Mike Rowe says US gov't revoked permits to film 'Dirty Jobs' episode at last minute - allegedly over Rowe's 'personal politics'

[Ubiquitous]

Mike Rowe, beloved host of TV show "Dirty Jobs," said the federal government
revoked permits to film an episode of his show at the last minute — allegedly
over Rowe's "personal politics."

What are the details?
Rowe on Monday outlined the issue in detail on Facebook, saying the
Government Services Administration "suddenly revoked our permit" as the
agency "oversees the location" where the episode on boilermakers was to be
filmed.

The host said "Dirty Jobs" was required to apply for permits "months ago,"
and after receiving them, "we were assured several times over the last few
months that everything was still good to go."

Then suddenly they weren't.

Rowe said that "just two days before I was scheduled to arrive, we received a
phone call from a woman at the GSA who informed us that our permits were
being revoked. When we asked for an explanation, she said, 'security
concerns.' When we asked her what kind of security concerns, she said she
didn’t know. She only told us that the decision had come down from 'the very
highest levels within the GSA.'"

The host said the surprising permit revocation was a "first."

"Over the last twenty years, Dirty Jobs has filmed in many sensitive
environments under government control. We’ve received permits from the Army,
Navy, Air Force, Seabees, Coast Guard, NASA, and The Army Corps of
Engineers," he noted. "We’ve gotten permission to film inside the Capitol and
a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. We even got a permit to film inside the
National Security Agency! In all cases, we worked closely and in good faith
with the government and scrupulously avoided any areas that were deemed
sensitive or secure. Never once in twenty years has the government revoked a
permit — much less at the last minute, and with no plausible explanation."

Rowe also wondered why the boilermaker employees were still working at the
location in question a week after the permits were revoked "if the building
is under some sort of security threat."

'Personal politics'
The host added that his production team also received a phone call from
someone at the highest levels of the GSA who claimed the decision had
"nothing to do with security, and everything to do with politics." The caller
— apparently also a GSA higher-up — said someone in the agency “doesn’t like
Mike Rowe’s personal politics" and deliberately set out to "string us along
until the last possible second, for the express purpose of 'yanking my
chain.'"

Rowe acknowledged it's "possible this person might be mistaken or lying. But
I don’t think so. This individual sounded credible, and frankly, their
explanation makes a lot more sense than some last minute 'security concern,'
especially in these divided times."

Rowe added that his "personal politics are not a matter of public record, and
Dirty Jobs has no political agenda whatsoever. I’ve never publicly endorsed a
candidate, or encouraged any of the six million people on this page to vote
one way or the other. Likewise, my foundation is aggressively non-partisan
and provides scholarships for liberals and conservatives alike."

But then again, he said "not everybody is happy" with his TV show "How
America Works" — likely because it airs on Fox Business: "These days that’s
enough to upset certain people. For those people, where I appear matters far
more than what I say. For those people, politics are the only thing they can
see, no matter what they’re looking at. Of course, those same people seem to
forget about the show I hosted on CNN for three years, or the countless
appearances I’ve made on PBS, NPR, NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, and thirty years of
programming on Discovery — but whatever."

Rowe noted to whoever may have tried to frustrate him that it didn't work —
however, the permit revocation did hurt production company members who "spent
their time and money preparing for a shoot you encouraged them to prepare
for. Dirty Jobs is a challenging show to produce, and my team works their
collective ass off. You made their job a lot harder and wasted a lot of their
time. You also hurt my film crew, who freelance for a living, and suddenly
found themselves with a day off they didn’t anticipate, with no time to
replace the lost work with another gig. And of course, you disappointed some
boilermakers who work VERY hard to keep people like you cool in the summer
and warm in the winter. Those men were looking forward to sharing their trade
with America. You kept that from happening."

The Daily Wire said it reached out to the GSA for comment but didn't
immediately receive a response.

--
Let's go Brandon!