Michael William Lebron (born August 26, 1958), better known as Lionel, is an American syndicated radio, television and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

legal and media analyst. He is known as a leading promoter of the far-right

QAnon conspiracy theory QAnon ( , ) is an American political conspiracy theory and political movement. It originated in the American far-right political sphere in 2017. QAnon centers on fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as "Q". T ...

Early life and education

Lebron was born and raised in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

, where he attended Jesuit High School. Lebron graduated from the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

and Stetson University College of Law. After graduating from law school, Lebron worked with the Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office.

Career

Lebron hosted the CourtTV law show '' Snap Judgment'' in the late 1990s. Lionel then began appearing on WABC radio in New York. He first appeared as a caller to WFLA in

, drawing attention to himself by avoiding the given topic of discussion. He was eventually given his own time slot on WFLA before moving to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Beginning in May 2007, Lebron replaced ''

The Majority Report with Sam Seder ''The Majority Report with Sam Seder'' is an Internet talk radio program and podcast hosted by Sam Seder. The program focuses on the discussion of current events and political affairs from a social democratic, democratic socialist and a progre ...

'' on Air America Radio with a daily three-hour talk show. Seder claimed that Lebron's unpopularity with Air America's listeners led to the loss of most of Seder's audience within a year of assuming the timeslot, as well as the loss of two-thirds of the live affiliates and live streaming. '' Talkers Magazine'' included Lebron in its 2010 "Heaviest Hundred" list at number 54 and in its 2013 "Frontier Fifty" list at number 37. In 2015, he won a

New York Emmy Award The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) is an American professional service organization founded in 1955 for "the advancement of the arts and sciences of television and the promotion of creative leadership for artistic, edu ...

for commentary and editorial writing. Lebron also appeared in an episode of ''House of Cards''. He has appeared on the Russian RT network as a legal and political analyst.

Promotion of conspiracy theories

Since losing his show on Air America, Lebron shifted his politics to the right and re-established himself as a right-wing conspiracy theorist for Alex Jones' '' InfoWars'' network, where he has used his show to promote conspiracy theories, such as

birtherism During Barack Obama's Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign, campaign for president in 2008 United States presidential election, 2008, throughout Presidency of Barack Obama, his presidency and afterwards, there was extensive news coverage ...

(false claims that President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

was not born in the United States) and claims the government is involved in a cover-up of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

(the 9/11 truth movement). He has promoted the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon. In August 2018, Lebron met with President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

and was photographed with Trump. Lebron stated that the two did not talk about QAnon, but said that Trump "knows about" the conspiracy theory. Lebron has regularly hosted Jerome Corsi, a supporter of the birther movement and promoter of QAnon.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lionel 1958 births Living people American talk radio hosts Emmy Award winners Hispanic and Latino American people Jesuit High School (Tampa) alumni Radio personalities from Tampa, Florida Stetson University College of Law alumni University of South Florida alumni American conspiracy theorists Television personalities from Florida QAnon