So I didn't have anyone to talk to, so I just started talking to
my phone about what I was thinking about and it just resonated. So yeah,
I just kept going and it's been a real journey of discovery. We
started our site back in two thousand and nine, and you know, everybody
says, oh, liberals are so tolerant, they're so compassionate, so open
minded, blah, and it's like really, because I mean, like I
lost when we started our site, even I lost friends immediately. Welcome to
another audition of the Deep Dive Podcast with the Chicks on the Right, and
today we have a very special guest with us, Stephen Hilton, who is
a composer, a producer, an influencer whether you like it or not,
a Christian and a dad to two kids four and two, I think,
Alfie and Poppy. And you have become sort of this phenomenon, if you
will, in conservative circles as a late because you seem to have undergone a
bit of a transition, a red pilling, if you will, And we
were hoping that you could tell us about that journey. Yeah, Well,
I've worked in I've been in the Hollywood sort of system, doing like big
massive films for years and years. I started off, I started off making
records, and then they started using the records I was making in films,
and then that led on to bigger and bigger and bigger films that ended up
in Hollywood doing things with Tans Zimmer and people like that, and so it
was all very I never considered myself political really at all, but all of
my circle and all of my sort of people I hang out with and worked
with were all super liberal, and we're getting more and more liberal and more
and more left, and I mean, I was starting to think, this
is a few things that are bugging me in a few things that just seemed
stupid that everyone is saying that don't make any sense, but you know whatever,
live and let live. And then when they as I've heard from a
lot of people since this happened to me, when I've been talking to people
the pandemic, actually it was the watershed moment for me. I've always been
sort of anti establishment. I mean, I grew up in the acid house
days and sort of wine music, and it's always been anti authoritarian, sort
of punky anti establishment, and around the pandemic, I started to feel all
this authoritarian push with the lockdowns, and that was instinctively in me. I
was like, no, I don't like this. This is like forced.
This seems like a top down push to get me and my family to do
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And then when the vaccine came out and stuff like that, I was I
was just not Instinctively, something inside me is like, no, I'm not
not into this. I don't want to do this. Something feels wrong.
Especially in Los Angeles, everything was closed. They were my kid has got
a speech delay, and all the speech therapists had masks on, even when
all the other states seemed to be open, and I was like, how's
he getting. It's just everything just hit me at once, and I started
speaking up just to my friends, going I'm not going to this vaccine is
is weird. I don't know why Alfie has to have speech therapies with masks
on when there's clearly everything else that how's that going to work? I know,
it's completely ridiculous. In fact, that was the that was the thing
that really annoyed me, was that was the key. That was the key
moment. I was like, this is I don't know if I can swear
here, but this is this is yeah, this is totally up. Like
he hit him. Not being able to to learn to talk is really really
pissed me off. And then I started saying people, I'm not I'm not
going to do that. I'm not into this. I'm not going to do
the lockdowns. I'm not gonna I don't want to participate in this vaccine rubbish.
And now the pushback I got was insane. I couldn't believe it.
It's like, oh, you're a Trump supporting domestic terrorist who wants to fill
my grandma. Now. I was like, it's crazy. I didn't.
I mean, I actually I've always liked I've always secretly, I mean,
i've always liked Trump. I think he's charismatic, sharp, and I really
I think he's great. But I mean I was never political, so I
never really said, you know, I want to vote for him or whatever.
But the more pushback I got, the more I started to research the
stuff. They were saying, like you obviously like Trump, and I was
like, well do I. And then I started to look at it.
I was like, yeah, he's cool, like he's funny, and it's
just that so many people. I just was so offended. And then so
I'd never spoke up about it publicly on my platform because I was married and
my ex wasn't political at all. But I felt like if I started talking
about politics, it would unfairly impact her because she's a comedian and she's totally
all about comedy. So I didn't want to start being political and then she's
forced to answer questions that she doesn't even think about because she's not in that
way inclined. But then we separated and I made a video. I made
one video about how I think I just i'd send the Joker and I was
thinking about how in Hollywood everyone's so anti gun, like in just in the
in circles where you hang out people, guns are terrible. We've got to
take guns away. But then the joker and I was like, this seems
very hypocritical, and I just made a short TikTok about it and just saying
how Hollywood is the biggest pusher of gun violence as as you know, entertainment.
And then on the flip side, they're all about gun control, and
it went viral on Twitter bizarrely, and and then then I was like,
okay, so there's it coincided with me because I was not I was speaking
out against these the pandemic, and I just got separated. I had no
friends. I was completely on man of being completely ostracized, so I didn't
have anyone to talk to. So I just started talking to my phone about
what I was thinking about, and it just resonated. So yeah, I
just kept going, and it's been a real journey of discovery. We started
our site back in two thousand and nine, and you know, everybody says,
oh, liberals are so tolerant, they're so compassionate, so open minded,
blah, and it's like really, because I mean, like I lost
when we started our site. Even I lost friends immediately when they found out,
oh my god, you're conservative. You're going to do this for a
living, Like we can't be friends anymore. So I mean when you say
you lost all your friends and you felt alone, you know you obviously were
kind of alone, you're talking to your phone and stuff. It's just interesting
to me, like, have you found that people have star to rally around
you now that you've become I mean, I say red pilled, but now
that you are outwardly conservative or more right leaning, it's been really interesting.
So when I first started, so when me and my eggs as a big
creator, we separated, and all of her fans skewed very liberal, so
they were very like, I lost a ton of the first thing that happened
was I lost a ton of followers, and I was like, Okay,
this is what's going to happen, but I want to speak up, mainly
because then I started to get into the gender ideology pushed in schools, and
now it's ninety percent of kids that are affected by this and pushed into this
medical system are autistic, and my son's severely autistic. And that made me
go down to start talking about that. So all of her fans were like
out and then I lost a ton of followers from that, and I was
like, okay, but it's too important not to talk about. I don't
care about losing followers. But then every post that I was on on her
platform was like just hate against me, one hundred percent hate hate hate hate,
and you're right about liberal hate is so much worse. Like they was
the savage, like breathtaking comments like oh my god. So I couldn't look
at her page anymore. I was like, this is insane. And then
what happened was I started to gain, like more people started coming to me
than had left because the people that I'm resonating what I was saying. And
in the last year. The really weird thing is that so I couldn't look
at her page before. If there's anything she has a company posting old videos
for her on Facebook and anything there's ever anything with me in it, she
warns me. She's like, they posted this, so you're going to get
so But in the last year, this so funny thing, Like about a
couple of weeks ago, I just happened to look at one of the one
of the posts. I was like, I wonder if I'm still getting this
insane hate, and it was fifty fifty half the people going I actually agree
with everything you're saying. I was like, Okay, something's happening. Interesting,
Wow, that's crazy, very interesting. So how has that impacted because
you know, a lot of people found you through I was one of those
people that found you through Laura and so because i'd been a follower of her
comedy and and and just you know, had seen you through that and then
like started following you separately and that sort of thing. And then when you
became right, it's been such an interesting thing to watch your transformation. But
but how did that Because you said that you didn't want to be political or
speak out before you were separated, did you find that your beliefs were impacting
your marriage or I mean, if it's too personal, you can tell me.
No. I don't actually, just because she's so not political, okay,
and I would she we would talk. I mean, I'd started to
talk about how I was feeling about that vaccine, how it was feeling about
the mask, and she was like, yeah, I agree with you about
all that stuff. You know. So it was she's she's just not political.
But we're still really great friends. But I don't so I don't think
it really impacted. I don't think that was. There were lots of other
things it wasn't. It wasn't that, I don't think. Okay, because
she's mean to you, like we see her videos about you. We feel
like she's mean to you. Really, yeah, I mean from well,
I mean because we I guess it's because we maybe it's because we see it
objectively, but also you know, when you you look at it, it
has become sort of a liberal versus conservative thing because she has a bunch of
people who I think maybe that's on. I don't say maybe, but it
is unfortunate probably for people who are who are because we've both been married and
divorced, and we've been married again, I mean not to each other,
not to each other, but we've both we both have been we're married now
to to these awesome men, but then we've had first marriages, like we
call I call mine personally my starter marriage, right and then and I now
am married to the love of my life, right. So I but but
I can't imagine I didn't have children with my first marriage, and so I
think about what that would be like, having to co parent with my first
husband, and how hard that must be. And then to add on to
it this whole new element of you've got this conservative versus liberal, which is
literally what our country is going through right now, which is, oh my
god, Stephen, like it's crazy like people hate one another because of politics,
which because we're so divided, because I mean, it's it's it's it's
crazy how different we are policy wise and just ethics wise on so many issues.
And then you add into that, like I mean not saying I don't
I can't speak for your ex wife. I can't. I don't know where
she falls, but I do know that liberals tend to they could sort of
side with her if you will. And then like you have the right wingers.
Yeah, and so it's become this like right wing versus left wing thing
with you guys, you know it is nuts. I mean I had I
had no idea, no idea that the country was so divided. And when
I started, I mean, I've always I I'm massively I love comedy.
I'm not a comedian, but I love comedy and I always like to see
the funny side of stuff. So when the Dylan more Vany stuff was happening,
I was seeing humor in that. I was saying, this is clearly
nuts. And I made some. I made some like I made a couple
of videos with just super woke like progressives with a million pronouns are saying you
have to use this pronoun in the first sentence and this pronoun in the second
centers and then revert to the first one in the third sentence. And all
I did was I put on a doctor's jacket and I had a clipboard and
I just reacted to it. No, I didn't say anything. I was
just like the doctor was confused by all the pronouns and the hate. It
was insane. People got me to die from that video. I was like,
what this, it's a funny thing. This, this, this person
is funny. They have so many how do they get through life? And
that they're like, we want you to die now for saying that. I
mean, it is it is. It's insane, completely insane. I had
no idea. I had no idea that because and the other thing was that
when I was with Laura, like I had my odd feelings about BLM even
from the start, and so she would post the BLM thing and I was
like, can we not forget political because I don't know, you don't know
enough about this, and I don't know enough about this and I don't know.
And she did a few blms and then from that I used to get
hate from conservatives. So I've had hate from both sides, and I can
say that the liberal it's no comparison, no comparison the liberal. Ye kids,
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can. It can get really ugly, you know, And I and I
know would imagine as your kids, you know, just raising kids, and
as your kids get older, they're going to start seeing more and more of
this. So that's probably going to be something that I would imagine that's going
to be really tough to navigate. I don't know how. I mean,
like I said, with the co parenting, that's that's a tough thing.
And then you have to go, Okay, how do we do this because
we're in the public sphere now, we're in that we're doing this, we're
we're co parenting, we're doing the political thing, We're doing all this publicly.
Like how do you handle doing all of that and doing it in such
a public way? Like does that ever get Do you ever get to the
point where you're just like, I'm gonna go live in the mountains and I'm
never going to like talk to people again. Well, I think I know
one thing I do struggle with that I still have still even though I've been
doing online creative for like eight years. So I'm like an oh g at
this point, but i still think that I'm talking to my phone and two
or three people are going to see it, and I always go, oh
fuck, there's thousands and thousands of people. And I've said I always get
I still get like some yes, I do see that that point. But
the thing is that we are, we're so great friends and co parents that
the kids have such I mean, they're still very young, so that is
something I'm going to have to think of as as we get as they get
older, definitely, And you know, like even I'm I'm trying, I'm
on my pathway with religion. I mean, I'm trying to find where I
fit. I mean, I believe in God, I believe in Jesus,
and I find that's really important to me. And Laura is not like that.
So we have two opposing views like that, but we don't either of
us sort of argue we would never you know, try and like doing a
great the other one for their beliefs and so the kids, I think right
now, they get it in a nice different What I feel like, hopefully,
is that they're getting different viewpoints, they're getting access to different frames of
mind around stuff. I love that. I think that's a great perspective.
Yeah, because they do, they actually do get a different But they have
two people in their life that they two people in their lives that they really
love, and then they can they can be like, Okay, well he
does this and she does this, and he believes this and she believes that,
and so what am I going to believe? You know? And I
think that's healthy. I think that's cool. Yeah. So I like you.
I wanted to ask you about a video that you did I don't know,
like a couple of weeks ago. Maybe where you were it seemed like
you were about to or maybe you have taken a step back from some of
the commentary that relates to politics, because you were finding yourself going into sort
of a dark place and you you mentioned or you alluded to, like unfollowing
certain accounts that you felt had led you on that path. Can you can
you talk more about that and also answer the question about like are you okay?
So you are like ready to go for Christmas, cause you get like
three nights worth of dinners from Omaha Steaks. And so you have to tell
me what's going on because I didn't even realize. Listen, I'm so fixated
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some fish and like salmon and stuff. I know, I'm just like you,
like I always think when I think Omaha Steaks, I do think steaks.
It's impossible not to. And normally when we order, we get like
beef kind of stuff, right, we get the steaks, we get the
burgers. I got this, yeah, you know. And so this time
I thought, you know what for Christmas Christmas Eve, I want seafood.
So I ordered salmon filets, I ordered snapper, and I ordered all the
sides, like these unbelievable potato sides, and I ordered desserts. There's so
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your order, do it. I was gritting into the habit of getting up
because I was looking for content to react to. I was getting up,
opening Instagram and just being bombarded with stuff that was designed to make me angry.
And I realized how it was, how manipulative it was, and I
realized that some of these accounts A really it's like hate porn, it's like
anger porn. And I felt like I was being I'm an addict, so
for me, it's easy for me to fall down into addiction, and rage
and anger are addictive. I get a buzz off of it. But I
don't like being that person around my kids. And I don't like being the
angry person. And I didn't like I didn't I mean, I didn't like
taking the kids to school. And I know there's certain kids. You know,
a lot of the parents at the school know me from my content,
and it's all been cool. But as it was getting angry, and I
felt it was getting angry, and it was getting definitely going to a place
that isn't me. Like I'm really like, I've got my beliefs, but
I'm also like, I really value humor, I really value just having a
a good heart, like I always feel like I always come from a good
place. But in the last six months, I wasn't coming some of that
stuff. I wasn't coming from a good place. It was coming from trying
to get views. It was coming from like me, trying to make people
angry. And I realized that I didn't want to. I don't want to
do that. I just want to I want to talk about how I feel
about things without being scared of people hating me. I don't care about that,
but I don't want to put out hating to the world. And the
thing that actually made me see that was I'm in a twelve step program.
I'm nine years clean sober, i haven't had a drink for like twenty years.
And I've got a sponsor who was talking to me about being angry,
and he said, what you don't realize is if you put out something that's
very angry and hateful, there's a ripple effect, and he goes, you
may not see it, but three ripples down, someone might hit their kid
from so and he wasn't talking about my content. We'll be just talking about
anger. And he said someone might be might be angered, and then they
might not because of what you've done, but like three o'clock in the afternoon,
like twelve hours after something you've said made them angry, they might do
something. And I was like, Okay, I've got to be really careful
not to just ever be angry for anger. There's certain things that I feel
strongly about, like the transagender being pushed in scores, and I love you
know, I'm super into I love Trump, and I think that people the
gun control things is out of control. These things I'm passionate about. But
I don't want to just be one of these sites that just makes people angry
to get engagement. And people do that and I was doing it. Yeah,
well, there's a difference, I think between passion and anger, right,
I mean, you can be passionate without being angry. And I think,
yeah, it's well, that's awesome that you recognize that. I think
that's fantastic. It's wonderful. Well, and you know, we've had our
moment. I mean, I'll speak for myself here where the news cycle itself
is becomes so overwhelming that you know, I'm a very happy, positive person
most of the time, and there are times where I break because it's like
there's just too much bad going on that and to know when to step away
and sort of have your breakdown, let it just let it wash over you.
Sometimes you just need that release. But one thing that Daisy and I
have done that we're very purposeful about is that in every show we try to
bring levity to the really awful news of the day. And I think that's
good. You're really good at too. Totally totally, yeah, you got.
I mean, there's because there are good people still, like, there's
still there's still good people. There's humanity. I still believe in humanity,
I still believe in America, I still believe in God. There are good
people. We just hear so much of the crap and then, like,
you know, it sucks too because the media doesn't help the media. The
government doesn't help us. The media doesn't because the media is like constantly trying
to show us how much we do hate and how much and how much the
country does suck, and how much everything sucks, and so it is.
You know, when you do this for a living, it can be very
exhausting. I know Maccus told me in the past, She's like, sometimes
I just need to go and have a good cry and then I feel and
then I just feel better. Yeah, and she and and it's true.
However, you need to deal with it and have your release and then come
back and go. You know what, we at the end of the day,
when I go to my little dollar General down the street, my little
small town, I encounter wonderful people. People are good there, and they're
they're genuinely good, you know. I mean, that's how we are.
Humanity is good. It's just that all the crap that surrounds us kind of
is what makes us bad. Right, it's our environment all other ship.
So this is this impacting your career, the fact that you're I mean,
because you did. I mean you've done You've done some major composition work for
some huge blockbuster films. How has like this transformation of you affected, if
at all, your career? Well, I mean, I what I stopped.
Really bizarre thing is when when we started, when Laura started making content,
So she was an actress and I was scoring films, and she was
constantly depressed about audition and not getting roles, and I was I was going
down sunset one afternoon and I saw these billboards for YouTube and I just saw
like a YouTuber and a Loo account and that's all they had. They had
a big campaign that wait, Laura would be really good at this, so
I sort of encouraged her to post content, cut a long story short.
She started doing it. It blew up and it was it was such a
success so quickly that I stopped movies. I had Allalain movies anyway, and
I was like, Okay, I'm just going to jump over here and do
this because it's super exciting. We were newly together. It was just an
amazing time and it was everything was just blowing up. And so I really
stopped doing film soundtracks for the last sort of seven years where we were building
this production company. But now being separated, I mean, I'm still helping
out with it with the with the production side, but I am getting back
into movies slowly, but surely I'm going to start and that's awesome. Yeah,
I'm working with people that I used to work with English people right now.
But yeah, it's so I'm going to be sort of picking that up
again. I just want if that will like if you'll notice a change,
right. Yeah. I haven't stepped back into the Hollywood system yet. We'll
see, We'll see what happens. We'll see, but I mean, I'm
going to have to change. I'm sure that there's going to be certain things
that are shut down to me now. But that's why it's important. I
just loved I love making music, and I love you know, whatever film
it is or and I love making my own music, which which has been
really well received. So yeah, it'll work out. It always does,
and that's unfortunate if things are shut down to you in any way, like
because it used to be that that wasn't the case. Because I we're old.
We're old enough to remember. You're probably you're a lot younger than us,
I think, but we're old enough to remember when you could talk about
politics and you could, you know, have a life, and nobody gave
a crap what you thought about this kind of stuff, you know what I
mean. We weren't so it wasn't so insane like it is now, and
you could just have a career and people weren't trying to cancel you or squelch
your career or you know, just ruin what what you do best. And
you know your musicians, so what you do that you should be doing that
and you've experienced I was just going to say you've experienced being canceled with some
major platforms, and that's got to be it's been eye opening for us.
It's been amazing, especially in light of COVID, where you said that that
was a huge catalyst for your thinking. That's when it went crazy. So
how like, where have you been? Where haven't you been banned from that
people can still find you. I mean, my main thing now is that
it's really funny. It's the worst platform you would think for someone like me.
But and they just banned I had a big TikTok that they banned.
I mean, they banned me four times on TikTok and the last time,
my god, it seems like it's permanent. And it was like Lily a
million and it's done. China, China hate you, China really hate you.
But I started last week and it's I love TikTok Live. I just
love it. I don't know why. I just really enjoy TikTok Live and
it's it's it always is hugely popular, and that's the place where I feel
like I feel like that's that's the place where a lot of people find me.
So I started a new one last week and it's already like fifty five
thousand, Like it's grown super quick. So, I mean, I love
TikTok rumbles great. And Instagram. Instagram has always been You're on Instagram.
Yeah, that's where I follow you is on Instagram, as I handle I
love, I love Instagram. So those are like the three main places that
you are. Those three main places. Okay, and you're under the name
Stephen Hilly right yeah, okay, okay, and what's that that's where people
can find you other than create what you do more content? Yeah? So
yeah? And are you and are you dating? I also want to know
you dated, Like are you dating? I'm I'm dating. But it's rough,
Okay, it's rough, bad, god, it's I mean, it's
are you using the apps or are you doing it? Like? How are
you doing it? No, you're not swiping, You're not swiping. I'm
an addict. If I was on app, remember all day long? Just
I can't do it? No, no, but yeah, I've Yeah it's
been it's been crazy. I am so since the split up, I had
like two sort of relationships and it's yeah, it's it's crazy. It's just
like I was I just got out of a we were together for like seven
months, and I was like, seven months, that's not going to be
and it wasn't. I didn't even think of it as that's that serious.
I was like, this is going to be easy to get over. But
my god, I remember these sort of heartbreak spells of like being in short
relationships and being are broken about it. But now I remember it. But
it's right, that's rough. Yeah, dating, And then what about professionally?
What do you doing next professional besides all the awesome stuff you get out
there on social So I'm making an album right now because that's a good way
to reintroduce myself back into film music. That's how I got started got I
fell into films by accident from making records. So I'm making a record not
to get back into film. I'm just making a record because I want to.
And that's going to be out early next year. Awesome. Yeah,
and I'm running a production company and yeah, it's exciting. I like sometimes
when things sort of I like to just sort of give it up to God
sometimes and just go, you know what, I don't know what's next,
Let's just see because it's always worked out. That's awesome, that's fantastic.
Well, Stephen, thank you so much for being with us. It was
really really fun to talk to you. Yes,