George Carter

I’d like to make a few personal comments regarding the critique of TED laid out here by Coleman Hughes @coldxman thefp.com/p/coleman-hughes-i… First thing to say is that his piece is a reasonably accurate description of what happened. In a nutshell, we invited him to TED to give a talk we knew would be controversial. But the talk ended up causing more upset than we foresaw. So there was pressure from some on our team not to post it. We overrode that. But nonetheless the talk has had fewer views than others on the platform and Coleman is understandably upset by this. Some additional context. First of all, personally I’m a fan of Coleman. He’s off-the-charts smart.  And he’s a crystal clear communicator. I love his podcast, even when he brings on guests I disagree with. I was excited he agreed to come to TED.  His talk was received with huge enthusiasm by many in the audience. But many others heard it as a dangerous undermining of the fight for progress in race relations.  So yes, there was controversy. When people on your own team feel like their identity is being attacked, it’s right to take pause.  And we concluded that some of the essential issues raised by Coleman’s talk needed wider discussion, hence the decision to supplement the talk with a debate. And in the end, despite internal and external pushback, we did indeed post the talk.   So… was anyone censored here? No. The talk is on our platform available to be viewed and shared by anyone in the world. Quite a few other speakers from TED2023 have yet to be posted. What about the low views of the talk? Well, that’s a question we ourselves are trying to answer.  It’s true that the other talks Coleman referred to were shared on the TED Talks Daily podcast which gives a significant audience boost. His so far has not been posted there. It may yet be. Many of our talks never make it onto that podcast which has its own curation team. The bigger riddle is why views on YouTube have been on the low side. Those views are largely driven by YouTube’s algorithms which are as much a mystery to us as to others. What we do know is this: the more people who view it and comment on it, the more likely it is that the talk will be recommended to others and take off. But in any case, already more than 200,000 people have seen the talk or the debate. If that’s attempted suppression, we haven’t done very well. Coleman, thanks again for coming to TED. The hyper-divided world we’re in right now is so hard to navigate. It's hard to say anything that matters without sparking anger.  I see you as a fellow traveler on that journey, and truly wish you well. And to your critics, I wish them well too. Many people have been genuinely hurt and offended by what they heard you say. This is not what we dream of when we post our talks. I believe real progress can be made on this issue by each side getting greater clarity and insight from the other. We share more in common than we know. We all ultimately want a just world in which all can thrive.  If I could wave a wand and replace some of the anger that’s been stirred up here (on all sides) with curiosity and a desire to listen, engage and understand, that would make me really happy.  TED remains committed to its nonpartisan nonprofit status and a willingness to embrace the discomfort that comes when you try to navigate the toughest issues.