Conservative comedian Steven Crowder’s annual Anti-Oscars Party live stream has been taken down by YouTube after a copyright claim was filed by DisneyEnterprisesInc. which owns ABC – the company broadcasting the Oscars ceremony on TV.
If you’re not familiar with the Anti-Oscars Party, it involves Crowder and a number of other hosts and guests watching and commentating on The Oscars while providing hilarious insights on the proceedings. The Anti-Oscars Party has been streamed on YouTube each year since its inception (until now) and it’s a fun alternative to the regular broadcast of The Oscars.
Crowder says the stream had 40,000 viewers at the time of the takedown and he argues that it was protected under fair use. He suggested that the stream was taken down for anti-competitive reasons and also cited examples of how he has successfully challenged multiple copyright claims that were protected under fair use in the past.
After a short delay, Crowder continued the stream on Facebook and vowed not to let the censors win. You can watch the stream or replay (depending on when you’re reading this) here.
This takedown comes just hours before YouTube’s new strikes system comes into play. Under the new system, Crowder would have received a warning and no further penalties on his YouTube account, meaning he would have been able to appeal this copyright strike and maintain his live streaming privileges.
However, since the strike occurred under YouTube’s current strikes system, he will now be unable to live stream for the next 90 days, unless the copyright strike is successfully appealed within that 90 day period.
The questionable copyright claim from DisneyEnterprisesInc. has angered many of Crowder’s fans and encouraged them to support him financially by joining the Mug Club – Crowder’s premium subscription service which gives members access to additional live streams and video content.
Crowder responded to the takedown on the live stream. You can watch a clip of his full response below:
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