Podcast Summary: The Glenn Beck Program

Episode: Rosie O'Donnell Apologizes for LIES About Minneapolis Shooter
Date: September 2, 2025
Hosts: Stu Burguiere & Jeffy Fisher (filling in for Glenn Beck)
Podcast Network: Blaze Podcast Network

Episode Overview

This episode dissects the fallout from Rosie O’Donnell’s premature and inaccurate social media comments about the recent Minneapolis church shooting. With Glenn Beck on vacation, Stu and Jeffy dive deep into the media’s handling of the event, the cultural reckoning around wokeness and DEI programs in corporate America, and provide large doses of satire and commentary on current political and social events. The hosts also cover J.K. Rowling’s gender stance, the influence of activist journalists on corporate policies, Trump Derangement Syndrome, and the ongoing debate over gun control following high-profile mass shootings.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Minneapolis Church Shooting & Media Reactions

• Media Reluctance to Address Motive:

  • The New York Times is critiqued for its hedging coverage, “What motivated the Minneapolis church shooter? We may never know” ([63:58]).
  • Stu and Jeffy mock the willful media blindness, pointing out the evidence that the shooter was motivated by personal grievance and mental health struggles, not by “MAGA” ideology as some, including Rosie O’Donnell, had claimed.

• Rosie O’Donnell’s Premature Misattribution:

  • Rosie, now living in Ireland, posted a video immediately after the shooting, asserting it was another “white, MAGA Republican” shooter, likening it to Columbine ([98:09]).
  • She later issues an apology after being called out for her error, admitting she didn’t “do [her] due diligence” and made “emotional statements” that were incorrect ([106:11]).
  • Stu and Jeffy use her apology to lampoon the broader trend of celebrities feeling compelled to offer immediate but ill-informed commentary:
    “You don’t have to post on every single thing. No one needs to know what you think about everything.” — Stu ([92:29])

2. Corporate America, DEI, & the End of the 'Woke Era'

• Van Jones on Corporate Wokeness:

  • Sharp focus on CNN’s Van Jones, who acknowledges companies are telling employees to check activism at the door and “the office is not the public square” ([08:49]).
    Memorable quote:
    “I enjoyed the moment for a while when we were having our reckonings about everything we'd done… Wrecked, okay? We went from reckoning to wrecked. We need to move on.” — Van Jones (as paraphrased by Stu, [09:02])

• PepsiCo’s DEI Reversal:

  • Activist Robby Starbuck has been pressuring companies to roll back DEI. PepsiCo, following contact, agrees to:
    • Eliminate its DEI officer/team
    • End DEI representation goals and social credit surveys
    • Focus on business growth, not activism ([20:26])
  • Stu hails the change:
    “Focus on making your freaking drinks, right? That’s how it's supposed to work.” — Stu ([21:34])
  • The impact is amplified by PepsiCo’s vast brand portfolio, with 318,000 employees affected.

• Cynicism about Corporations’ Motivations:

  • The hosts are skeptical that corporations have changed their values, suspecting they’re simply responding to perceived public sentiment:
    “Most of these companies did it because that was what they thought they had to do to get through that time.” — Stu ([34:45])

3. J.K. Rowling and the Gender Debate

• Rowling’s Principled Stance:

  • Rowling releases a list of beliefs about women's rights and gender that has made her a pariah in progressive circles ([50:28]):

    • Girls’ right to single-sex spaces
    • Female-only rape crisis centers
    • Women’s protected class status
    • Reality in medical language and sports

  • Stu highlights the broad popular support for Rowling’s positions, especially prior to 2020 (“that list… has a 95% approval rating” — [58:32]), and decries the social punishment for stating biological realities:
    “Language should reflect reality. That is a controversial statement in our culture right now.” — Stu ([53:24])

  • Rowling’s critics, according to Jeffy, despise her specifically because “they feel like they should have her”—a female, famously liberal celebrity ([50:08]).

4. Trump Derangement Syndrome & Conspiracy Thinking

• Rate and Nature of Threats Against Trump:

  • The hosts note the alarming frequency of attempts and threats against Trump, and how “Trump Derangement Syndrome” (TDS) drives some on the left to hysteria ([72:09], [77:03]).
  • They recall being accused of “inspiring assassins” during their Fox News days, noting the selective application of blame by the media ([72:51]).

• Handling Political Divisions:

  • Jeffy shares personal experience dealing with TDS-afflicted friends/family. They agree, for sanity and civility, it’s sometimes best to disengage:
    “If you can’t be somewhat sane… get out of my house. Get out of my life.” — Stu ([81:54])

5. Gun Control: The Australia Model and U.S. Realities

• Gun Confiscation, Buybacks, and Cultural Differences:

  • Discussion of how Australia’s post-massacre gun policies are often cited as a successful model, but the hosts refute this with data showing little impact on homicide rates and the infeasibility of replicating Australia’s policies in the U.S. ([111:14])
    • “Australia only had a couple million guns...Here… 400 million guns. If you buy back 100 million, you’ve still got 300 million guns left.” — Stu ([117:45])

• Satirical “How to Ban Guns in America” Segment:

  • The show parodies the impossibility of actual “gun-free America” in five comic steps (Repeal the Second Amendment, seize millions of guns by force, etc.), underlining that such efforts would spark mass resistance and fail ([119:43]).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Media’s Narrative Bias:
  “What motivated the Minneapolis church shooter? We may never know.” — The hosts, mocking The New York Times ([63:58])

• On Corporate America’s Post-Woke Shift:
  “Align your business with your business. Now there’s a crazy idea.” — Stu ([21:34])

• On J.K. Rowling’s Gender Stance:
  “She should be with them… when we see racism and you don’t, we make the decision. You no longer get your product.” — Stu ([29:32])

• On Posting in the Social Media Era:
  “You don’t have to post on every single thing. No one needs to know what you think about everything.” — Stu ([92:29])

• On Gun Confiscation:
  “If it were the guns, we would know it, right? If that was the problem, we would already know that that’s the problem.” — Jeffy ([116:29])

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Van Jones on Corporate DEI: 08:21–10:51
• PepsiCo Drops DEI (Robbie Starbuck): 19:36–24:16
• J.K. Rowling’s List / Gender Debate: 50:28–58:03
• Rosie O’Donnell’s Initial Video: 98:09–98:41
• Rosie O’Donnell’s Apology: 102:31–107:08
• On Gun Control & the Australia Debate: 111:14–118:58
• How to Ban Guns (Satire): 119:43–122:24

Tone & Style

The episode is marked by brisk, comedic banter and pointed satire. Stu and Jeffy use a casual, irreverent style—mocking celebrity activism, media groupthink, and the cyclical absurdities of American political debates. They pull no punches when challenging both left- and right-wing narratives but maintain a tone accessible to conservatives and independent listeners alike.

Conclusion

This episode offers not only an examination of the modern media environment after high-profile tragedies, but also a meta-commentary on the performative outrage and quick-trigger “hot-take” culture that pervades social media. The hosts see a shifting tide against corporate wokeness, call for measured engagement with political adversaries, and stress the need for facts and principle over ideological impulse and posturing. Rosie O’Donnell’s apology serves as a symbol of broader reckoning—and the dangers of knee-jerk, fact-free commentary in a polarized era.