Andrew Breitbart Biography

Andrew James Breitbart was born on February 1, 1969, in Los Angeles, U.S., to Irish–American parents. According to his birth certificate, his father was a folk singer. When Breitbart was 3 weeks old, a Jewish couple, restaurant owner Gerald and banker Arlene Breitbart, adopted him. Hence, Breitbart had a “bar mitzvah.” However, he grew up to be an agnostic.

Breitbart grew up in the affluent neighborhood of Brentwood. He attended a Hebrew school and later went to Brentwood School, where he published his first writing, a satirical article for the school newspaper the Brentwood Eagle.

He majored in American studies from Tulane University in 1991.

Breitbart was raised apolitical. He would sing Hebrew songs and tease his orthodox Jewish colleagues, too.

Andrew Breitbart initially worked for the online magazine of E! Entertainment Television. He simultaneously had a stint in film production, too.

Breitbart was highly impressed with the news aggregator the Drudge Report, created and edited by American political commentator Matt Drudge. He contacted Drudge in 1995. Drudge introduced Breitbart to the renowned Greek–American author, syndicated columnist, and businesswoman Arianna Huffington, who was a Republican at that point. Eventually, Breitbart assisted her in establishing the news aggregator and blog The Huffington Post.

Andrew Breitbart later turned his website into a news site and got it linked with Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, Fox News, PR Newswire, U.S. Newswire, and several major international newspapers. The website advocates right-wing [T1] political views.

In 2004, he made a guest appearance on the Fox News morning show. Since then, he often appeared as a guest panelist on the network's late-night program Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld. He was also featured in the 2004 documentary Michael Moore Hates America.

In 2007, Andrew Breitbart launched a video blog called Breitbart.tv.

In 2009, Breitbart was a guest commentator on the HBO talk show Real Time with Bill Maher and a show hosted by Dennis Miller. On October 22, he appeared as a guest on the political-themed program Washington Journal, aired on C-SPAN, during which he had several aggressive debates with the callers.

He became a “Lincoln Fellow” at The Claremont Institute in 2009.

A regular speaker at the Tea Party movement, Breitbart attended the first National Tea Party Convention in Nashville on February 6, 2010.

One of Breitbart's columns for The Washington Times was featured in the polling data aggregator Real Clear Politics. Along with journalist Mark Ebner, he wrote the book Hollywood, Interrupted: Insanity Chic in Babylon, a critical approach to celebrity culture.

On January 19, 2011, Breitbart joined the advisory council of the conservative gay rights group GOProud. He chronicled his political evolution and role in the growth of the new-age media in his book Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World, which was released in April 2011.

Breitbart was featured in the 2012 documentary Occupy Unmasked, which criticized the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Andrew Breitbart was a leftist until he had an epiphany during the 1991 confirmation hearings for the nominated candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas, who was accused of sexually harassing his former staff Anita Hill.

He had another political epiphany after he began listening to radio host Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh’s shows refined his political and philosophical views. Breitbart developed an interest in learning about various social and political structures in a way that was completely different from what he had believed earlier. He became averse to all his previous political opinions that had dominated his thesis at Tulane.

After Breitbart read Sexual Personae (1990) by Camille Paglia, he realized that he had learned very little in college and that there was so much more to explore.

Breitbart's newly discovered right-leaning political views were mirrored in his content on Breitbart News and his other websites, BIGHollywood, BIGGovernment, and BIGJournalism. He eventually became a hero of right-wing journalism, even though he often published articles with inaccurate statistics and facts.

He was the proponent of ''The Breitbart Doctrine,'' the idea that directly relates politics to culture.

Andrew Breitbart is still revered for his role in developing websites such as The Huffington Post and the Drudge Report. He was also acknowledged for creating a platform that invites and encourages a wide range of political opinions.

Breitbart is also known for his views concerning the introduction of the LGBT community in the conservative movement and his efforts to debunk conspiracy theories about Barack Obama's citizenship.

In February 2010, during the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., Breitbart directly addressed the accusations that The New York Times reporter Kate Zernike had hurled on conservative activist Jason Mattera, for making racial comments addressed to President Barack Obama. He spoke about the controversy during his acceptance speech for the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award.

Breitbart triggered a controversy after he was accused of making racist and homophobic comments during a rally at the United States Capitol, held in Washington, D.C., on March 20, 2010. He defended himself, saying he had never made such remarks and that the controversy was fueled by the then-speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, and the Democratic Party.

In June 2011, Breitbart's websites released a story that accused congressman Anthony Weiner of sending his inappropriate photographs to women.

That year, former Georgia state director of Rural Development, Shirley Sherrod, accused Breitbart and one of his editors, Larry O'Connor, for tainting her image in the media by using an edited version of her speech. She argued that the edited video showed her being racist to a white farmer, whereas in reality, Sherrod had supported the farmer.

In his defense, Breitbart said that the video was made to show the positive reaction that Sherrod had received for criticizing the discrimination that the farmer had faced. The case was settled in October 2016.

Andrew Breitbart was married to Susannah Bean, the daughter of actor Orson Bean and fashion designer Carolyn Maxwell. Andrew and Susannah had four children.

On February 29, 2012, Breitbart collapsed. He was immediately admitted to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, where he was declared dead on March 1, 2012. According to the autopsy report released by the Los Angeles County Coroner office, he had died of a heart attack.

Breitbart was buried in the Jewish cemetery at the Hillside Memorial Park.