Leah Remini Hate Doesn’t Sell

Hate doesn’t sell and the numbers don’t lie.

The verdict is in: Leah Remini’s second season peddling bigotry on A&E failed miserably. Viewers clearly tired of the weekly anti-religious, “hate your parents” propaganda spread by the sitcom actress and her co-host/chauffeur wife-beater Mike Rinder, whose arrogant and smarmy presence hurt ratings.  

Viewership plunged a staggering 42% between the debut episode airing on August 15 and the final installment on November 21, unmistakable evidence that audiences had grown tired of Rinder’s and Remini’s scripted shtick. The last show had a pathetic audience that was off 61% from her debut just one year ago.

Yet as Remini’s minions launched a vicious campaign of spreading new lies to try to get her another season, advertisers continued to bail as well. Over sixty cut their ties: General Motors, Georgia-Pacific, IKEA, Geico, Pepsico, Volkswagen, Mastercard to name a few.

Some advertisers made it known they were cutting their ties with the show because they were uncomfortable with a program whose transparent goal was to generate as much incendiary hate as possible, leading to more than 500 threats—including death threats—arrests and incidents of vandalism:  “As an organization, we do not condone the promotion of racism, bigotry or other forms of hatred.”

Some advertisers made it known they were cutting their ties with the show because they were uncomfortable with a program whose transparent goal was to generate as much incendiary hate as possible, leading to more than 500 threats—including death threats—arrests and incidents of vandalism:

• “As an organization, we do not condone the promotion of racism, bigotry or other forms of hatred.” — Mastercard
• “Although the A&E network generally features shows with family-friendly content, we conducted further analysis of ‘Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath’ … Based on that review, we have determined that the programming does not meet our criteria and have instructed our media buying agency to cease purchasing advertising on this show.” — Georgia-Pacific

Advertisers soon recognized that Remini had lost for good the key 18-49 demographic advertisers want. The rating for that demographic at the end of her season was less than half of what it was earlier in the season and a year ago.

Other advertisers soon recognized that Remini had lost for good the key 18-49 demographic advertisers want. The rating for that demographic at the end of her season was less than half of what it was earlier in the season and a year ago.

It certainly didn’t help that Remini was forced to reach back 30 to 40 years to scrape up embittered subjects whose stale lies have been fermenting for decades. Nor that episode after episode repeatedly featured individuals whose scripted narrative inevitably blamed parents and their faith for every bad choice these subjects made in life so they never had to take personal responsibility. Or that a reality TV star’s claims of homelessness were shown to be a lie by the family she lived with, or that one individual claimed to be an expert on a troubled young woman she had not seen in a decade because she had read Facebook postings.

Remini’s co-host Mike Rinder is a notorious wife-beater who not only permanently damaged his wife’s arm, but also inflicted emotional distress on his wife through his sexually sick practices of attempting to use a salami as a sex “toy.”

It also didn’t help that Remini’s co-host Mike Rinder is a notorious wife-beater who not only permanently damaged his wife’s arm, according to her surgeon, but also inflicted emotional distress on his wife through his sexually sick practices of attempting to use a salami as a sex “toy.”

Audiences also voted an emphatic thumb down on Remini’s parade of unappealing guests for hire. The lineup even included an admitted sex pervert, a man who tortured animals, the creepy unemployed hatemonger Jeffrey Augustine and “Backpage” Tony Ortega, who once made fun of two teenage rape victims and who served as chief shill for the notorious sex trafficking site Backpage when it was the cash cow of his corporate bosses.

Audiences also voted an emphatic thumb down on Remini’s parade of unappealing guests for hire. The lineup even included an admitted sex pervert, a man who tortured animals, the creepy unemployed hatemonger Jeffrey Augustine and “Backpage” Tony Ortega…

Mostly, however, they tired of Remini, her lackey Rinder and the hate they sold each week.