Description
The Babylon Bee is a conservative Christian news satire website that publishes satirical articles on topics including religion, politics, current events, and public figures. It has been referred to in the media as a Christian, evangelical, or conservative version of The Onion.
History
The Babylon Bee was created by Adam Ford and was launched on March 1, 2016. The Babylon Bee is headquartered in Jupiter, Florida and employs around 24 people across the United States. According to Seth Dillon, the current owner of The Babylon Bee, Ford launched the website "because there was this massive void on the right for comedy that wasn't cheesy". Shortly after launching, The Babylon Bee made headlines for mocking the "health and wealth" theology of Jan Crouch, founder of Trinity Broadcasting Network, on the day of her death.
In 2017, Hurricane Harvey battered Houston, Texas, causing widespread flooding. In that context, The Babylon Bee satirically criticized televangelist Joel Osteen with a headline that read: "Joel Osteen Sails Luxury Yacht Through Flooded Houston To Pass Out Copies Of 'Your Best Life Now'". The article went viral, prompting a fact check from Snopes.
In late 2018, Ford sold the website to Seth Dillon, whom Ford described as "a successful businessman who uses his resources for Kingdom purposes". In a public announcement published on his personal website, Ford cited several reasons for the sale, including his discomfort with the power wielded by social media companies like Facebook over creators and their perceived anti-conservative and anti-Christian bias. He wrote that "Facebook has the power to kill publishers, and they do, not only based on publishing techniques, but based on worldview. Just think about that". At the time of the website's sale, Kyle Mann, who had been head writer since September 2016, became editor-in-chief. Also at the time of the sale, The Babylon Bee received 3 million page views per month. Dillon later described the sale as "an exciting opportunity to do something different and more impactful and fun, and would bring me full circle to that whole satire and writing thing I wanted to do." As of 2021, Ford still has a financial stake in The Babylon Bee.
In July 2021, Dillon spoke at Turning Point USA's Student Action Summit in Tampa, Florida about misinformation and The Babylon Bee.
In October 2020, The Babylon Bee said that they receive about 8 million visitors a month. In January 2021, The Washington Times said that The Babylon Bee receives more than 20 million page views per month, has more than 20,000 paid subscribers, and has a Twitter account with more than 856,000 followers.
