The feud between Ben Shapiro and Andrew Tate has escalated after the conservative political commentator slammed the former kickboxer on Piers Morgan Uncensored.
The online battle between the two influencers began with a post Shapiro shared to X—the social network formerly known as Twitter—on October 9.
The conservative political commentator, who is Jewish and a staunch supporter of Israel, reposted a clip of the current fighting in the Gaza Strip.
Originally shared by user Mario Nawfal, the footage was accompanied by the caption: “JUST IN: The UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Palestine: ‘We are horrified by what is happening and we call for a truce.'”
In the response to the call for peace, Shapiro wrote: “And they can f*** right off.” Tate commented on the 39-year-old’s post, referring to him as “Mr tough guy.”
“Let me assure you as someone who has does his own fighting—as opposed to excitedly encouraging others to do it for him—while sitting at home on a comfy chair,” Tate said. “Peace is always worth a conversation.”
The 36-year-old, who is Muslim and anti-war, has previously expressed support for Palestine and is advocating for a cease-fire.
Replying to Tate’s jibe, Shapiro said: “Let me assure you, as someone who has not pimped women and bragged about it, that morality requires that those who rape women and kidnap children must be eradicated, not negotiated with.”
Shapiro was referencing Tate’s charges for rape and human trafficking in Romania, where he is accused of creating an organized crime group with the aim of sexually exploiting women.
During an interview with Piers Morgan on October 11, Shapiro shared his thoughts on the feud.
“He was tweeting that immediately like as terrorists were still running around in southern Israel, that was on October 10th and he was still tweeting while the bodies were fresh and warm in the streets,” Shapiro said.
“You cannot make peace with people who murdered your children and burned their bodies, you can’t do that… The murder happens and you immediately say ‘okay guys, now truce, now ceasefire.'”
Shapiro believes it is unreasonable for the Israeli government to seek peace with a group that seeks its “direct extermination.”
The author also told Morgan that he would not be “lectured on morality and toughness by Andrew Tate.”
“[His] great idea of toughness and morality is pimping women and then bragging about it on air and trying to quasi-walk it back while simultaneously maintaining many of the same positions, and flexing his biceps,” he said.
Morgan highlighted Tate’s massive online following, asking Shapiro if it’s “dangerous” that the Big Brother star can still post about the conflict.
“Listen, everyone should be able to tweet whatever it is that they want, I’m all for an open discourse, even with people who I think are dead wrong on a lot of these issues,” Shapiro said.
“But Andrew Tate is dead wrong on a lot of these issues and the particularly ridiculous posturing about being a… yes, you’re very tough when you want people to make peace with terrorists who just murdered their children, very very tough.”
Newsweek has reached out to Ben Shapiro and Andrew Tate for comment via email.