Matt Brevner, Juno-nominated Vancouver hip-hop artist and Rebel News contributor, faced career destruction after CTV falsely framed him as leading a violent anti-LGBTQ protest—despite only 10–15 people being involved. His Christian faith, central to his identity, clashed with cancel culture’s performative judgment, yet he refuses to abandon grace-based redemption. Now embracing activism through journalism and music, Brevner’s upcoming In Jesus’ Name album (May 31) and work at Rebel News aim to counter leftist dominance, including Bill C-10 censorship, while treating even ideological opponents like Tillikum Tom with dignity. His journey reflects a broader spiritual awakening among conservatives pushed to the margins during COVID-19. [Automatically generated summary]
It's Sheila Gunread, and you're listening to a free audio-only recording of my weekly Wednesday night show, The Gun Show.
Tonight, my guest is someone that I think many of you already know a little bit about, but I don't think you know the whole story.
My guest tonight is my Vancouver-based colleague, Matt Brevner, and he's got a crazy story of being canceled because he was Christian in hip-hop.
It's wild.
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A Juno-nominated hip-hop artist was cancelled for being Christian.
Now he works for Rebel News.
I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed, and you're watching The Gunn Show.
Despite the unfamiliar surroundings, I'm actually not out on the road today, but I am having camera problems in my home studio.
Nothing's working.
So I thought I would come outside and take a bit of a break from the frustrations of failing technology.
Today I want you to meet someone who has been a work colleague for me for, I guess, a couple of months now.
His name is Matt Brevner, and he's a video journalist based in Vancouver.
He works a lot with the incredible Drea Humphrey out there on the West Coast.
You know those gorgeously cinematic videos that Drea makes?
Well, Matt's the guy behind all that.
And you might have noticed that he's even coming out from behind the camera a little more often to do some journalism of his own.
Now, I know Matt because of his great work for us.
What I didn't know is that he's a survivor of a cancellation mob.
Matt is a Juno-nominated hip-hop artist who was maliciously canceled and had his career basically ruined by a social justice mob, largely because of his open Christian beliefs.
So Matt Brevner is my guest on the show tonight to tell his story of how he was canceled and how he's come out the other side.
Here's the interview we recorded yesterday morning.
So joining me now is one of the newest members to our team, Matt Brevner from his home in Vancouver.
Matt, you have a story that I don't think a lot of people know about.
People are learning more about you as you come out from behind the scenes and in front of the camera.
But How you came to us and how you sort of ended up sort of in the world of Rebel News, it's it's a lot, isn't it?
Yeah, it's it's interesting.
Um, my story on how I came to Rebel is it's almost out of prudence, you know.
Uh, I've been a fan for a long time and I always liked how, you know, not to sound cliche, but you know, Rebel covers the other side of the story, which to me means you know, gives a voice to the underdog.
So, after I went through, you know, a very grand media debacle in Vancouver, thanks to CTV and social media, Rebel reached out and they wanted to do exactly that, which was, you know, tell the other side of the story, hear what happened to me.
And it's, it was kind of interesting because there's not too many, at least in Canada, there's not too many media outward outlets that are at least friendly and unbiased towards Christians and Christian stories.
So that was just like, it was weird for me to get used to because I'm just so guarded walking through the world that it was like really cool to, you know, like when I met Treya, you know, the first thing we prayed before we even sat down to talk.
And I was just like, wow, okay, there are like-minded, you know, folks out there.
And that was, I guess, the first step in, you know, rehabilitation.
And yeah, it's been pretty amazing.
Yeah, I think that's one of the great things about Rebel News is that while we're not specifically a Christian news network, we have people from all different faith backgrounds who are with us.
But because we advocate for Christians in the public square, it's okay for people like you and me to preface our videos with, I'm a Christian, so I see things through a very Christian worldview.
And there's an honesty with the viewer when you do that sort of thing.
But let's go back a little.
Tell us, I mean, you're the same guy, but tell us what you were doing in your life sort of became before you came to, I guess you were canceled, then you came to us.
Honesty With Viewers00:15:34
So go way back to the beginning, I guess.
So what was what was cancel worthy, I guess?
Yeah.
So I'm a musician.
It's basically music has been how I've been providing for myself and paying my bills since I was about 18.
I was fortunate enough to, you know, to tour the world and get a few, you know, Juno nominations and Much Music Award nominations and Leo Awards and all the cool things in the process.
Hip hop on the west coast of Canada, outside historically outside of a couple groups like the Rascals or Swoon members.
I came up in a generation where it wasn't really big here.
It was more rock like, you know, soft rock and country.
So we definitely had to like carve out our own our niche and our own lane because of that.
I didn't reach a level of international success.
I had a few singles that did not bad in North America.
But, you know, when you are a bit of a trailblazer in a community, you become a bit of like a big fish in a small pond.
And I don't say that to toot my own horn, but just people held me to a certain status and regard in the community.
And the difficult thing is, especially in the arts, you know, it's historically very liberal, now very left.
So, you know, if you don't tow, you almost have to toe the line by default, even if these aren't necessarily your beliefs.
I wasn't ever someone to shy away from what I believe, but I noticed it and family and friends in the industry that you kind of just like keep your ideas to yourself and keep quiet for the sake of your career.
Yeah, so I was always that.
You know, I I wrote about I wasn't, I was by no means a Christian artist.
Um, I would say that, you know, up until maybe four years ago, you know, Jesus was my savior, but not my lord um, but I didn't shy away from speaking about him in press or in my music um so, so I was always that Christian sorry, I was always that Christian, that Christian artist that was like oh, I don't really like Christians, but Brevner's cool, like I was that guy right, community.
And then when they realize, oh wait, I don't know that's, I guess that's kind of a bit of a jumbled uh, that sets the the stage anyway.
So right, that sort of takes care of my next question.
I was going to ask, what is it like uh, being a Christian in an industry that is often, you know uh, proponents of hedonism or uh, materialism?
Um, I guess how were you able to sort of maintain your uh christianity when you're, swimming in that world?
Or do you sort of make yourself a missionary to that world?
Um, I think well, when you're born again, it's a transformation from the inside out.
So I didn't set out to.
Okay, I need to completely rearrange and shuffle these structures um, but you know, when given opportunities to have conversations with people one-on-one, or to be kind to people who maybe aren't kind to me, or speak some truth into someone's life, i'm taking that opportunity a hundred thousand percent every time.
And, and that's again.
You know people, you know that's.
I guess that's why I got that label of like oh, I don't really like Christians, but Brevner's cool.
But they didn't realize that it was like the lord working in me that were that.
You know, those were attributes that were making me appealing to these other people.
But they just don't know the, they don't know God and they don't know the gospel.
So it's that like uh, that unconscious draw that people have to to things that are, you know um, just pure and decent um, even if society is saying that that's not the way it's supposed to be.
So yeah, it was definitely difficult, though I had to.
You know, I felt convicted and there's definitely like a, and you know i'm not perfect, so there were times where I felt like I had to toe the line in my own way.
Like that doesn't mean that I was necessarily screaming for certain social issues that were popular, but certain, you know, tropes within the genre that I would write about or whatever that I felt like, not only like they were real to me, but I also felt like if I glamorized them, they would be popular, and I mean they were.
You know, some of my most commercially successful music is some of the most uh damning, you know, and that's something that I want to make right now with my life um.
So let's move ahead to how you ended up being as a musician with some commercial success.
I mean, you spoke about the Junos um, how do you end up being canceled?
How does that happen?
It seemed like you, according to your story here, you were like an up-and-coming star in Canada.
I bet you were probably headed towards at least some success in the United States.
How do you end up being completely stripped of all of that?
I guess you could say it's conviction, but I'll give you the, I'll give you the nitty-gritty of it.
So I don't know if maybe you can share this sentiment with me, but last June, everybody thought the world was going to end and the sky was falling.
And folks who had no interest in Jesus or the gospel ever were suddenly curious about what the book of Revelations is about.
Yeah.
You know, and I'm not a theologian by any means, but you know, people, that piece that surpasses all understanding, you know, I would, I would run into friends or family that, you know, don't know the Lord and they would just be, they could, you could see the pain and the fear on their face, you know, and I would be like, hey, you know, and not to, not to make light of anybody's difficult situation in the pandemic.
You know, I wasn't working either.
I'm a touring, I'm a touring musician, but I was so go, go, go.
I was like, wow, I finally have time to work on my relationships.
I have time to read more Bible, to pray, to worship, catch up on projects that were like passion projects to me.
It was like a really fulfilling moment for me.
And I don't, I've never, since I've accepted Christ into my life, I've never felt alone.
There's been moments where maybe I felt a little lonely, but never, never, ever alone.
So I think you had mentioned like a hedonistic lifestyle.
I think North America is a hedonistic society.
So we, you know, our pursuit of joy and pleasure, not joy, our pursuit of pleasure is our main.
That's why everyone, that's where everyone gets their worth from.
Right.
It's the meaning of life.
If it feels good, do it.
And instead of if it does good, do it.
Right.
So people put their identity in their head in their hedonism.
So, you know, when everything's shut down and you can't fill that crevice in your chest with vapid things like sex, drugs, and alcohol and whatever else, people have literally an identity crisis.
And I think that's what we've seen over the past year.
People may be making rash decisions or acting out of character.
It's just because of fear.
They don't know who they are.
So, you know, you dangle that carrot and they want to get back to, you know, hopefully that's a way to get their sense of self back.
So, anyways, like, I saw this as an opportunity to be more forthcoming about my beliefs because for the first time really in my life, you know, I felt like, okay, well, God gives us all free will.
You know, I'm not, I'm not erring to the Calvinist mindset.
I do believe that God gives us free will.
So with that being said, you have a whole, I don't know what kind of seeds God's planting in someone's life and they have a whole lifetime to get to know the Lord.
But when this was the first time where I felt like there was a massive sense of urgency, like I, I really have something that you need now, because like, look at you, look at your life.
Like, it's not, it's not all bad, you know?
So I started having conversations with people about God in a way that I hadn't before.
And it was really good.
You know, my best friend who had struggled with fentanyl addiction for over a decade, he gave his life to God after we've been talking over a decade about, you know, he's a staunch atheist.
He, you know, he gave his life to the Lord.
Amazing things were happening in my life.
And I could see like without a doubt, God was moving through it.
And I was just like, wow, this is so cool.
This is like, you know, so there's a Vancouver is kind of, and I don't mean to, I'm not trying to like stumble my community or stumble my brothers, but we're very, the church here is very small and very quiet and not very involved socially.
So there's a there's a pastor from Toronto.
His name's Doray Love, and he speaks.
He preaches at, I think it's like Eaton's Eaton Center, is that right?
Young and Dundas, Young and Dundas.
Yeah.
And the thing that's interesting to me about the culture there is, you know, Young and Dundas, you have preachers, you have Imans, you have rabbis, you have atheists, you have Darth Vader, you have the juggler, like, you know, and everybody is just entertaining and sharing their beliefs and just talking.
And it's, you know, I started watching some of his videos along with, you know, other evangelists and street preachers and just people that were bold for the Lord, which I felt like was, you know, I'm encouraged by that.
Now, everybody has a different flavor, and I'm not saying you're supposed, you know, but the thing that I felt found interesting about these videos is it wasn't so much about his conversations with the person standing right in front of him.
It was how the people who were watching were reacting and receiving what was being said.
And I thought that that was really interesting because I live in a very diverse city and I was trying to sharpen my skill set as to how to have conversations and how to evangelize to different people from different walks.
So it was just a kind of, you know, I would watch him and David Lynn.
I was like listening to Billy Graham every morning.
Like I was just trying to get like a wide gamut, you know, because I look at someone like Dore, like, he's one of the watchmen, you know.
It's like, woe to Israel.
If I don't, if I don't pass this message on, it's on my shoulders.
The yoke is on me.
So I have to tell you, you know, so out of the sense of urgency.
And I respect that because whether they're popular or not, you know, anyone who's willing to live fearless for the Lord, it's like all the world to you because that's not easy to do.
You know, I imagine John the Baptist wasn't extremely popular in his time, right?
So he was not.
No, definitely not.
So I sent him a message just through his YouTube channel.
I was like, hey, man, just want to encourage you.
If you're ever in Vancouver, let me know.
I would love to come out and just watch.
So I thought nothing of it.
And then a few months later, I got a message, an email, and he's like, hey, we're going down to Main and Hastings just to pray for folks and hand out water bottles.
Come through.
And I mean, I mean, I don't have to tell you about Main and Hastings.
It's world class.
And to me, I was like, wow, that's amazing.
This guy's first time in Vancouver and he's going straight to Maine and Hastings.
Like, why isn't my, you know, why aren't we doing more of that?
And I get it.
You know, you'll always have the needy among you.
I understand.
But still, it's just like, yeah, this is like the, I think, feel like we need to, we should be doing that, like putting our money where our mouth is.
Like, I really feel like, you know, even if in just our community and in our city, if, you know, if tithe is 10% and not everyone gives 10%, but if tithe is 10% and this, and half of that was put towards community outreach, especially when the churches are closed, like you wouldn't, you would know us by our love for one another.
Like the impact on the communities would be undeniable, far greater than any social program.
Like you, you know what I mean?
So this is a personal conviction of mine, anyways.
So we went down there.
There wasn't much preaching.
It was mostly just having conversations with folks.
And the thing that was like really beautiful about it was making eye contact with people that are not often, you know, they're often overlooked.
And just the amount of like dignity, like recognizing somebody, looking them in the eyes and saying, you have worth because God loves you and you're, you know, you're created for a purpose.
It's just like, it's such an empowering thing, more than giving someone 20 bucks or like whatever else.
It's like, so just to be able to hear people's stories and it was just so amazing.
You know, like, there was a who's now a friend of mine, a young man who was sitting on the corner of Carnegie Hall.
And he's about my age, blue hair, leather jacket.
And I could tell that he was like listening to what, you know, I was talking about with one of the preachers.
But whenever I'd make eye contact with him, he would kind of look away like he was afraid.
So I just kneeled and I like went up to him.
I was like, hey, man, like, what's your story?
How's it going?
And he's just like, honestly, like, terrible.
I'm out here from Toronto.
I'm addicted to crystal meth.
I came out here with my girlfriend.
She left me in the Naimo.
I don't know if she's dead or alive.
I'm down to my last 50 bucks.
And something was telling me to just come hang out here.
So I've been sitting here listening to you guys talk about Jesus.
And I've never heard anyone talk about Jesus the way you guys are talking about Jesus.
And I'm just like, he's like, you know, tears in his eyes.
And I'm just like, well, can I pray for you?
Like, why not?
You know, like, I feel like the Holy Spirit is on a roll in my life right now.
So I'm like, hey, let's lay hands on this guy and like see what happens, you know?
So we pray for him.
And it's just like his countenance and his disposition is just a complete 180, you know, like almost instantly, like this weight had been completely lifted off his shoulders, you know?
So he's like, it's so funny that, you know, you're here right now because I got a message on messenger from a friend of mine who I haven't spoken to for three years.
And she found out that I was at Maine and Hastings.
So she rented a car and she's driving from Calgary right now to pick me up.
And this can't be for accident.
You know, I had my last 50 bucks.
It's been burning a hole in my hole in my pocket.
Like I really don't want to use.
So I don't want to be left alone.
So I'm really grateful to like be here right now.
So I'm like, okay, well, you know, if this was about, this is the end of the night.
It was about like 12 or one o'clock.
And I'm like, okay, well, what can we do?
Your friend should be here around like seven or eight.
I was like, okay, there's a Tim Hortons up the block.
We'll go to Tim Hortons.
You know, they have Wi-Fi.
There's, it's warm there, whatever.
You can hang out.
It'll be all good.
But then, of course, because of the pandemic, Timmy's is closed.
Right.
So I'm like, okay, well, what do we do?
And there's, you know, what would Jesus do in the situation?
Well, Jesus met people at the kitchen table.
So let's go eat.
There's an Indian restaurant that's, you know, on the other side of town.
I know they're open.
Like, when's the last time you ate?
And he's like, dude, I'm addicted to meth.
Like, I don't, I don't eat.
But he's cracking these jokes, right?
And I can tell like his mood's changing.
So anyways, we go to this Indian restaurant and he begins to tell me about like where things kind of derailed in his life and how like he can't wait to get back to Toronto so that he can make things right with the people that he's wronged in his life, like his dad, who served in the Gulf War and, you know, that left him emotionally cold.
And he feels like he doesn't connect with his dad because, you know, and he's talking about how his grandpa, you know, he fought in the Irish resistance and, you know, he's like, he can't wait to get home and talk about Jesus with his grandpa because his grandpa just loves the Lord so much.
A Spirit of Reconciliation00:14:58
Like there's a spirit of like reconciliation that's coming over him, like the hope.
Like it's not too late.
I'm going to go figure my life out.
So it's the end of the night.
It's like 4.30.
And like, what do I do with this guy?
And at this point, I had roommates.
So I was like, okay, I'll tell you what, dude, you can sleep on my couch.
Don't tell my roommates.
Just let yourself out because they would completely lose it.
They were like deathly afraid of the pandemic and not very friendly to the Lord anyways.
So that does to put it mildly.
But I was like, you just sleep on my couch, let yourself out in the morning and it's all good.
So anyways, he let himself out and I thought that was, it was fine.
And I thought that was going to be the end of it.
And I wasn't going to, if I didn't hear from him again, I was like, okay, well, that's cool.
I think he's, he's okay.
So anyways, long story short or long story long, I reached out to Dore.
I was like, dude, you won't believe what happened last night.
Remember that guy, Jake?
You know, he's like, he gave his life to the Lord.
We hung out all night.
He's like, no way, that's so amazing.
And I was like, well, he's like, I'm like, are you still in town?
Because basically he just travels from town to town.
And he's like, yeah, we're going to the West End today.
You want to come hang out?
And I'm just like, in my mind, I'm like, if it's anything like yesterday, like, of course, like, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
And, you know, I'm a little, maybe I'm a little bit overconfident.
So we're at, we're on the West End.
And it's funny because most people were pleasantly surprised to see us there.
Like people were honking, people were waving, you know, because the thing is, it's like if you look at somebody, if you have a conversation with somebody who thinks you hate them and they hate you because you think or they think that you hate them and you say, hey, hey, dude, I hope God loves you.
I hope you have a good day.
It's not all bad.
You know, nine out of 10, they're going to be like, really?
God loves me?
Huh?
Okay, cool.
Thanks.
And like, whether they believe or not, you know, they're going to, it's still like, it's dignifying.
You know, now you get like the one out of 10 that is like over the top angry.
And I believe it's, it's spiritual because, you know, we're not really talking, you're not talking about anything that's, you know, old school.
Like I'm not bringing up Leviticus for, you know what I mean?
It's just like telling people, hey, God loves you.
I hope you have a good day, you know, like really extending that olive branch.
So they're out there for like four hours and it was fine.
And then, yeah, this guy actually recognized me from my past career and I didn't realize that he was a member of the gay community.
I had always known him to be quite over the top heterosexual.
So he came up to me and he started getting kind of violent and screaming at me.
And there are cameras out and he's like, of all times, you're going to come here now.
And this is like kind of like the height during the height of the BLM kind of protests, which is kind of, I don't really, they use that as a spin of the story, which I don't really think is relevant because all the preachers are black.
So I don't really get that, you know.
But anyways, so they CTV ended up, there was a CTV reporter there and there was maybe 10 to 15 people there.
But the way they talk about it, it was like hundreds of things.
And they covered the story essentially as homophobic protest sparks outrage in the West End.
And my face was all over it.
I wasn't named in it, but my face was all over it.
So this, you know, became a big story in Vancouver.
And then it was such a successful story.
They ran it two nights in a row.
They ran it nationally the next night and didn't reach out to me for comment or anything.
And of course, you know, in something like hyper-competitive and over the top, like hip-hop music, like you're bound to amass some haters over the years, right?
And I'm not saying that I'm blameless in what led me to that point, but that's just the reality of the situation.
So anybody who ever felt some type of way about me took the opportunity to, you know, Brebner is a homophobe.
Brebner was leading a homophobic rally in the West End.
And if you support him, you support homophobia, you know.
So then my record label put out a press release saying that they don't condone my actions.
They don't condone any sort of homophobia or what have you.
So they dropped me and offered to donate proceeds of any of my products that were sold over that year to pro-LGBTQ communities.
But it's all predicated on nothing.
You weren't being that's the thing.
Like it was like, sorry to interrupt, but I'm just, as I'm listening to this, it's, you know, it starts off with a malicious lie.
And then people report on the malicious lie.
And then people report on the reporting of the malicious lie.
And then all of a sudden it becomes true about you.
And that's it.
Nothing else matters.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's, it's unreal.
And it's, you know, I, as everything was just kind of going crazy, I didn't want to handle things.
I was like covered in prayer.
I went to my church community.
It's like, I don't want to handle things by just swinging, you know, like I think about, I think about Christ when he was before Pilate.
You know, like, I don't have to defend myself.
Like vengeance is not.
And then, and maybe, you know, looking back now, like that was easy.
It's easier to say that now than it was at the time because of how like God's redeeming me and what he's doing in my life now.
I wouldn't change it for anything.
But at the time, it was hard because I wanted to like, you know, like Joseph, get myself out of jail.
But then every time I tried to get myself out of jail, God would like slap me on the hand and like put me back in there.
And he just wanted me to wait, you know?
But yeah, it was like, it was extremely vicious.
And now people are starting to slowly come back into my life and be like, yeah, it was really crazy.
What happened to you?
And I'm like, yeah, you contributed to it.
But it was really crazy that you didn't stand beside me when I needed you the most.
Yeah.
Because that's the thing, right?
You know, and I mentioned this to Ezra, but when you're an entrepreneur, your greatest resources are your relationships.
So when something heinous like that happens to you and you don't have friends or family to call on, because it's a thing, when something like that is ran about you in the news, people who, especially non-believers, when it's something that has to do with like religion, they have to reconcile everything that they know about you, whether that's in a five-year or 15-year relationship with what they saw out of context in 10 seconds.
And it's, it's cognitive dissonance and it breaks people's brains because like I don't understand, I don't expect, you know, people who, you know, don't love the Lord to then defend my point as a Christian or whatever else.
And it's weird.
You get all sorts of like weird different like arguments like, well, you shouldn't have been there because the gospel is homophobic.
Well, why, what do you mean you were there to like be nice to people?
Why would you do that?
That doesn't make any sense.
Like, I don't get it.
You were clearly there to be harmful.
Well, if you are a homophobe, it's still legal for you to say whatever you want to say whenever you want.
Well, you were just practicing your freedom of religion.
And although it was maybe culturally insensitive, you weren't doing anything wrong.
Well, you should know better and you should get beat up because of it.
Well, you're a bigot.
So we should take everything that you have.
And that's, you know what I mean?
It's like the get, it's not a linear response to an action like that.
It creates this explosion of mess, like this poop on the wall that you're, you know, it's like a Jackson Pollock painting at the end of it.
And you're like stuck trying to, like, you don't really know the angle in which to like, you know, and not to mention like the Twitter and Facebook, you know, cancel culture mobs that don't, that didn't know me, had nothing to do with me, had nothing to do with the incident, but literally just search hashtags looking for causes to dogpile on top of.
And it's interesting because it's kind of like the dogma of leftism.
It's a religion.
It's certainly a religion.
And we're seeing it tied up into, you know, scientism and all of it.
It's, it's a, it's a moral argument.
And it's, it's, they're like the new Pharisees because there's no redemption.
Exactly.
Exactly.
You know, like they do all things to be noticed by man.
They're, you know, they've got their phylacteries hanging out.
That's for sure.
And it's funny that you call it a new religion because it really is.
There's two religions at play here, at least for you.
There's Christianity and then there's the cancel culture.
And one of those believes that people are redeemable and the other one doesn't.
Yeah, and it's that simple.
And it's not only are you redeemable, it's that foundation that you're saved by grace and not by your works that makes us all redeemable.
Like there is nothing that you can do to make, you know, to gain or lose your favor with the Lord.
Whereas everything else in our life, everything else in our life is based on performance.
And when it's based on performance, you can never perform too much.
You know, like, so it's really sad looking back.
It's sad that the message was lost and misconscrewed because, and then not for my sake.
I'm fine.
You know, I'm already taken care of.
This is the rest of this is just a victory lap for me, to be completely honest.
But there were conversations, dozens of conversations I were having with people that don't know the Lord that were like this close.
And it's just like that opportunity kind of got snagged for me.
And, you know, there's, I'm not going to lie, there's times where it's, you know, it hurts.
Like there's certain family that won't associate with me anymore.
Like I can't just like call, call my old buddies and go play around to golf.
Like, you know, I can't, I can't do the simple, those simple things anymore.
So, I'm trying to find my new tribe, which is fine.
But, uh, my heart hurts in that way over what I've lost, not so much about like career or whatever else, because honestly, I was reaching a point where I couldn't keep, you know, towing the enemy's line anyways.
Um, it seems like with what's going on in our world right now, everything is so polarized.
And, you know, in some ways, that's that's not a good thing, and that's difficult.
But from a biblical worldview, it's like at least the Lord's making it obvious to me.
Like, I feel like my discernment is sharp and he's making it easy for me, he doesn't want me to stumble.
And I really do believe that there's a move of God that's coming.
And it's, and it's apparent with, you know, every believer that I talk to from any denomination can feel it.
They know something's something big is happening and big is afoot.
So, I just'm grateful for that, the clarity that this has provided me.
And I feel like there's a lot of friends now that are coming back into the fold because of what's been going on with COVID.
They've they're now having these conversations and these weird points in their life where they're being ridiculed or canceled by people for having one belief or the other belief.
So, I just like thank the Lord that He put me through it a year early because I'm already on the other side of it, you know.
So, it's in that I find peace and it allows me to be encouraging to other folk.
Well, I don't want to say that I'm grateful that you were canceled, but I mean, that sounds awful, but I do believe that, and I think like you, that God uses all things.
And I think He pulled you from a lifestyle that could have resulted in problems and put you in a different place.
And for me, seeing your work with Drea, I can see that kindness that you have when you're even talking to people who are politically diametrically opposed to you.
You guys have a really great video where you are at the Extinction Rebellion protest.
And even in your interactions with people, even after they tried to get rid of you there, they shoved Drea, you still, you can tell in your work that even people on the other side, you treat them as though they do bear the image of the divine.
You can see it in your work when you do it.
At least as someone who sort of oversees your work editorially, I can see that coming through.
I really appreciate that because, you know, it's evangelism in a way.
And I'm not saying that I necessarily lead with, you know, tracks and like small versions of the NIV, you know, New Testament in my pocket, but, you know, we cover stories that more often are not than not stem from pain.
So I understand pain and I know what fixes that.
And so it allows me to put like the Lord's putting me in situations to be able to like see people's pain.
And I think that's bigger than political issue.
That's bigger than fleshly conviction.
Like it's funny that you mentioned the extinction rebellion because talking to that Tillikum Tom fellow, he was, you know, essentially saying that he's been a protester forever and we're five years away from never coming back.
And he spouted all of these quite extreme theories.
But all of these ideas were prefaced by, hey, I have a 23-year-old son who's saying to me that he doesn't want to have children because he thinks the world's going to melt.
So he's obviously been sowing this indoctrination into his kid's life and he's seeing the fruits of his labor now, realizing he's not going to be a grandfather.
So acting from that place of pain and fear, he feels the only reasonable thing for him to do now is to hit the streets and bang a plastic, a plastic bucket and tell the world, you know, repent before it's too late.
So like he's clearly misguided, but I can, it's like so obvious to me the motive.
So I have a heart for that because like that's, you know, he's broken.
Yeah.
You know, so and I don't mean that from like an arrogant way.
I say that because I was broken and I could see that in him.
So how could I not have a heart for that?
Like, I would hate the idea of being a 70-year-old man having to protest because I'm never going to have grandchildren.
Like that's, that, that's heartbreaking to me, regardless of the cause, regardless of what got you there.
No one's perfect, you know, but it's just like, that's a, that's a fear of like, you know, my heart breaks for him, you know?
Yeah.
You know, I've spoken with Michelle Sterling from Friends of Science about something very similar where this religion of environmentalism lacks the hope that other religions have.
I mean, it's a doomsday cult.
There's no getting off the ride.
There's no like, there's not even a good rapture.
You know, it's just, it's just smite all the way through.
I guess that brings me to how you came to us.
I want to hear more about how, you know, because I think our story at Rebel News is a little bit like your story where people have these preconceived notions about who and what we are.
And I think you're experiencing some of that or you did a year ago.
What's your experience been like with us so far?
And be honest, let me have it.
I, okay, so I've been a fan for a few years before I came to work with Rebel.
And it was, you know, there's no conservative news in Canada.
Like other than other, other than the Rebel, it just doesn't exist.
Conservative Party Realities00:06:29
So I really appreciated, I mean, I try to be guarded in the information I read.
So I try to, even though it's hard to be objective when you're reading news, I try to read all of it.
And I find like the truth is often somewhere in the middle of all of it.
So I just, it was something that was adding a flavor to my worldview that I wasn't getting anywhere else.
And I really appreciated that, like the honey badger quality of Menzies, like as of just a fan, like that was something that I really liked.
So yeah, I would just, you know, tune in just for that because I just, you know, and it turns out he's like exactly what I'd hope he'd be.
He's like the sweetest, kindest man, which is just so like affirming to me.
And that does shine through.
But yeah, I just, I'm, I understand that censorship is a real problem.
I've been, I grew up my life, my whole life being concerned of government overreach.
Like I'm half Japanese and my Japanese grandparents are Canadians and they met in a concentration camp in Alberta.
So this is a part of my, and Japanese people are actually like, it's quite a conservative culture.
But, you know, they've always sewn into me like, hey, when this happens, you know, start to like, you know, especially on the gun issue.
My grandpa wasn't a gun owner, but he was always like, hey, as soon as they come to your, for your guns, you have to freak out, you know, so, but anyway, so yeah, I just, uh, I think Rebel doesn't get enough credit for actually what you guys are doing as far as giving a megaphone and a platform to the voices that are otherwise silenced.
And I mean, if you haven't figured out by 2021 that you just have to follow the money to see why certain issues are brought to light and certain issues aren't, it's always about the money, like always, always, always about the money.
But if you haven't figured that out yet, it may be too late because we are so barraged by propaganda and in every, you know, you learn in social studies that, you know, the British would drop leaflets from the warplanes over Germany to tell people to get out and they were propagandic in nature.
But we just think that that's where it ends.
But this is propaganda and we're tethered to it.
You know, so it's very difficult to like, you know, discern between what's true and what's false.
But I think it's important.
Voices like Rebel are important because it rounds things out.
And it's important to give people just the two sides of every coin so that people can see the coin as a whole.
Yeah.
And without that, we're in a lot of trouble, honestly, especially like things like Bill C10 are so concerning to me.
And I think we've noticed at Rebel, at least since I've started working with you guys full-time, is the tent is like the conservative party, conservatives are becoming the inclusive tent.
Yeah.
You know, like, and it's kind of interesting to see that.
Yeah.
You know, it's funny.
The conservative tent is getting a lot bigger.
I wonder when conservative politicians will figure that out, though.
You know, there's a lot of people who are sort of realizing, oh, wait, I thought I was liberal, but I really hate government overreach.
And I thought I was liberal, but I really don't like the government telling me who I can have in my house and how many people I can stand in the park with.
And unfortunately, conservative politicians are not capitalizing on that idea.
They're sort of participating in the cancel culture that's happening around lockdown skepticism.
Yeah, it's interesting because you, I don't, I'm not so naive to think that any politician really cares about their constituents.
You know, and I think if you if you vote that way or you view politics that way, you're leaving yourself vulnerable.
So the way, you know, and I'll give, I'll give the Conservative Party of Canada.
I'll tell you the same thing I told the fundraiser who called me a week ago trying to get money to raise, you know, they're just out of touch.
Who's ever, whoever's doing their research, whoever's, you know, in front of their PR, they're just, they're afraid of the left and they're completely out of touch.
And they think by being a softer left, they're going to win.
And it's just, it's just not, it's just not true.
Like, I wish somebody, you know, for better or for worse, you know, Donald Trump was great at speaking to the people, feeling like making his voters feel like he cared about them and he was a man for them.
And it clearly worked, you know.
So I wish that, you know, without getting too tinfoil hatty as to the reasons why these aren't, it isn't this way, I wish that our politicians would take note and not necessarily be polarizing or, you know, attack the other side per se, but just be firm in what you stand for.
Like don't flip-flop, like say you're going to do something and do it.
You know, listen to the people that are voting for you.
But yeah, I don't think, I don't think we have a, like, I, I, I, I crack this joke with friends, but I don't, I feel like our the actual opposition in Canada is NDP right now, to be honest.
Just based on like who's actually influencing policy and culture, it's, I think it's more so the NDP than the Conservative Party.
And that's terrifying to me.
Do you know what?
I will counter with, I think we are the actual opposition in this country.
And I think that we are giving a voice to those people within the culture that the Conservative Party wants to pretend aren't there.
I think with all voices acting to drag the Conservative Party to the left.
So the NDP, the liberals, the media, academia, I think they need a strong moral, social, I don't know what the right word is, but we're more than just a news company.
I think we are activists.
We advocate for the forgotten people.
We talk about conservative issues and remind the Conservative Party what actually is the conservative mainstream.
And I think we serve on the right of the Conservative Party to sort of pull them back in the right direction when all these forces are acting to drag them left.
And so I think we are the actual opposition to the conservatives.
Activists for the Forgotten Mainstream00:03:22
I love that.
Yeah, that's great.
And I tend to, I think I agree with you because, you know, the amount of overwhelming support that we get, not only online, but when we're in the field, it's clear that we're fulfilling a need.
Yeah.
You know, it's like we're that light on top of a hill.
We're the good guys, you know, we're the cavalry.
And it's like really interesting to see.
And you don't see even people that are on the left.
I don't see people getting excited when a CTV reporter shows up.
No.
Never.
You know, so yeah, it's, it's really amazing.
It's an amazing privilege to be able to serve the community in that way.
Well, I'm glad you see it as serving the community because I think that's part of what we do.
There are so many people that are sort of forgotten by the mainstream, forgotten by the political party they voted for.
And I think it's important work that we do to give a voice to their issues, but also to be there to help them on their worst day when they get a ticket, when they, you know, when the government closes their business, I think it's also our job to not only tell their story, but to be in some way a solution to it.
Matt, we've been at this for 40 minutes.
You work for us full time.
You work for us full time.
So you have work to get back to.
So do I. Matt, I'm so glad that you're with our company.
The circumstances that brought you to us are slightly sad, but I'm very glad that Rebel News gets to benefit from you surviving and coming out the other side.
And your worldview shows through your work.
It's impossible for you to hide it.
I don't think you could if you tried.
So I'm very grateful that you're with the company.
And thank you so much for taking the time today.
Yeah, thank you for giving me an opportunity to flex my creative muscle and do what I'm, what I feel like I'm good at in this sphere.
I'm releasing some new music on May 31st.
I'm releasing a Christian hip-hop album.
It's called In Jesus' Name.
And the first single is Behind Me.
And there's a music video and there's a little hat tip to Rebel in the video.
So I'm pretty excited about that.
But yeah, I just, we're fighting the good fight and it's obvious.
So thank you for having me on board.
You got it.
Matt, if people want to find your work outside of Rebel, they know how to find you at Rebel News, but how do they find your work and support you outside of Rebel?
If you go to brevner.com, B-R-E-V-N-E-R.com, you'll have links to all of my social medias.
And I'll be releasing new content there first.
I'm currently just finishing up a restructure on the website because, you know, as you know, conservatives are being deplatformed all the time.
So I need to rein it in a little bit.
So yeah, if you just go to my website, everything will be there.
Great.
Matt, thanks.
Thanks again.
Have a great day.
And, you know, we'll talk in five minutes as soon as I'm wrap up this recording.
Thanks, Matt.
Thank you.
while the reason matt joined our team is kind of sad and unfair i'm proud that matt is on our team and he's doing some great work in vancouver And I can't wait to see what he does next.
Well, everybody, that's the show for tonight.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
I'll see everybody back here in the same time, in the same place next week, or not.
I might get angry at my camera and come outside again.