There is war unfolding between Ben Shapiro and Piers Morgan.
By way of background, I was very good friends with Ben and then he attacked me, to my utter shock, at the Turning Point AmFest event in December. He thought that I should be lumped in as one of the ‘problems’ when it comes to, I guess, antisemitism, even though I have spent the past two and a half years fighting antisemitism very, very vocally on The Megyn Kelly Show and will continue to. What we saw on college campuses post-October 7 was absolutely abhorrent. I want Mahmoud Khalil gone. I haven’t backed off of any of those views. But now I am on his list of cowardly people or antisemites. I can’t keep up with it, nor do I have any desire to.
But the latest to be attacked by Ben Shapiro is Piers Morgan. And what was his sin? His sin was ‘platforming’ Dave Smith, who is definitely a critic of Israel and someone Charlie Kirk ‘platformed’ as well at Turning Point. That is why Charlie was called an antisemite.
Remember last summer when Charlie and I had our long discussion about being called antisemites because, during a Turning Point event in July, we briefly talked about Jeffrey Epstein’s possible ties to intelligence and said maybe it was Israel? That is all we discussed about Israel, but we were both called antisemites by this leading Jewish organization. It wasn’t some random internet commentator. The other reason for Charlie was labeled as such was because, at that same event, he hosted a debate between Dave Smith and Josh Hammer, who is as pro-Israel as they come. But you can’t have a debate, you see.
Ben Calls Out Piers
Earlier this month, Piers did with Dave Smith what he does with everybody, which is he had a big panel with the pro-Israel side and the anti side represented. But that was not okay with King Ben, who decided to go for him. He called Piers the “Jerry Springer of political television” and accused him of having “sort of made a mockery of the entire industry by putting on screen whatever dregs are still willing to go on screen” with him.
It then came out that Ben has been refusing to go on Piers’ show. In response, Ben put together a montage of Piers Morgan clips, saying the reason he won’t go on anymore is because he platforms Nazis. The compilation featured Nick Fuentes, Candace Owens, and others saying inflammatory things seemingly without pushback (you can watch it here).
“Listen, it’s Piers’ choice who he decides to have on his show and how he decides to conduct the kind of clown car battle royale that he does on a show every night,” Ben said. “And it’s my choice not to join that circus. We all make our choices, and we all live with them. But some of us make our choices based on, you know, actual principles.”
Piers Responds
Well, Piers did not take kindly to any of this and decided to play the other side of those interviews because he does push back on his guests. If he is going to have a Nick Fuentes on, he is going to give him a hard time. By the way, that is how it would go on The Megyn Kelly Show too, but I have chosen not to ‘platform’ him because I have absolutely no desire to talk to him or to advance his message with my audience. Piers went a different way, and I have no problem with that.
I have no problem with people doing their shows the way they want to do them, and Ben was right that he doesn’t have to go on with Piers if he doesn’t want to. But there was absolutely no point in attacking Piers just because he ‘platformed’ one guy you don’t like in the midst of many others who are espousing your view.
Piers called Ben’s compilation “outrageously disingenuous” and said the clips he showed “did not include the parts of those interviews where I called out every single one of them about things I didn’t agree with.” He then presented what the montage could have looked like instead and showed the moments he pushed back on those same people (you can watch it here).
It was totally disingenuous of Ben Shapiro to take the controversial piece these people said and air it as though this is Piers’ sin, that he has allowed these people to come on and just have his platform to spew racist talking points – like, ‘Hitler’s very fucking cool’ in the case of Nick Fuentes – without showing what Piers always does. He loves having these mix ups. That is his bread and butter. He and I had a very contentious mix up over Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl that has over 40 million views right now. People enjoy watching these spars. So, to suggest that Piers would just allow somebody like Nick Fuentes to come on and not challenge him is just so disingenuous.
Piers responded to the overall criticism as follows:
“…If you disagree with him, you’re a Nazi, he says, channeling Kamala Harris. Everybody knows my position on Israel. I vehemently defended Israel’s right to respond and defend itself after October the 7th. I became increasingly critical of Israel because its government’s actions in Gaza became impossible to defend…
If Ben listened to some of the arguments instead of just throwing tantrums about them, he might understand why. Just as I continue to host people who defend Israel’s conduct in Gaza where many people wish I wouldn’t and say I shouldn’t, Ben Shapiro does. He, of course, has my phone number and my email address. He could have discussed his differences with me in private, which I would have preferred. But he hasn’t bothered to even politely reply to my occasional messages for a very long time now. Oddly, since the very moment I started criticizing the Israeli government. And he chooses to get on his own podcast and throw pathetic potshots at me instead.
So let me use my platform to respond directly. The difference between me and you, Ben, is that I’m heavily criticized by both sides because I listen to both sides, and, very often, I criticize both sides too without fear or favor. You’re only criticized by one side because you choose to air only one side and you choose to ignore or even silence the other. I’m a journalist. You are a propagandist…”
How Many More?
I am sorry to say he is 100 percent right. It is very sad to me as somebody who has known Ben forever and helped make him. Ben became a star on my show The Kelly File. I am very sorry to see this happen. There is absolutely no cause to run around policing the guests on somebody else’s show and trying to diminish somebody who is as interesting but – and I mean this in a complimentary way – benign as Piers Morgan.
Piers is not a pernicious force. Piers is an interesting guy who has an interesting show. Maybe it’s for you, maybe it’s not. It’s up to you. I think he is really interesting, and I think his interviews are great. But now we have to get rid of Piers Morgan? In Ben’s view, obviously, Tucker Carlson had to go. Clearly, even though he helped build her, Candace Owens had to go.
Then, I had to go, even though I have had a 15-year friendship with a guy. It was the same thing. He publicly attacked me. There was not even a text message in advance, even though we had had a text exchange literally four weeks earlier saying that, no matter who we’re friends with – because he was mad I was friends with Tucker – our friendship means more to us than anything and we won’t do anything to eff it up. Next thing I know, I get attacked by him on stage at AmFest.
How many people have to go? Truly, how many people must be culled from the conservative movement in order to make Ben happy? This is ridiculous. And it is not just Ben. There are others who take his lead once he calls you an antisemite or says you need to be kicked out of polite society. There are a couple of others, not a huge amount, but he has some influence with some crew. This is so wrong.
Good for Piers Morgan for fighting back. I am completely on Team Piers, and I’m sorry to see Ben going in this direction.
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 1,270 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.