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Ariana Baio
Oct 21, 2022
Ethan Klein And His Iconic Controversies
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YouTuber and podcaster Ethan Klein was temporarily banned from YouTube this week and blamed "a few white supremacists" including Ben Shapiro for lobbying to YouTube.
On Monday's episode of Klein's podcast The H3 Podcast, the 37-year-old criticized Shapiro for not condemning Kanye West's anti-Semitic rant.
While criticizing the far-right internet personality, Klein made a joke about the Holocaust.
“If there’s another Holocaust and people start rounding up the Jews again, I hope Ben gets gassed first," Klein said. "Or last.”
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Both Klein and Shapiro are Jewish. Klein is an Israeli citizen as well.
"I’m getting gassed, too. Do you think it would be more justice if he got first or last?” He added jokingly.
Klein's comment got backlash on Twitter after Shapiro re-tweeted a clip of it and said, "If there were another Holocaust, I would hope that Ethan and his family escaped. But maybe that's just me.
\u201cIf there were another Holocaust, I would hope that Ethan and his family escaped. But maybe that's just me.\u201d— Ben Shapiro (@Ben Shapiro) 1666265698
Later that same day, Klein announced he had been temporarily banned from the platform for making anti-Semitic comments. He accused "Shapiro & friends" of getting him suspended for lobbying to YouTube.
Klein accused Shapiro of "constantly excusing, enabling and platforming real anti-semitism" by hosting people like Candace Owens on his podcast.
"The joke that I was suspended for simply points out that Ben, who is desperate to be accepted by his Christian nationalist friends as white, will only ever be seen by them as a useful idiot, and sadly for him, a Jew," Klein tweeted.
\u201cA few white supremacists successfully lobbied YouTube to suspend me, a Jewish dual citizen of Israel & USA, for anti-semitism. Ben Shapiro & friends can virtue signal all they want but ultimately they are the ones platforming dangerous anti-semites. All I did was point it out.\u201d— Ethan Klein (@Ethan Klein) 1666301342
Last week when West tweeted he would go "death con 3" on Jewish people, Shapiro said West's language was "clearly anti-Semitic and disturbing" but also thought West's move toward conservatism was "encouraging."
But when West continued to attack Jewish people this week, Shapiro denounced West's comments more directly.
In response to Klein's comments, Shapiro said he does not believe Klein should have been suspended.
\u201cI don't believe that Ethan Klein should be suspended from YouTube for his awful garbage. But I'll shed no tears for a person who has routinely engaged in cancellation of others. World's smallest violin.\u201d— Ben Shapiro (@Ben Shapiro) 1666348823
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