Kim Iversen, a co-host of The Hill’s popular web program Rising and whom some colleagues have branded a “conspiracy theorist,” announced on Tuesday afternoon that she is “no longer” with the show.
Her sudden departure comes just a day after the vocal vaccine skeptic publicly groused about a recent Rising episode featuring chief White House medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci, adding that she “wanted to be a part of this interview” and it was “a shame I wasn’t able to be there to get the answers we all deserve.”
Iversen did not respond to a request for comment. And a representative for Nexstar, the parent company of The Hill, declined to comment when asked about her abrupt exit.
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Iversen has been a fierce critic of Fauci, vaccine requirements, and COVID-19 mitigation efforts. On Monday, she took to Twitter to voice displeasure over not hosting that morning’s Rising. Instead, frequent host Robby Soave and Newsweek deputy opinion editor Batya Ungar-Sargon conducted a 20-minute interview with Fauci.
Responding to a clip from the show’s official Twitter account, in which Fauci said he’s been “on the record” about his desire to keep schools open during the pandemic, Iversen sarcastically tweeted: “‘Where’s Kim?’ Good question.”
After a fan wondered who at Rising thought it was a “good move” not to have Iversen host that segment, she replied: “Good question.” She later shared the Fauci clip again, this time specifically declaring she wanted to participate in the interview and seemingly chastising her own colleagues for not getting “the answers we all deserve.”
When another follower tweeted “tell us why,” Iversen cryptically responded: “You’ll know soon enough.”
Then, on Tuesday afternoon, Iversen revealed that her time with the popular and at-times controversial online show was over.
“I’m no longer on @HillTVLive’s Rising. Stay tuned for an update on my independent uncensored channel here,” she tweeted with a link to her personal YouTube page.
“I am no longer with Hill’s Rising,” Iversen also wrote on the social-media platform Locals. “I can’t get into the details just yet but hopefully by the end of week. What I can say is I was prepared to be on yesterday but wasn’t. I’ll post on my channel the details when I can share them.”
Even prior to her abrupt departure, Iversen’s tenure with the long-running digital program had been marked by controversy and internal turmoil. The self-branded “tell it like it is, no b.s. Broadcaster” had already ruffled feathers among Hill colleagues when she spoke at an anti-vax “Defeat the Mandates” rally and then gushed about it on the show.
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Aside from her COVID-19 vaccine skepticism, she also sparked complaints from Hill employees after she defended the Chinese government’s harsh treatment of Uyghurs (prompting co-host Ryan Grim to push back on-air) and seemed to peddle pro-Russian propaganda about Ukraine.
“Kim is a conspiracy theorist,” a senior staffer said earlier this year to The Daily Beast’s media newsletter Confider. “I think she’s really bad news.” Additionally, multiple sources relayed that numerous employees had “expressed serious concerns” to Hill management about her.
At the time, Iversen said her colleagues’ “feelings aren’t a secret,” telling Confider that “everyone has witnessed the disdain on air” and that she was “aware of the whining to management.”
And having repeatedly portrayed herself as a free-speech absolutist, Iversen recently got into a back-and-forth with fellow Rising co-host Olayemi Olurin over deadnaming actor Elliot Page. (The conversation centered around conservative podcaster Jordan Peterson’s Twitter suspension for misgendering and deadnaming Page.)
After Olurin chastised Iversen and Soave for defending those who deliberately refer to trans people by their former names and genders, saying it “doesn’t cost us anything to simply respect people's personhoods,” Iversen fired back on Twitter.
“The point is whether or not you're ALLOWED to say certain things,” she tweeted. “You can call Muhammad Ali Cassius Clay and not be banned from Twitter or lose your job. Why should trans receive special treatment because they choose to change their names vs others who choose to change theirs?”
Days later, and despite all the constant drama surrounding her tenure at The Hill, she announced during a Locals live stream that she was in final talks to host her very own online show for the D.C. outlet.
“It’s not 100 percent official,” she claimed on July 11. “The ink is not dry on the contract. But the contract is, I believe, finished. I think we’ve got the final version of it in our hands… and I believe that deal will be done this week.”
Iversen added: “So, then I would be able to make an official announcement. But, of course, anything can change. Like, suddenly, in the next few days and this week, we can just decide, ‘Nah, never mind, we aren’t doing it.’ But at this point, we believe we will be starting a new show on The Hill, and that will be my own show.”
Looks like they decided to go with “never mind.”
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