Adult Swim cancels 'Million Dollar Extreme,' Sam Hyde show beloved by racists

Impact

Cable network Adult Swim announced the cancellation of sketch comedy show Million Dollar Extreme Presents: World Peace, the series co-created by internet celebrity Sam Hyde, Splitsider reported on Monday.

The series first drew scrutiny due to Hyde's close association with the alt-right, a loosely organized and mostly digital collective of far-right activists and white nationalists, which became nationally prominent during Republican President-elect Donald Trump's electoral campaign. In subsequent investigations, BuzzFeed reported in November, "the Adult Swim standards department repeatedly found coded racist messages in the show, including swastikas, which were removed ahead of broadcast."

The controversy, along with the network's track record of hiring almost no female creators, spurred comedian Brett Gelman to leave the network in November, according to Splitsider.

The cancellation means Million Dollar Extreme's first six-episode season, which aired over the summer, will be the last unless the show's creators find another patron.

Hyde first came to public prominence when he crashed a TEDx event in 2013, delivering a monologue satirizing the TED Talk series' tendency to indulge the tech industry's self-important rhetoric. But he also promoted Million Dollar Extreme by catering to digital racists like white supremacist Andrew "weev" Auernheimer, BuzzFeed reported, and by exploiting "sometimes cruelly, cultural sensitivities around race, gender and sexual orientation." Hyde's stand-up routines have often revolved around goading audiences with racist or homophobic remarks.

As the Atlantic reported in November, where Hyde seemed to differ from other "anti-comedy" creators who shock audiences and subvert their expectations is intent: Sketches on the show regularly featured seeming misogynistic and racist messages, including Hyde in blackface.