Reddit 'antiwork' forum implodes, goes private after train wreck interview with Fox News

WASHINGTON (TND) — One of the most popular and fastest-growing sections of a widely-used social media site completely came to a screeching halt after one of its moderators was interviewed on Fox News.

The interview Wednesday between Fox's Jesse Watters and Reddit's /r/Antiwork moderator Doreen Ford launched an internet blitz of mockery and schadenfreude, leaving many active users of the anti-work subreddit embarrassed and enraged.

Before the interview, /r/Antiwork, a sectioned-off Reddit forum called a "subreddit", was enjoying popularity and success as a forum for anyone to air grievances about perceived exploitative labor systems, especially in light of the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.

According to Reddit statistics, the subreddit had more than1.7 million users and was the fastest growing non-default subreddit as of Jan. 26, the day of the interview.

Unemployment for all, not just the rich!” is the subreddit's slogan.

It's been said repeatedly on the forum and on various other social media sites the /r/Antiwork community had already "voted" to abstain from appearing on interviews, but Ford apparently ignored her subreddit's desires.

Ford, a transgender woman who goes by the username "Abolishwork" on Reddit, appeared on a grainy webcam opposite the Fox News host Watters and his studio lighting.

Watters is wearing a suit, is clean-shaven, possibly wearing make-up as TV personalities sometimes do. Ford is wearing a hoodie, with disheveled hair and thick-rimmed glasses. Ford never makes eye contact with the camera and continuously sways throughout the video. At one point, she picks her nose.

During the interview, Watters holds short of mocking Ford for a bit, until he becomes openly contentious. Watters asks Ford's age and occupation. Ford says she's a "dog-walker" in her 30s who hopes to one day teach philosophy. Ford also says something about only working about 25 hours a week. Watters laughs.

There are some misconceptions about the movement,” Ford says to Watters. “We want to still put in effort. We want to put in labor, but we don’t want to necessarily be in a position where we feel trapped.

Watters counters, saying it sounds like /r/Antiwork users and those who agree with them are "lazy".

I think laziness is a virtue," Ford replies. "In a society where people constantly want you to be productive 24/7... it’s good to have rest.

Watters' grin almost can't be contained on his face at this point. Laughing, he says, “I would love to take your class [referring to Ford's aspirations to teach philosophy]. Not everything is free, but it is a free country.”

Clips of the interview were widely shared online, and the fallout was near-immediate. The subreddit /r/Antiwork shut down, going into "private" mode, saying in a statement it did so because of "brigading".

The "brigading" was a bit suspect, as brigading usually refers to when outside non-subscriber accounts on Reddit invade a subreddit and post unwanted threads and comments.

In this case, /r/Antiwork was being "brigade" by its own users. Users were not happy, and moderators were apparently not handling the situation well. Outsiders on were confused, and in a different subreddit named "/r/OutOfTheLoop", a thread by user "Luciagrace" asked what all the hubbub was about.

"Came on there this morning and it looks like a dumpster fire of locked posts and comments. Apparently people are getting banned left, right and centre for discussing the interview, why?" asked Luciagrace in her thread.

The top answer to Luciagrace's thread attempts to explain.

Answer: One of the Moderators at AntiWork just recently did an interview with Fox News, setting themselves up as the leader/organiser of this sudden, large community and movement," says user Potatolantern. "Just aesthetically, it’s a poor look. They’re disheveled, wearing a random hoodie, sitting in the dark of an untidy room without any lighting. It’s like they’re going to an interview before thousands of people and haven’t given a second to actually thinking about their presentation. They look exactly the part Fox wants to paint them- a lazy, unmotivated person looking for a handout.

Elsewhere on the internet, the sentiment and interpretation of events aligned with many Reddit users, this was a huge loss for the /r/Antiwork movement.

"Apparently an r/antiwork mod did an embarrassing [sic] interview on fox news [sic], leading to the freezing of the subreddit and the glee of right-wingers everywhere," says Twitter user Twinkbride Pearl (@twinkbride) in a tweet which received hundreds of likes. "It looks like the interviewee is trans and autistic, so prepare for people to be extra s****y about that in the coming days"

I watched the interview. it wasn't good. i'm not looking forward to the following increase in transphobic and ableist comments from people who would be dedicated to misunderstanding anti-work in the first place," Twitter user Twinkbride Pearls says in a follow-up tweet.

On Thursday, /r/Antiwork was no longer "private". In a statement, other moderators of the forum say they have removed Ford from her moderation duties.

Regarding Abolishwork [Ford], we are planning to remove her from her moderation duties and have contacted the admins for the removal of her as a mod. We thank her for building up the anti-work movement, but regarding the past incidents, we decided as a majority to remove her," the statement says.

The statement also says the /r/Antiwork mod team has already done past interviews with publications that have yet to be released. One of the mods, called "Kimezukae", is a self-described 21-year-old "long-term unemployed anarchist".

Kimezukae has at least three interviews floating around, one of them with the New York Times, the mod team says in the statement.

The statement was deleted less than 10 hours after its posting.

"Can the mods please stop trying to represent us. You are not the leaders of the movement nor spokespersons. You are solely here to keep this sub a civil place," the statement thread's top comment by Reddit user dGlitch reads.

Reddit users have seemingly transitioned to another subreddit, this one titled /r/WorkReform, which has its own separate moderation team.

Ford posted a thread on /r/WorkReform, looking to explain herself and actions on the interview, but was quickly banned.