Rolling Stone magazine came of age during the turbulent 1960s.
Back then, free speech mattered to the Left and rock's inner circle. And Rolling Stone reflected that core belief.
Not any more.
When the Legacy Media and the Left, but we repeat ourselves, doubled down on Cancel Culture, the magazine was right there with them.
The proof? The magazine excoriated comedian Dave Chappelle for telling trans jokes. The publication pounced and seized on the black comedian's "The Closer" Netflix special, one that became a symbol for what Elon Musk dubbed the "woke mind virus."
Despite the rightful criticism many have shared in the wake of that special’s release, Chappelle’s career seems to be doing just fine if the arena-wide standing ovation he received upon arrival on Thursday is any indication.
...hopefully the fervor over Chappelle dedicating an entire special to defending his terrible jokes about transgender people will inspire him to rethink what it truly takes to bring people together.
Darn it! He still has a career!
That was part of an alarming pattern for Rolling Stone.
The august mag said little as speech got smacked around over and again through the woke years. The Twitter Files? What's that? COVID-19 skeptics got censored across the fruited plain? Zero outrage.
Social media giants censored or diminished the Hunter Biden laptop story? Nothing to see here, folks.
Now, the magazine has found its voice. It recently savaged CBS News for pretending to care about free speech. The mag should know a little something about that topic, to be fair.
More recently, it asked why people were clutching their pearls over Hasan Piker?
"Why Is Everyone Scared of Hasan Piker?" the far-left rag asks.
Yes, it's a mystery, all right.
Why Is Everyone Scared of Hasan Piker?@hasanthehun's incendiary clips about Israel have brought flak from both sides of the aisle. But what he wants, he says, is to make people listen.
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) August 9, 2026
Read: https://t.co/z0NREKp0mG pic.twitter.com/zLZUVEk0jx
Why would anyone fear the Democrats embracing a ghoul who said America deserved 9/11, loves the Hezbollah flag, wants GOP politicians to be killed and worse.
That's a very partial list of his "greatest hits," and they're all true. There's no context that would make these outlandish statements acceptable in any sane society.
So what does Rolling Stone do? Fawn all over him like he's an alleged terrorist bomber.
Of course.
Now, what's more "problematic?" Chappelle telling a few trans jokes in a special that ends with his heartfelt memories of a late trans comic? Or a power broker within a major political party praising terrorists and egging on the death of landlords?
That's a brain teaser, all right.
The bigger question is easy to ask. What would Piker have to do or say to earn the magazine's enmity? Wearing a red MAGA hat might do the trick.
