American conservative political commentators and YouTubers Ineitha Lynnette Hardaway and Herneitha Rochelle Hardaway Richardson, aka Diamond and Silk. Both were strong supporters of former president Donald Trump and regular contributors to the conservative news outlet Newsmax.
The pair gained notoriety during Trump’s 2016 campaign and again in April 2018 when Facebook declared them “unsafe to the community.” As a result, they marched to the public square to express their displeasure at having their Facebook page restricted and hidden from view.
They gave testimony to Congress on April 26, 2018, at the invitation of Rep. Steve King, regarding their expulsion from the area. When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before the U.S. Congress, Republican lawmakers brought up the two women’s censorship claims. Due to their April 2020 report doubting the veracity of COVID-19 data, the two were fired from Fox News.
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My Childhood
Sisters Hardaway and Richardson. Ineitha Lynette Hardaway and Herneitha Rochelle Hardaway were both known by their middle names. They are the youngest of four siblings.
Freeman Hardaway and Betty Willis Hardaway are their Fayetteville, North Carolina televangelical pastor parents. Supposed weight loss remedies and wreaths to ward from witches were among the items that Freeman and Betty Hardaway peddled. Betty took people’s names and prayed for them by inscribing them in a Bible for $50, claiming that God would hear their supplications if they did so.
When Did Diamond Lynette Disappear?
Diamond, aka Lynette Hardaway, of the conservative political team Diamond and Silk, passed suddenly on January 9. People on social media who believe Hardaway died of COVID have argued that it would be hilarious for an anti-vaxxer or COVID denial to die from the condition.
Bishop Talbert Swan, a pastor, and political activist wrote, “Lynette Hardaway, aka ‘Diamond from the MAGA Trump-supporting pair Diamond and Silk, died from getting what she dubbed a hoax, also known as COVID-19. Everybody can feel the irony.
University of Temple professor Marc Lamont Hill tweeted, “Diamond, of the right-wing, Trump-loving duo Diamond and Silk, has died. As a result of contracting the COVID-19 virus, she ended up in the hospital at the end of November. For propagating false information on COVID-19 and vaccines, the pair lost their jobs at Fox News a few years ago. You can’t write stuff like this.
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Diamonds and Silk, and Why They Are so Well-Known
It was reported in 2012 that both Hardaway and Richardson had joined the Democratic Party. They started out with a “Black Lives Matter” montage depicting police brutality (17,000 views) and a film about Sandra Bland, a black woman who died in a Texas jail (it received 32,000 views). The couple’s YouTube channel took off once they started making pro-Trump videos.
They were not formally associated with the Trump campaign, but they did travel to three different states to rally support for Trump and spread his message online. Known as the “Stump for Trump Girls,” the two women first appeared at a rally for Donald Trump on December 4, 2015, in Raleigh, North Carolina. Later, on January 2, 2016, in Biloxi, Mississippi, they helped get the crowd excited for a Trump event. To urge Democrats to switch parties, they launched a “Ditch and Switch” campaign and a website detailing which states had closed primaries and when the deadlines were for registering as a Republican.
Diamond and Silk made an appearance in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on behalf of the Trump campaign on November 2, 2016, alongside Lara Trump, Eric Trump’s wife. They consulted for the Trump campaign and were paid $1,274.94 for their services.
They frequently made appearances on Fox News programs like Hannity, Fox News Sunday, Watters’ World, The Ingraham Angle, and Fox & Friends. Fox News’ internet streaming channel, Fox Nation, gave Diamond and Silk their own show in November 2018. ABC’s Nightline reported on them. Hardaway spoke more throughout their appearances, while Richardson mostly nodded in agreement.
In October of 2018, the premiere of Dummycrats, a documentary directed by Hardaway and Richardson, took place at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC.
When Diamond and Silk appeared on Fox & Friends in May of this year, they characterized former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a “non-functioning alcoholic” who “slurs her speech.” This was in response to a slowed-down, edited footage that gave the impression that she slurred her words. As a result, Fox & Friends quickly felt compelled to inform its viewers that the clip in question had been doctored.
2019 saw Diamond and Silk appearing in a re-election ad for Trump in 2020, where they endorsed him. During this time, Diamond and Silk had a weekly show on Fox News online video platform.
In March 2020, Hardaway and Richardson began raising doubts about the veracity of reports concerning COVID-19. They wondered, for example, if the number of deaths attributed to the epidemic was being exaggerated in order to make Trump look foolish. Their employment with Fox News was terminated in April due to these inquiries.
