Actor and filmmaker Mark Duplass has walked back his praise of conservative media figure Ben Shapiro after urging his fans to consider following the right-leaning political commentator.
“I’m really sorry,” Duplass wrote on Twitter Thursday. “I now understand that I need to be more diligent and careful. I’m working on that. I want to be clear that I in no way endorse hatred, racism homophobia, xenophobia or any such form of intolerance.”
Duplass went on to thank those who reached out to him after he was met with a swift round of backlash for his support of Shapiro.
“I want to say thank you to those who reached out with constructive criticism. I have genuinely learned so much,” he said. “That tweet was a disaster on many levels.”
The statement, which you can read in full, was posted to Twitter by Duplass on Thursday morning, shortly after TheWrap reached out to the actor and screenwriter about the matter.
— Mark Duplass (@MarkDuplass) July 19, 2018
The original tweet from Duplass, which launched a multitude of furious reactions, was a musing lauding Shapiro for being a “nice” guy with “good intentions” — despite his personal disagreements with him.
“Fellow liberal: If you are interested at all in ‘crossing the aisle’ you should consider following @BenShapiro.” he said in the post which was subsequently deleted.
“I don’t agree with him on much but he’s a genuine person who once helped me for no other reason than to be nice. He doesn’t bend the truth. His intentions are good.”
Online, many of Duplass’ liberal fans reacted with shock, bluntly informing him that they would not tolerate any comity with Shapiro, a former Breitbart editor who now runs the conservative Daily Wire.
“Actual liberal here: get the f— out of here with this garbage take from Hell,” wrote Guy Endore-Kaiser, in just one example of the backlash. (You can read a roundup of it here.)
For his part, Shapiro used the opportunity to gloat at what he said was just another example of liberal intolerance.
“Today’s Leftist lesson on Twitter: write a nice tweet about someone with whom you disagree politically, get labeled a racist sexist homophobe. Good stuff, guys,” he said. “Really showing that tolerant streak.”
Today's Leftist lesson on Twitter: write a nice tweet about someone with whom you disagree politically, get labeled a racist sexist homophobe. Good stuff, guys. Really showing that tolerant streak.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) July 18, 2018