb Owl halftime show.

The undercover video operation run by right-wing operative James O’Keefe is in turmoil, wracked by unhappy donors and O’Keefe’s “outright cruel” behavior towards his staff, according to an internal memo signed by a third of its employees.

Working for O’Keefe at Project Veritas can mean being “publicly humiliated” by him in what amounts to “public crucifixions,” and even being required to take lie detector tests, his unhappy employees write in the memo…

On Monday, Project Veritas staffers presented the nonprofit’s board with the document covering his behavior, saying they were “troubled and frustrated” by O’Keefe’s management style. Later that day, the board voted to reinstate two executives O’Keefe had fired a week earlier, while O’Keefe went on paid leave…

The internal dissension comes as Project Veritas faces a number of threats, including an FBI investigation and an ex-employee’s lawsuit alleging O’Keefe oversaw a raucous, sexually charged workplace complete with at least one drug overdose. Project Veritas has denied breaking any laws in the FBI investigation, and is fighting the lawsuit. In December, the group laid off several staffers.

The memo, which was obtained by The Daily Beast, covers its founder’s demanding and allegedly abusive treatment of his staff, even laying out concerns that Project Veritas will soon collapse entirely as donors and employees flee. Sixteen staffers signed their names to the memo, according to the document…

The memo’s authors also raised concerns about O’Keefe’s use of Project Veritas money to promote his own theatrical ambitions. Project Veritas is best known for its undercover stings against Democratic groups and other Republican targets. But O’Keefe, who performed in high-school musicals, has added a series of musical productions to the group’s repertoire, including an elaborate “Project Veritas” experience that involves O’Keefe dancing while wearing a bulletproof vest.

In December, Project Veritas acknowledged improperly giving O’Keefe $20,500 in “excess benefits” to pay for Project Veritas staff to accompany him to Virginia as he performed a lead role in a production of the musical Oklahoma!…

But musicals weren’t the only thing irritating donors, according to the petition. O’Keefe is portrayed throughout the document as badgering uncomfortable donors for five- and six-figure checks. Other donors didn’t like his treatment of his employees, the employees say.

When a woman O’Keefe had asked for a $75,000 check requested a picture with him, according to the memo, he “very rudely” refused…

Warning: The video is every bit as terrible as its cover screen, so don’t blame me if you insist on watching.

Jimmy O Killed The Video Star. https://t.co/9wcPqW7bwo

— Ragnarok Lobster (@eclecticbrotha) February 11, 2023

Don’t forget Bannon!

— Peter F. Jackson ???? ???? (@pjackson_nl) February 10, 2023

There’s just endless money in the RW grift. There is nothing too dumb is that some old, RW billionaire won’t pay for.

— Centrism Fan Acct ?? (@Wilson__Valdez) February 11, 2023

anyway this is a big difference between traditional conservative and alt-right, the old school conservatives are mostly *pretty good* at looking after their own, the alt-right eat each other constantly

— James Palmer (@BeijingPalmer) February 10, 2023

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Reader Interactions

54Comments

  1. 1.

    Alison Rose

    February 11, 2023 at 9:05 pm

    I’m definitely not watching that video, because somehow just from the thumbnail I can tell it’ll make me cringe so hard, I might fully implode.

  2. 2.

    NotMax

    February 11, 2023 at 9:10 pm

    Like all newsrooms

    “Newsroom.” Yeah, right. Over to you, Booster and Beetle.
    ;)

  3. 3.

    Geminid

    February 11, 2023 at 9:15 pm

    @Alison Rose: You’re not missing a thing. That video is pretty bad.

    O’Keefe has really blown it career-wise. He looks unemployable without Project Veritas.

  4. 4.

    West of the Rockies

    February 11, 2023 at 9:17 pm

    Why does someone as talentless and unphotogenic as O’Kiester insist on being on stage.  Christ, I hope he doesn’t have a spouse or kids.

  5. 5.

    John Revolta

    February 11, 2023 at 9:20 pm

    I hope someone secretly records it

    I suppose it’s too late to hope that someone nukes the joint from orbit huh? Pity.

  6. 6.

    Baud

    February 11, 2023 at 9:22 pm

    I will happily take photos with wingnuts for $75,000 a pop.

  7. 7.

    sdhays

    February 11, 2023 at 9:22 pm

    I don’t really care, do you?

    My goodness, just fuck all of these awful people.

  8. 8.

    Freemark

    February 11, 2023 at 9:23 pm

    I felt the absolute need to watch that. It fails so hard that it could be a good Mystery Political Science Theater 3000 episode. That someone actually spent money on that…no words.

  9. 9.

    Old School

    February 11, 2023 at 9:25 pm

    @Geminid:

    That video is pretty bad.

    It is, but O’Keefe probably dances better than I would.  I just know better than to film videos of me dancing.

  10. 10.

    Alison Rose

    February 11, 2023 at 9:26 pm

    @Baud: That’s one way to finance a presidential campaign. I think Santos’s ears just perked up.

  11. 11.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    February 11, 2023 at 9:28 pm

    @Baud:

    I will happily take photos with wingnuts for $75,000 a pop.

    From the waist, up?

  12. 12.

    NotMax

    February 11, 2023 at 9:29 pm

    @Freemark

    There’s theater.
    There’s street theater.
    And now there’s sewer theater.
    //

  13. 13.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    February 11, 2023 at 9:30 pm

    @NotMax:  the theater is certainly not what it was.

  14. 14.

    piratedan

    February 11, 2023 at 9:31 pm

    to think, if only some judge had the wherewithal to actually make the fucker go to jail for the OTHER times he broke the law with reckless abandon, he could have avoided all of this and put on a show in prison.

  15. 15.

    NotMax

    February 11, 2023 at 9:34 pm

    @Mr. Bemused Senior

    First said by Aristophanes’ spinster aunt, I believe.
    :)

  16. 16.

    Scout211

    February 11, 2023 at 9:39 pm

    @Alison Rose: It’s actually amusing in a parody kind of way. If you visualize it as an SNL fake music video, it seems kind of cool okay. But have the brain bleach in hand just in case.

  17. 17.

    HumboldtBlue

    February 11, 2023 at 9:40 pm

    So, a guy who had dreams of making big on the theater stage instead turned to the trolling stage and is mad as hell about it and everyone is gonna know about that anger, pisses everyone off and gets the hook from Sandman while stumbling off stage?

  18. 18.

    eclare

    February 11, 2023 at 9:41 pm

    OMG that video!  Prince must be spinning in his grave, that’s one of my favorite songs by him.  I wonder if his estate can sue?

    At least he didn’t co-opt Darling Nikki.

    Why yes, I am a child of the 80’s.

  19. 19.

    CarolPW

    February 11, 2023 at 9:44 pm

    @Mr. Bemused Senior: Says Gus.

  20. 20.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    February 11, 2023 at 9:45 pm

    @CarolPW:  yes

    I wonder how many people were introduced to T. S. Eliot that way..

  21. 21.

    frosty

    February 11, 2023 at 9:46 pm

    @Alison Rose: ​I wasn’t quite as smart as you but at least I watched it with the sound off. Reaction: WTF did I just see???

  22. 22.

    zhena gogolia

    February 11, 2023 at 9:47 pm

    @Alison Rose: I watched 3 seconds. It has a cheesy Russian-TV-style vibe to it.

  23. 23.

    NotMax

    February 11, 2023 at 9:49 pm

    OT. Pleasantly surprised by the new interim loading screen for the Tubi channel on the Roku box (probably elsewhere as well.)

    The Tubi logo still there as per usual. Now above it fades in a circular opening in what would be (if there were one) the ceiling. A rabbit pokes its head out, upside-down, and the additional words “Rabbit Hole” show up right before the screen switches to the regular grid layout.
    :)

  24. 24.

    eclare

    February 11, 2023 at 9:50 pm

    How it’s done, which must cause Jimmy massive pains of jealousy

    https://youtu.be/QiapQdT21gA

  25. 25.

    Martin

    February 11, 2023 at 9:52 pm

    @Freemark: It’s not really that. It’s that after they did it, they edited it and thought ‘Yep, nailed it! Let’s release it’.

    I mean, everyone does something hoping it’ll be good and then realize ‘oh no, that sucked’. And you rethink your plan.

    But these folks, they have that Dunning Kruger energy like they just can’t see it. I mean, maybe they were going for TikTok cringe? But it’s not TikTok cringe because the joke doesn’t come at their expense.

  26. 26.

    NotMax

    February 11, 2023 at 9:57 pm

    @zhena gogolia

    Did someone say cheesy Russian vibe?
    :)

  27. 27.

    CarolPW

    February 11, 2023 at 9:57 pm

    @Mr. Bemused Senior: I knew tons of Eliot poems decades before I encountered Practical Cats. Glad Cats (the musical) could encourage a larger audience for the other poems. I have seen satirical revisions of The Wasteland about Iraq by people serving there that made me fall on the floor both weeping and laughing.

  28. 28.

    MomSense

    February 11, 2023 at 9:57 pm

    Ok I’m sitting in a bar trying to be cool – having just met oldest Spawn’s girlfriend. I really like her.  Band sounds awesome.  They have groupies now – which is really weird.

  29. 29.

    HumboldtBlue

    February 11, 2023 at 10:01 pm

    Young American runner Yared Nuguse sets a new American record at the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games. Helluva race.

    @MomSense:

    Ok I’m sitting in a bar trying to be cool

    Don’t make direct eye contact, maintain an air of insouciance and “I’m too sexy for this bar” and you’ll start reeling them in.

  30. 30.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    February 11, 2023 at 10:01 pm

    @CarolPW:

    That is something I’d love to see.

  31. 31.

    Princess

    February 11, 2023 at 10:04 pm

    You know who else trained as an actor but had dreams of authoritarianism.

  32. 32.

    Eljai

    February 11, 2023 at 10:04 pm

    @MomSense: Are you with the band?

    That is pretty cool, actually.

  33. 33.

    MomSense

    February 11, 2023 at 10:08 pm

    @Eljai:

    Yeah I’m sitting with the friends / SOs.

  34. 34.

    CarolPW

    February 11, 2023 at 10:10 pm

    @Mr. Bemused Senior: I would like to see it again too, but we have been trained to treat such as ephemeral (and delete after reading) because it would not reflect well on the author and their future prospects.

  35. 35.

    NotMax

    February 11, 2023 at 10:15 pm

    @CarolPW

    More than half expect ChatGPS would confidently state that T. S. Eliot wrote Teenage Wasteland.
    //

  36. 36.

    CarolPW

    February 11, 2023 at 10:21 pm

    @NotMax: I think you just gave me an earworm I do not want.

  37. 37.

    Tony G

    February 11, 2023 at 10:21 pm

    Took a sandwich from a pregnant woman???   Jesus, O’Keefe is lucky that he survived that move.

  38. 38.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 11, 2023 at 10:22 pm

    That video… Words fail me.

  39. 39.

    Tony G

    February 11, 2023 at 10:23 pm

    @NotMax:

     

    @CarolPW: “Out here in the fields …”

  40. 40.

    PJ

    February 11, 2023 at 10:30 pm

    @Alison Rose: The Producers!

  41. 41.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    February 11, 2023 at 10:36 pm

    @PJ:  when @piratedan wrote “make the fucker go to jail for the OTHER times he broke the law with reckless abandon, he could have avoided all of this and put on a show in prison,” my first thought was Prisoners of Love.

  42. 42.

    laura

    February 11, 2023 at 10:39 pm

    @MomSense: your reputation as the one who gifted the shreddingest guitar proceeds you, so sit up tall, shoulders back, and enjoy every single bit of the night.

  43. 43.

    Raoul Paste

    February 11, 2023 at 10:41 pm

    @eclare:   That was so fantastic.  There aren’t enough superlatives for Prince.

  44. 44.

    eclare

    February 11, 2023 at 10:44 pm

    @Raoul Paste:   Saw him live at The Fox in ATL…amazing show.

  45. 45.

    Jay

    February 11, 2023 at 10:50 pm

    @Tony G:

    Baba O’Reily, The Who,……

  46. 46.

    MomSense

    February 11, 2023 at 10:52 pm

    O’Keefe should go to jail for that video.  WTF was that?  Clearly the choreographer loathed him because that was tragic.

  47. 47.

    West of the Rockies

    February 11, 2023 at 10:58 pm

    @MomSense:

    And the thing is, you know JO thought he was being all kinds of sexy and smooth.  He’s gross.

  48. 48.

    HumboldtBlue

    February 11, 2023 at 11:04 pm

    “I don’t need to be forgiven…”

    The best line from that classic.

  49. 49.

    eclare

    February 11, 2023 at 11:10 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:   The song comes together for me with “Sally take my hand.”  Your line is kind of a prelude, IMHO.

  50. 50.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 11, 2023 at 11:37 pm

    @eclare: Saw him three times.  Amazing performer.

  51. 51.

    ...now I try to be amused

    February 12, 2023 at 12:18 am

    So O’Keefe, crowder, and shapiro are all failed theater kids. Starting to see a trend

    So theater is the new painting for right-wingers?

  52. 52.

    lgerard

    February 12, 2023 at 1:07 am

    Not many theater kids taking in 400k per  the way James is though

  53. 53.

    bjacques

    February 12, 2023 at 4:39 am

    Running with a theme from downstairs, it looks like Mr. Applegate called in his marker.

  54. 54.

    RA

    February 12, 2023 at 10:50 am

    His only hope now is to let it all go and come all the way out of the closet. He will never be able to sing and dance until he accepts himself.

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