Aaaand I’m back on TV, sort of.

*Updated Monday, March 19 with a fresh Sun News monologue.

*Updated Tuesday, March 20 with more from Tyee editor David Beers.

Levant and I had a fun day on Twitter. Our conversation below.

He also devoted the first 8 minutes of his show today to our little muppet rap. (Way to go Dave, Caitlin, Spencer & Emile!) Here’s a screengrab that kinda reminds me of the old Borax box.

You can watch his entire response (including 30 seconds of the video) by clicking here.

First off, I want to say how disappointed I am that Ezra’s riposte did not rhyme, nor was it set to a beat. At the very least, I was hoping for some arts & crafts. Overall, a sad lack of showmanship from the man who wore an orange clown wig the day of Jack Layton’s funeral.

As to the substance of his critique, I only heard two statements that I think are worth clarifying.

Claims versus facts

Ezra claims: “They hired a left-wing pundit named Kai Nagata to make a music video attacking me and the oil sands.”

Fact: “Left-wing pundit” label aside, I haven’t cashed a cheque from the Tyee since January, when I received the final chunk of the Writer-In-Residence grant. (I’ll be giving up the title soon, to make room for the next Writer-in-Residence.) The Tyee didn’t commission this piece or cut a cheque for the privilege of linking to my YouTube channel. Neither did OpenFile, the Huffington Post, DeSmogBlog, the Mark, or anyone else. My friend Caitlin and I split the costs of the styrofoam balls and fun fur. However, like EthicalOil.org, I do have a donation button on this blog. I would happily accept a few bucks from viewers who enjoyed the piece and would like to see more work like this in the future.

Ezra claims: “Fifteen thousand dollars is enough to guarantee that when San Francisco calls, the webmaster of the Tyee jumps to attention!”

Fact: Nobody gets to tell the Tyee (or me) what to publish. I’ll let Tyee editor-in-chief David Beers fill you in on the particulars.

The Storified version

Below is a link to some excerpts from the Twitter exchange I had with Kathryn and Ezra last night and today. I think you’ll agree Kathryn took the whole thing rather well.

Storify: “The Monster Muppet Mash”

*UPDATE: 

Enterprising journalist Levant was back on the beat Monday. Click here for “Journalobbyists: For-rent narcissist Kai Nagata yet another ‘journalist’ joining left-wing green groups to do some very uncharitable work.”

*UPDATE:

David Beers, on vacation with his family in California, replies to emailed questions from Levant around Tides Canada, journalistic balance, and the offending video. Click here for “Tyee editor answers questions posed by Levant.”