Benjamin Aaron Shapiro was born on January 15,1984 and is an American columnist, author, conservative political commentator, media personality, attorney and businessman.
64 Facts About Ben Shapiro
2.
Shapiro is the host of The Ben Shapiro Show, a daily political podcast and live radio show.
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Ben Shapiro was editor-at-large of Breitbart News from 2012 until his resignation in 2016.
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Ben Shapiro was born in Los Angeles, California, to a Conservative Jewish family of Russian-Jewish and Lithuanian-Jewish ancestry.
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Ben Shapiro started playing violin at a young age and performed at the Israel Bonds Banquet in 1996 at twelve years of age.
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Ben Shapiro's mother was a TV company executive, and his father David Shapiro worked as a composer.
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Ben Shapiro started a nationally syndicated column when he was 17 and had written two books by age 21.
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Ben Shapiro became a fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center.
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In 2019, Ben Shapiro published the book The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great, which focuses on the importance of Judaeo-Christian values and laments the decline of those values in modern America.
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In 2021, Ben Shapiro published the book The Authoritarian Moment, which argues that there is not a pressing authoritarian threat in US politics from the right-wing.
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In 2012, Ben Shapiro became editor-at-large of Breitbart News, a website founded by Andrew Breitbart.
12.
On February 7,2013, Ben Shapiro published an article citing unspecified Senate sources who said that a group named "Friends of Hamas" was among foreign contributors to the political campaign of Chuck Hagel, a former US Senator awaiting confirmation as Secretary of Defense as a nominee of President Barack Obama, but weeks later Slate reporter David Weigel reported there was no evidence such a group existed.
13.
In March 2016, Ben Shapiro resigned from his position as editor-at-large of Breitbart News following what he characterized as the website's lack of support for reporter Michelle Fields in response to her alleged assault by Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump's former campaign manager, in spite of video and eyewitness evidence of the assault.
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On January 14,2021, Ben Shapiro was featured as a guest writer for Politico Playbook newsletter, where he defended House Republicans who opposed the second impeachment of Donald Trump.
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In 2012, Ben Shapiro joined KRLA-AM 870 as a host on their morning radio program alongside Heidi Harris and Brian Whitman.
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Internal emails showed that Ben Shapiro faced pressure from Salem Media executives, the syndicate that owned the show, to be more supportive of Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election.
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Ben Shapiro remained highly critical of Trump throughout the election.
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Ben Shapiro and Boreing founded The Daily Wire on September 21,2015.
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Ben Shapiro serves as editor emeritus as well as the host of his online political podcast The Ben Shapiro Show, broadcast every weekday.
20.
In June 2020, Ben Shapiro stepped down from his role as editor-in-chief, which he had held since the site's founding, and took on the role of editor emeritus.
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In 2021, Ben Shapiro's podcast was ranked as the 9th most listened on Apple podcasts.
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Ben Shapiro spoke at 37 campuses between early 2016 and late 2017.
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Some students and faculty members at California State University, Los Angeles objected to a speech that Ben Shapiro, who was then an editor at Breitbart News, was scheduled to hold at the university on February 25,2016, titled "When Diversity Becomes a Problem".
24.
When Ben Shapiro began his speech, a protester pulled the fire alarm.
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On September 14,2017, Ben Shapiro gave a speech at the invitation of the University of California, Berkeley student organization Berkeley College Republicans in which he criticized identity politics.
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Ben Shapiro accuses the political left of believing in an imaginary "hierarchy of victimhood" in which the opinions of members of persecuted groups like the LGBT community are afforded more credence.
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Ben Shapiro has argued that the left has dominated American culture through popular entertainment, media, and academia in a way that has made conservatives feel disenfranchised, and helped lead to the election of Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
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Ben Shapiro is an outspoken opponent of safe spaces, especially those on college campuses, arguing that they go against free speech.
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Ben Shapiro has further clarified that this includes extreme cases of mental illness where the life of the mother is at risk due to suicide.
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Ben Shapiro believes that doctors who perform abortions should be prosecuted.
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In 2019, Ben Shapiro spoke at the annual March for Life in Washington, DC, where he said abortion is a "violent act".
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Ben Shapiro has been a target of online harassment and anti-semitic threats from the alt-right.
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Ben Shapiro has articulated his reasoning for his support as, "Because you can forfeit the right to life if you take another life, just as you can forfeit your right to liberty by infringing on the liberty of another".
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Ben Shapiro was accused of climate change denial by Scientific American for an opinion piece on the 2020 California wildfires, with the outlet arguing climate change contributed more to the severity of the fires than state policies, as Shapiro had claimed.
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In 2018, Ben Shapiro argued that Facebook was targeting conservative sites after the platform implemented an algorithm change, limiting their traffic, and that they are not transparent enough.
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In 2021, Ben Shapiro said that he was in favor of the COVID-19 vaccine and that he was vaccinated, but is against COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
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Ben Shapiro later reversed his view on the West Bank issue, saying it was "both inhumane and impractical".
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Ben Shapiro later clarified that he was talking about the Israeli and Arab leadership, as well as terrorist groups in Palestine.
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Ben Shapiro supported Israel's settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank.
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Ben Shapiro declared that "One American soldier is worth far more than an Afghan civilian", accusing Afghan civilians of being "fundamentalist Muslims" who provide cover for terrorists or give them money.
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Ben Shapiro stated that the 2002 article was "just a bad piece, plain and simple, and something I wish I'd never written".
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In 2010, Ben Shapiro drew controversy for arguing that homosexuality should be listed as a mental illness in the DSM.
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Ben Shapiro has said that "a man and a woman do a better job of raising a child than two men or two women".
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Ben Shapiro is condemning of the availability of pornography: however, he has said, in support of limited government, he disapproves of its regulation via government intervention.
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Ben Shapiro supported Ted Cruz in the 2016 presidential election and opposed Trump's candidacy.
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Ben Shapiro supported Trump withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, cutting regulations, and his nomination of 12 appellate court judges.
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However, Ben Shapiro opposed and criticized Trump for firing James Comey, his appointments of Michael Flynn and Steve Bannon, and endorsing Roy Moore.
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Ben Shapiro has acknowledged that African-Americans were historically victims of injustice in the United States, but does not believe in the existence of widespread systemic injustice today.
49.
Ben Shapiro was one of several conservative commentators condemning Representative Steve King after King's January 2019 comments in defense of the terms "white supremacy" and "white nationalism".
50.
Ben Shapiro called for King to be censured, and supported King's 2020 primary challenger Randy Feenstra.
51.
Traditionalist in nature, following the religion means that Ben Shapiro wears a skullcap called a yarmulke.
52.
Ben Shapiro condemned the attack and called Bissonnette an "evil piece of human crap".
53.
In October 2022, Ben Shapiro condemned Kanye West's antisemitic comments, comparing them to propaganda in Nazi Germany.
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Ben Shapiro has argued that immigrants from Islamic countries degrade the United States.
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In 2006, Ben Shapiro called for sedition laws to be reinstated.
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Ben Shapiro cited speeches critical of the George W Bush administration by Democrats Al Gore, John Kerry and Howard Dean as "disloyal" and seditious.
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Ben Shapiro has called for lowering taxes on the very wealthy.
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Ben Shapiro has backed privatizing Social Security and repealing the Affordable Care Act.
59.
In 2008, Ben Shapiro married Mor Toledano, an Israeli medical doctor of Moroccan descent, and they lived in Los Angeles.
60.
In September 2020, Ben Shapiro announced that he and his family were moving out of California.
61.
Ben Shapiro relocated the headquarters of his Daily Wire enterprise to Nashville, Tennessee, but he resettled in South Florida.
62.
Ben Shapiro's sister, Abigail Ben Shapiro, who studied operatic singing, is a conservative media influencer who posts videos on her YouTube channel "Classically Abby".
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Ben Shapiro has been subjected to online antisemitic trolling due to her brother's high public profile.
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Ben Shapiro is a cousin of writer and actress Mara Wilson, though the two are not on speaking terms due to their conflicting political views.