Lisa Durden is a media commentator and producer. Durden was born and raised in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

and graduated from

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizab ...

with a degree in journalism. She has provided commentary on ''

The Kelly File ''The Kelly File'' is an American news television program hosted by journalist and former attorney Megyn Kelly on the Fox News Channel. The program was a spinoff of '' The O'Reilly Factor'', and focused on late-breaking stories in a live form ...

'' and other television programs on subjects including racism,

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...

, and

celebrity culture Celebrity culture is a high-volume exposure to celebrities' personal lives on a global scale. It is inherently tied to consumer interests where celebrities transform their fame to become product brands. Whereas a culture can usually be physically ...

. Durden hosted a talk show, ''The Lisa Durden Show'', that aired on Newark and Manhattan public access cable channels. She was the associate producer for the documentary '' Brick City'', and producer of the documentary ''

Soul Food Junkies ''Soul Food Junkies'' is a 2012 documentary directed by Byron Hurt and produced by Lisa Durden. The film explores the history and culinary tradition of soul food, and its relevance to African-American culture and identity. The film also docume ...

'', which won the 2012 Grand Jury Prize of Best Documentary at the

American Black Film Festival The American Black Film Festival (ABFF), originally called the Acalpulco Black Film Festival, is an independent film festival that focuses primarily on black film and works by black members of the film industry. The festival is held annually in ...

. On June 6, 2017, Durden appeared on

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

in an interview with

Tucker Carlson Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson (born May 16, 1969) is an American conservative political commentator who hosted the nightly political talk show '' Tucker Carlson Tonight'' on Fox News from 2016 to 2023. Since his contract with Fox News was term ...

, discussing a Black Lives Matter chapter that held a

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. It i ...

event exclusively for black people. Durden defended the chapter's actions, saying "Boo-hoo-hoo... You white people are angry because you couldn’t use your ‘white privilege’ card to get invited to the Black Lives Matter’s all-black Memorial Day celebration." Carlson responded by calling Durden "hostile and separatist and crazy" and "demented". Two days later, Durden was suspended from her position of

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, but the term is gen ...

at Essex County College in Newark. Two weeks later, she was fired. Durden described the experience as being "publicly lynched". College president Anthony Munroe said the firing was in response to the college being "inundated" with concerns and fears expressed by students, faculty, and prospective students following Durden's remarks on television. Subsequently, the

Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), formerly called the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit civil liberties group founded in 1999 with the mission of protecting freedom of speech on col ...

sued the college for records about these complaints, and found that the college had received only one complaint before Durden was fired. In 2017, Durden was the running mate of Seth Kaper-Dale, who was running for

New Jersey Governor The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The ...

on the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

ticket. Kaper-Dale and Durdan received 0.47% of the votes.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Durden, Lisa Living people 21st-century American women journalists 21st-century American journalists African-American women journalists African-American journalists American political commentators American women television producers Mass media people from Newark, New Jersey Seton Hall University alumni Film producers from New Jersey African-American film producers 1960s births American women film producers 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women Television producers from New Jersey Year of birth missing (living people)