Why Mike Rowe From Dirty Jobs Is Now Being Cancelled

GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT > Nerd Culture Why Mike Rowe From Dirty Jobs Is Now Being Cancelled

Is it time to stop listening to anything Mike Rowe has to say?

By Faith McKay | Updated 5 years ago

This article is more than 2 years old

Once upon a time, Mike Rowe was an opera singer. Then he became a television host for the Discovery Channel, where he played a regular guy who explored jobs other people generally don’t want to do. The show Dirty Jobs followed Americans working jobs that don’t get a lot of respect and suggested that hey, they deserved some. That’s the kind of thing that wins over the hearts of people working as sewer inspectors or shark suit testers. Now though, he’s trending on Twitter and people are tearing him apart.

It started when Mike Rowe mades some comments about the $15 minimum wage. He suggested to Fox Business that the minimum wage job is a “rung on a ladder”. He said that in his view, there are jobs that should pay people $7.25 an hour and that those jobs are not meant to be full-time jobs that people stay in. Meaning that an employee should take a minimum wage job, at the low rate of $7.25 an hour, without intending to stay in that lowly position. That, while they are working their minimum wage job that takes up all of their time, they should also be working hard at gaining new skills to attain employment that pays better.

Mike Rowe’s wants everyone to be able to make a living wage, he just doesn’t think they should get paid a living wage if they work certain jobs. He didn’t let us know whether he’ll be deciding which jobs require enough “skill” that people deserve to make a living page while working them.

Mike Rowe is a man with a background in entertainment earned a name as a champion for workers doing jobs that need to get done but others don’t want to do. Of course, none of those jobs make those people as much money as Mike Rowe makes. The internet suggests that the television host has a net worth of $30 million. From this position of wealth, and a background in entertainment, he decided he was the voice Americans needed to hear weighing in on the minimum wage.

Of course, Twitter users had some thoughts on Mike Rowe’s opinions.

Mike Rowe has a degree in communications and has never worked a “dirty job” in his life by the way. Just gets on TV and plays dress up while larping as a blue collar worker. Literally a joke in all fields. https://t.co/DLNbTQbWNz

— 🌽🌽 Erica, The White Trash Socialist 🌽🌽™️ (@herosnvrdie69) April 13, 2021

https://twitter.com/JenYetAgain/status/1381858414490423301

Mike Rowe’s Dirty Jobs gave me a greater appreciation for trade and craft work, which in turn led me to changing my trash opinions on unions inherited from 80s/90s media, and so it kinda stings personally that he’s actually a bit of a chode when it comes to labour rights.

— Dan Olson (@FoldableHuman) April 13, 2021

https://twitter.com/MommyBigDick/status/1381978212209586180

Currently, the television host is getting in front of people to bring more attention to his upcoming series Six Degrees with Mike Rowe. While he is gaining quite a bit of attention by sharing his political opinions on what the very people who watch his show deserve to earn at their “unskilled” jobs, it seems unclear whether anyone has noticed the new show he is going to be working on. Do you think that may affect his pay rate?

His opinions on the minimum wage come at the same time union debates are happening for Amazon employees, Uber has been forced to make changes, of course, Congress continues to debate the future of a $15 minimum wage. People are talking more about labor issues. If Mike Rowe doesn’t want to be cancelled, he’d be better off reading the room before sharing his thoughts on what other people’s work is worth.

Related Topics: Nerd Culture twitter cancel culture