Babylon Bee CEO slams SPLC 'left-wing activists masquerading as journalists' for 'hit piece doxxing' Not the Bee writers

The Southern Poverty Law Center is seeking to dox a writer from Not the Bee according to Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon, who posted correspondence from the SPLC on X. SPLC journalist Creede Newton reached out to news site Not the Bee, a sister site to the satirical Babylon Bee, inquiring about a writer who goes by the name Planet Moron, saying that the writer has been identified based on source code on the site.

"Hope you're well," the message Dillon shared reads. "This is Creede Newton, a journalist with the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Report. I'm writing to request comment for a story we plan to publish Monday. The story details your articles on Not the Bee.

"'Planet Moron,'" Newton continues, "has maintained a separate web presence as a blogger for nearly 20 years, but since 2020 has written over 600 articles for Not the Bee. Exposed author information on Not The Bee's source corde [sic] indicates that 'Planet Moron' you, [redacted]." Newton then says that "'Planet Moron' is a prolific writer on culture war issues," and claims that one of the articles penned by this writer "mocks transgender children as 'mentally ill tween[s]' who are 'the economic lifeblood of the multi-billion-dollar trans industry." Newton asks for a comment.

In response to this, Dillon slammed the SPLC, saying "The discredited, scandal-ridden smear factory known as the SPLC is about to publish a hit piece doxxing several of our 'Not the Bee' writers who wished to remain anonymous so they could speak freely, without fear. The SPLC extracted sensitive information from our site, then used that information to contact our writers directly. I’ve included a screenshot of one of these emails below."

"We’re determining how they obtained this information, but we already know why they went digging for it," Dillon continued. "They did it because they’re left-wing activists masquerading as journalists. They did it because they lack principles. They did it because they’re vindictive bullies who've admitted their aim is to 'completely destroy' individuals and organizations they disagree with by making them pay a steep price for speaking freely."

"As a public figure, I’ve been attacked many times," Dillon said. "It comes with the territory, and I accept that. What I won’t accept is the doxxing and smearing of our staff because they said some things the SPLC doesn’t like."

Not the Bee CEO and founder Dan Dillon also responded, saying "You may have heard that the Southern Poverty Law Center has targeted our organization for a hit piece. They've taken personal information about our authors and pieced together a story that is meant to 'expose' our anonymous staff to their employers and the general public. We wont' (sic) be intimidated by these efforts. While we take the actual issue of doxxing very seriously and will defend those on staff that wish to stay anonymous, what we don't take seriously is this organization that's behind the attack. They are angry, bitter, resentful hacks that feel like their ability to pummel people into worldview submission is slipping away. Let them try to smear us. In doing so, they reveal the true villain in themselves."

Later, after the article was published, Dillon said "The SPLC has put out a statement admitting their dox-and-smear campaign against us wasn't actually journalism, but an attempt to censor speech they don't like." He cited a statement from the SPLC which said that "The SPLC is commtited to transparency and is dedicated to protecting the safety of trans and genderqueer individuals when they are publicly attacked." It goes on to say that Not the Bee's reporting is "hateful content" that is meant to "dehumanize transgender individuals, the entire LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities, and people of color."

Newton has dug into Heritage Foundation staffers, and has identified groups that oppose sex changes for minors as "extremist groups," including Gays Against Groomers, the American College of Pediatricians, the Alliance Defending Freedom, and others. He has also written that "extremists" are the ones who sought to bus illegal immigrants out of Texas and into Democrat-run cities.

Many rushed to defend Not the Bee and take aim at the SPLC, such as Florida press secretary Christina Pushaw, who said "When you think about it, it's remarkable that the SPLC has so much funding from deep-pocketed left-wing oligarchs and yet the best oppo research they can produce is: 'This anonymous writer for a conservative website said something objectively true.'"

"Imagine if the SPLC spent this much time and energy tracking down child s*x traffickers instead of doxxing writers for Not The Bee," Libs of TikTok chimed in.

"This is a desperate attempt from Southern Poverty Law Center to intimidate & silence NTB anonymous writers. Cancel culture is fading. @splcenter will soon realize & and all of these activists posing as journalists will be out of a job," said Riley Gaines.

The Daily Wire's Megan Basham pointed out that the SPLC, which runs a "hatewatch" list, has "refused to even call Hamas a terrorist group. Some of their leadership even blamed Israel for Hamas attacks."