Ben Shapiro admitted on Friday he wasn’t prepared for a recent interview with BBC host Andrew Neil that resulted in the conservative star abruptly ending the segment.
The fiery commentator appeared on BBC to talk about his new book, “The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great.” However, things didn’t go as planned when Neil—who often plays devil’s advocate with his guests—pressed on old comments Shapiro had made.
Shortly after exchanging the pleasantries, Neil went on offense and drilled down on Shapiro’s views, asking the commentator whether the recent pro-life bill in Georgia is like bringing back the “Dark Ages” in the U.S.
Shapiro retaliated against Neil, a former editor of the Sunday Times and a chairman of a media group that includes right-leaning magazine The Spectator, and accused him of harboring left-wing views.
“You purport to be an objective journalist, BBC purports to be an objective, down the middle network,” Shapiro snapped. “It obviously is not, it never has been. And you as a journalist are proceeding to call one side of the political aisle ignorant, barbaric, and sending us back to the dark ages, why don’t you just say you’re on the left.”
“Mr. Shapiro, if you only knew how ridiculous that statement is you wouldn’t have said it,” Neil replied and went on to question Shapiro about comments he has made previously on abortion and transgender rights, as well as his remarks questioning the Jewishness of those voting for President Barack Obama—topics Shapiro addressed in his list of mistakes.
Soon before the interview was put to a halt, Shapiro said Neil tried to go through and find “lone things that sound bad out of context” as a way to make “a quick buck on BBC off the fact that I’m popular and no one has ever heard of you.”
“This whole thing is a waste of time. Frankly, I don’t care — I don’t frankly give a damn what you think of me since I’ve never heard of you,” he added. “I think we’re done here.”
Shapiro later admitted that his attack on Neil was misdirected, tweeting that “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.”
“[Andrew Neil] DESTROYS Ben Shapiro! So that’s what that feels like 😉 Broke my own rule, and wasn’t properly prepared. I’ve addressed every single issue he raised before; see below. Still, it’s Neil 1, Shapiro 0,” Shapiro tweeted with a link to a Daily Wire article he penned detailing “all the dumb stuff” he’s ever done.
To a commentator who suggested he was “rude” to Shapiro, Neil replied: “I tend to take the opposite position from those I interview. It’s a useful way to test their positions. It tells you nothing of my own views. What do American interviewers do?”
Yes. I tend to take the opposite position from those I interview. It’s a useful way to test their positions. It tells you nothing of my own views. What do American interviewers do? https://t.co/UnAT2MFoxE
— Andrew Neil (@afneil) May 11, 2019
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.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) May 9, 2019
.@afneil DESTROYS Ben Shapiro! So that's what that feels like 😉
Broke my own rule, and wasn't properly prepared. I've addressed every single issue he raised before; see below. Still, it's Neil 1, Shapiro 0. https://t.co/UAtAUtIWtO— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) May 10, 2019
Happy Legal Guardian of Unspecified Gender Day!
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) May 12, 2019
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
11 Responses
Shapiro is a great person but is not a צדיק and was caught off guard
What is praiseworthy though, is he apologized something you don’t find too many people doing
He’s an immature embarrassment to American Conservatism. I hope this is the first of many.
I don’t think he was destroyed at all- he rebutted everything thrown at him in a powerful and eloquent way…. I just don’t know why he got angry……an interviewer is simply trying to catch him out on things he’s said…. I suppose his apology is just for getting angry…..
But as I’ve said before- not good for the Jews to have a frum person at the center of American politics- it will just cause millions to hate the Jews even if millions of others love him……(and their ‘love’ will do nothing for us!)
never been terribly impressed with Shapiro–His voice annoys me, I don’t like his presentation, and I think reliance on him to present a strong conservative case will lead to disasters as this one did.
I’m not so in the mood of apologies right now, coffee addict.
The New York Times just apologized. Twice. 2 apologies.
Were you impressed?
Shame you apologised Ben. the fact is he did come over as antagonistic way although in a British (softly spoken) way and did give the impression of leftist opinion. And the BBC is not unbiased.!!
Not sure why ben apologized, the interviewer was not nice, hurled unpleasantries at him and didn’t get involved in any sort of honest dialogue, I think Ben answered all his questions appropriately
Oh please, you got to admit the brit was being an oh so typical pompous male donkey!!
Reb Dons
Now more than ever we need allies in the media, when mainstream is pro Palestinian and anti-American
Ben, typically very even-keeled, did not put his best foot forward here, and acted like a whiny brat on the international stage. However, it is notable that although he cameos in national media most days for the last few years, it is only his one rare moment of anger that suddenly captivates the mainstream media’s front pages. I’m not sure why YWN is following their lead, since they are surely only doing it to tarnish his record, being that he is a conservative.
Lakewhut: If all he spoke about was support for Israel- then maybe you have a point, but he’s publicly involved in multiple issues that are sensitive to all Americans and have nothing to do with us Jews, and thus he is causing millions of Americans to hate frum Jews ….all for what?