Adam Ford, founder of the Christian satire site, The Babylon Bee, and cofounder of Not the Bee, announced he has sold his remaining stakes in the two popular sites this week.
“My season at The Babylon Bee and Not the Bee has come to an end,” Ford announced in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “I have sold my remaining stake in The Babylon Bee, as well as my stake in Not the Bee, and now it’s time for me to ride off into the midday sun.”
The Babylon Bee, with more than 3 million followers on X, brands itself as “fake news you can trust.” Not the Bee features real but “absurd and hilarious” news, according to its site description.
Ford previously sold The Babylon Bee to Seth Dillon in 2018 to focus on The Christian Daily Reporter, a news site that eventually turned into Disrn, and then became Not the Bee.
Ford explained in his post that he has not been operationally involved with The Babylon Bee “for some time now.” At Not the Bee, he said Dan and Seth Dillon have taken over in recent months as majority owners.
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“I always figured I could go on forever working like a maniac and seeing every terrible thing that happens around the world in real-time,” Ford said. “But I finally hit a concrete wall after many years, and there was no way around it. I tried to find one, even as the inevitable consequences of burnout compounded.”
He included a portion of Ecclesiastes 3:1 with his post: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven . . .”
Ford continued, saying that leaving both companies was “bittersweet” as he loves them “dearly and always will.” He added, “They have been my entire life for the better part of a decade, and what an adventure it has been.”
He thanked his supporters for making the companies “what they are today.” He said there is “still no limit to what they can become.”
Ford said he next plans to “venture out of my office and back into the world for a bit to see where God leads me.”
Dillon started The Babylon Bee in 2016 to be like The Onion, but “from a Christian worldview,” he shared in a blog post. “Satire is a powerful, effective, and biblical tool for conveying ideas,” he wrote. He said that before The Babylon Bee, satire belonged almost “exclusively to the anti-religious worldview” and he wanted his site to change this.
Before The Babylon Bee, Ford had previously dreamed of becoming a pastor but had been derailed by panic and depression, he told The Washington Post in 2016.
After starting the Babylon Bee, the site quickly amassed popularity — now having a combined following of 6.7 million on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
In recent years, the satire site has made headlines over fake news disputes.
In 2022, Twitter temporarily suspended The Babylon Bee’s account after labeling its post about transgender Biden administration official Rachel Levine as hateful content, The Roys Report (TRR) reported.
A few years before this, the site got called out by the fact-checking site Snopes over the difference between satire and fake news. Snopes accused the site of confusing people about the facts of a controversial news story.
Freelance journalist Liz Lykins writes for WORLD Magazine, Christianity Today, Ministry Watch, and other publications.
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10 Responses
LOVE the Bee! Great satire from a Biblical worldview.
The Babylon Bee was funny way back when it was inward looking, pointing out the absurdities of christianity. Then it turned into a mean spirited right wing grievance machine, pandering to it’s audience. Satire is funny, BB lost sight of that and just became a red-meat venue.
I agree. I haven’t read it for some time now. It got way too political, and frankly, mean spirited. Disappointing.
This exactly. I miss what the BB was in the beginning. Now it’s obnoxious MAGA-land.
Definitely Jen,
I really enjoyed the Bee when it felt like my church friends poking fun at each other. As a worship bass player myself I didn’t mind at all being a semi-frequent target of good-natured ribbing.
Once the arrows got sharper and pointed more frequently at the left it lost that Innocent charm and became just another tool of the right.
The Babylon Bee produces great satire, however when my Babylon Bee subscription expires I won’t renew it. I can’t in good conscience financially support a website that so openly and frequently promotes guys like Douglas Wilson and John MacArthur.
The Babylon Bee jumped the shark when the owners sold their soul to drink the MAGA Kool-Aid. Before that they were more of an equal opportunity offender. I say good riddance.
Most of these comments are hilarious and profoundly insightful. Keep up the good work. Except you, Martin. You can do better.
I guess “better” means thinking just like you.
The bee is the best and its politics tend to be spot on from a Christian Worldview IMO.