How Jubilee got debate videos with Pete Buttigieg and Ben Shapiro

Last week, Pete Buttigieg sat in a studio in Michigan, surrounded by 25 undecided voters who rushed, musical chairs style, to sit across from him at a table and discuss his positions on the policies of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Those on the fringes raised red flags when they felt every debate had come to an end.

It wasn't a town hall or a cable news show, nor was it broadcast on CNN, Fox or MSNBC. In fact, the encounter was not televised at all. Rather, it was the sixth episode of the hit YouTube series “Surrounded” from Jubilee Media, the independent L.A. production company behind other social experiments like “Middle Ground” and “Swipe or Swap.”

With episode titles like “Can 1 Woke Teen Survive 20 Trump Supporters?” and “Can 25 Liberal College Students Outwit a Conservative?” the series has gone viral since its debut in September, garnering more than 50 million views on YouTube and dominating the Social media feeds. Maybe you've seen liberal online debater Destiny “own” skeptics wearing MAGA hats or, depending on your algorithm, right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk “destroy” left-wing teenagers. The fourth episode, with conservative pundit Ben Shapiro in the crosshairs, drew 5.1 million viewers on its first day — about the same as a typical episode of “Saturday Night Live.”

The goal of “Surrounded,” whose episodes span two hours and are fact-checked by Straight Arrow News, is to promote open dialogue. While debates tend to devolve into shouting matches, Jubilee produces shows like “Surrounded” to “ignite understanding and create human connection,” says founder and CEO Jason Y. Lee. With a series of programs that expose politics, relationships and stereotypes, Jubilee aims to become “the Disney of empathy.”

“We want to show what discourse can and should look like. Sometimes it can be unproductive, but other times it can be quite productive and compassionate,” says Lee.

Jubilee's shows have racked up more than 4 billion views since the channel's inception in 2010. More importantly, the company has grown into a massive media and production house that bypasses the Hollywood studio system. Now it hopes to shape the next era of American political discourse.

Jubilee's programming shifted toward politics after the 2016 election, which left Lee feeling “disheartened” by America's extreme political division. He sensed that young people were craving content that was nuanced and thought-provoking, but “not in a Mr. Rogers way,” like feel-good digital media competitors SoulPancake or Upworthy. “I thought we had a much greater chance of doing a lot of good here,” he says.

Many of Jubilee's shows are not afraid to tackle sensitive topics. Take “Middle Ground,” an impulse-based conversation series that seeks to bridge gaps between groups like trans and cis people, Republicans and Democrats, and Israelis and Palestinians. Still, Lee insists that the company maintains its neutrality and maintains a diverse team of producers and editors. And while he doesn't hide the fact that he was once an intern for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, he also doesn't reveal his current political views.

“We try our best to be as unbiased as possible in the political realm,” Lee says.

Lee believes the future of political conversation lies on YouTube, not traditional media. In the run-up to the election, he says, Jubilee had “deep conversations” with both presidential candidates about the prospect of Trump or Harris holding court in Surrounded.

“There should be a presidential debate on YouTube by the next election, and Jubilee is the place to do it,” Lee said. He says debates on traditional news channels are open to criticism of format and bias, while his company can “reduce a concept to the crudest possible level so that not even Jubilee can root for one side.”

This approach applies to all Jubilee content, not just the political videos. “In traditional media this is possible feel producers,” says Lee. “You can feel the strings, what they want to achieve. I think there’s an aversion to it.”

While Jubilee has received offers from traditional media companies to license or develop its content, Lee sees no benefits in dealing with Hollywood hurdles.

“We are able to produce so much content much more quickly, whereas in the traditional television system it can take years to see the green light,” he says. “The real promise is digital. It’s not an afterthought or a second stage.”