On Sunday, Vermont Senator, Bernie Sanders, answered questions about the cost of admission to his book tour events on Ticketmaster.
He stated that he had to 'function inside the existing system.'.
CBS' Margaret Brennan inquired, "Tickets for your tour apparently are selling for $95 on Ticketmaster, which is accused of anti-competitive behavior. You know that. Some of your Democrats are criticizing them. Aren't you benefiting yourself from this system that you're trying to dismantle?"
Sanders mentioned that the publisher and bookseller had made the determinations. Brennan inquired if he was alright with conducting business with Ticketmaster. Bernies response was, "No, not particularly. But that's again, I had nothing to do with that. That is - if you wrote a book, probably be the same process."
Brennan then said, therefore, you are obliged to be compliant with the system.
Sanders answered "I do. Write a book, a major publisher, etc., etc."
Ticketmaster is charging around $100 for front-row tickets to Sanders "It's Okay To Be Angry About Capitalism" show at the Anthem in DC.
During a recent interview, Sanders proclaimed "I think there's one case where in one place here in Washington, Politics and Prose, an independent bookstore, charging some tickets, most of them I think, are $40, $50. And you get a book as well. So if you want to come, you're gonna have to pay 40 bucks, I'll throw in the book for free. And we're doing a number of free events, but I don't make a nickel out of these things at all."
The recent anti-capitalism speech of Bernie Sanders was met with criticism, especially from Republicans, for selling tickets through Ticketmaster. This was deemed ironic considering Sanders' new book is highly critical of capitalism.
Rep. Bill Huizinga, D-Mich. posted on Twitter, "Anyone else see the irony in Bernie Sanders selling tickets for his "Its Okay to Be Angry About Capitalism" book tour on Ticketmaster?"
Senators Klobuchar of Minnesota and Lee of Utah revealed a Judiciary Committee hearing to investigate Ticketmaster and the absence of rivalry in the ticketing industry in the wake of the platform's mismanagement of Taylor Swift's 'The Era's Tour' ticket sales.
In response to Nikki Haley's demand for "mental competency" tests for politicians aged 75 or over, 81-year-old Sanders gave his opinion.
"Yeah, you know, we are fighting racism, we're fighting sexism, we're fighting homophobia, I think we should also be fighting ageism," Sanders said. "Trust people, look at people and say, you know, this person is competent, this person is not competent. There are a lot of 40-year-olds out there who ain't particularly competent. Older people, you know, you look at the individual, I don't think you make a blanket statement."
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