The Verge co-founder Joshua Topolsky called conservative writer Ben Shapiro the equivalent of a treacherous Jew collaborating with the Nazis in a tweet sent Saturday.
"Ben Shapiro is the Jew who helps other Jews onto the train," Topolsky wrote in the now-deleted tweet.
After one user responded, "Yes, and Ben dreams of the handshake and shiny medal he'll get for being such an obedient boy," Topolsky wrote back, "Either way Ben ends up on his knees." That tweet has also been deleted.
Topolsky co-founded the Vox Media tech news site The Verge in 2011, and he went on to join Bloomberg as its chief digital officer. He left Bloomberg in 2015 and started the digital media company The Outline.
I see you deleted this, @joshuatopolsky but screenshots are forever pic.twitter.com/ZDc0trT1zw
— Ben McDonald (@Bmac0507) July 1, 2018
How does it feel to be a garbage human? @joshuatopolsky pic.twitter.com/7AkHFP2MmL
— Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) July 1, 2018
https://twitter.com/NamirYedid/status/1013280896575664130
To hear Topolsky explain it, however, he did not delete the attack because he was sorry about it. Rather, he wrote back one angry user, "I deleted it because a mob of right wing babies were flooding my mentions and it was frankly pretty annoying (as were the DM death threats)."
He also wrote, "I didn't apologize lol."
https://twitter.com/joshuatopolsky/status/1013561310620127233
https://twitter.com/joshuatopolsky/status/1013561408762589184
"You didn't delete it bc it was an abhorrent thing to say?" one user wrote. "No," Topolsky replied.
You didn’t delete it bc it was an abhorrent thing to say?
— Avi Sebbag (@seebs66) July 1, 2018
https://twitter.com/joshuatopolsky/status/1013561744550191105
Topolsky continued to cheekily respond to Twitter critics of what he wrote on Sunday night, and he seemed to suggest Shapiro was also a "bastard" when asked about why he wrote such a thing about Jews.
"But you hate Jews Joshua," a user said. "I am a Jew Curtis," Topolsky wrote back. "I hate bastards."
When you realise that a lot of journalists have the emotional maturity of a high schooler who is obsessed with what is "cool," a lot starts to make sense. Explains @joshuatopolsky for example.
— Claire Lehmann (@clairlemon) July 1, 2018
https://twitter.com/joshuatopolsky/status/1013562971358945280
But you hate Jews Joshua.
— Deplorable Curtis (@netstarman) July 1, 2018
https://twitter.com/joshuatopolsky/status/1013565013628477445
To hear him explain it, those critical of his rhetoric didn't understand the "metaphor."
https://twitter.com/joshuatopolsky/status/1013567973959839745
https://twitter.com/joshuatopolsky/status/1013567021269831680
https://twitter.com/joshuatopolsky/status/1013566317398560768
https://twitter.com/joshuatopolsky/status/1013566125538463745
https://twitter.com/joshuatopolsky/status/1013564612397162496
https://twitter.com/joshuatopolsky/status/1013563618787581953
https://twitter.com/joshuatopolsky/status/1013563082600271872
For his part, Shapiro said he had been blocked on Twitter long ago by Topolsky.
He blocked me long ago.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) July 1, 2018
Shapiro founded and serves as editor-in-chief of The Daily Wire, a popular conservative website, and he also hosts a daily podcast and radio show called The Ben Shapiro Show. He appeared Friday night on the left-wing HBO talk show "Real Time With Bill Maher," where he sparred with the host over President Donald Trump's administration, the Russia investigation and civility in modern politics.
Shapiro did not vote for Trump but has defended him when he enacted policies he supports. In spite of his criticism of Trump, Shapiro was the target of vehement protests when he spoke at the University of California in Berkeley last year.
UPDATE: Monday, 11:45 A.M.: This article initially referred to Topolsky as the co-founder of Vox Media, which he identifies himself as in his Twitter biography. This has been corrected to show he co-founded The Verge, a tech website owned by Vox Media. Vox stated it has reached out to Topolsky to correct his Twitter bio.