Ben Shapiro Loses Sponsors After Recording Podcast at Anti-Abortion Rally
Reid Nakamura
Ben Shapiro abruptly ended a contentious BBC interview Thursday after accusing host Andrew Neil of being a “liberal” and asking him questions in bad faith.“I don’t frankly give a damn what you think of me since I’ve never heard of you,” Shapiro said after more than 15 minutes of grilling. “I’m not inclined to continue an interview with a person as badly motivated as you as an interviewer, so I think we’re done here.”During the conversation, Neil — who is also chairman and publisher of conservative-leaning British Spectator magazine — frequently hectored Shapiro over past tweets and articles. But it was his tough characterization of Shapiro’s pro-life positions that first set things off course.“Why don’t you just say that you’re on the left? Is this so hard for you? Why can’t you just be honest?” Shapiro said.“Mr Shapiro, if you only knew how ridiculous that statement is, you wouldn’t have said it,” Neil said back through laughter.The interview, which was pre-recorded and aired on the BBC Friday, came in for no small about of mocking — with Neil’s own Spectator leading the way.“Ben Shapiro is the famous, fast-talking pundit who regularly ‘owns’ aggressive campus students with his quick wit and rapid repartee. Alas, Shapiro isn’t so ‘crazy smart’ when he comes up against difficult questions from a real interviewer,” the magazine said. “Yesterday he just couldn’t cope with an interrogation from the BBC’s Andrew Neil. He decided that Neil must be a typical BBC leftist and had an epic tantrum.”Shapiro himself went into damage control before the interview even aired, offering an apology to Neil, saying he mistook “his antagonism as political Leftism.”“Just pre-taped an interview with BBC’s @afneil. As I’m not familiar with him or his work, I misinterpreted his antagonism as political Leftism (he termed the pro-life position in America “barbaric”) – and that was apparently inaccurate. For that, I apologize,” Shapiro said.Read original story Ben Shapiro Ends Contentious Interview With BBC Host: ‘I Don’t Give a Damn What You Think’ At TheWrap
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro has lost at least two sponsors of his podcast after recording an episode at the anti-abortion March for Life event on Friday in which he said, “No pro-life person would kill baby Hitler. Baby Hitler was a baby.”
The Daily Wire founder recorded multiple ads for his podcast “The Ben Shapiro Show” while delivering a speech at the rally in Washington D.C., prompting companies to distance themselves from the show. The subscription toothbrush company Quip was the first to pull its advertising on Friday, followed by the meditation app Calm on Saturday.
“Our mission is to make good oral health more accessible to everyone, and podcast advertising is one way we’re able to realize this,” Quip said in a statement announcing that it would no longer support Shapiro. “However, following one of our ads being read in a venue we did not endorse, we have chosen to discontinue our advertising relationship with this show,” the company continued. “We are also taking steps to ensure all of our advertising partners are aligned with our oral health mission and values.”
Calm announced its move to drop Shapiro’s show on Twitter, stating simply the company does “not align with this message. We’re pulling our sponsorship.”
ZipRecruiter, another advertiser Shapiro mentioned at the rally, didn’t immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Shapiro’s speech that drew attention can be heard below.
Ben Shapiro at March for Life: "The truth is no pro-life person would kill baby Hitler. Baby Hitler was a baby." pic.twitter.com/PPgQcbWSrq
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