Sen. Ted Cruz dug his heels in the ground in a Net Neutrality-focused battle with Jedi Master Mark Hamill over the weekend. The two got into a nasty and extended spat on Twitter. At one point Hamill even made a cutting reference to that time Ted Cruz’s account liked a pornographic video on Twitter.
“Maybe you’re just distracted from watching porn at the office again.”
Let’s just say the Force was strong — on both sides.
Things got going when Hamill posted a tweet on Sunday going after FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and his much-maligned attempt to sell the repeal of Net Neutrality in a comical video for the Daily Caller. Hamill said Pai would be unworthy to wield a lightsaber because “a Jedi acts selflessly for the common man.”
Cute video Ajit "Aren't I Precious?" Pai 🤮-but you are profoundly unworthy 2 wield a lightsaber-A Jedi acts selflessly for the common man-NOT lie 2 enrich giant corporations. Btw-did you pay John Williams his royalty? @AjitPaiFCCorpShill #AJediYouAreNOT pic.twitter.com/SpIcOEySUY
— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) December 16, 2017
Cruz — not one to miss an opportunity for trolling — came to Pai’s defense noting that as a government regulation, Net Neutrality had more in common with the empire. Cruz rubbed a bit of salt in the burn, urging Hamill to “free the net” and “reject the dark side.”
“.@HammillHimself Luke, I know Hollywood can be confusing, but it was Vader who supported govt power over everything said & done on the Internet,” tweeted Cruz. “That’s why giant corps (Google, Facebook, Netflix) supported the FCC power grab of net neutrality. Reject the dark side: Free the net!
.@HammillHimself Luke, I know Hollywood can be confusing, but it was Vader who supported govt power over everything said & done on the Internet. That's why giant corps (Google, Facebook, Netflix) supported the FCC power grab of net neutrality. Reject the dark side: Free the net! https://t.co/nARkMvIEYk
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 17, 2017
But Luke — ahem Hamill — didn’t seem interested in playing along and accused the Texas Republican of “smarm-splaining” and added that nasty porn burn.
Thanks for smarm-spaining it to me @tedcruz I know politics can be confusing, but you'd have more credibility if you spelled my name correctly. I mean IT'S RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF YOU! Maybe you're just distracted from watching porn at the office again❤️-mh https://t.co/nHpJVG1Wpe
— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) December 17, 2017
That pushed Cruz into a two-tweet response, which quoted directly from the Star Wars mythos in Yoda voice. He also did get serious, saying Net Neutrality had only been constituted in its current form from 2015 and that before then the net “grew free and unregulated.”
Yes, that's it. So sorry to misspell your name. Respond not with facts, but with anger. Who was it that said, "Fear is the path to the dark side…fear leads to anger…anger leads to hate"? (1/2) https://t.co/uwMMzgKC1R
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 17, 2017
(2/2) Rather than insults, try civil discussion of facts. Fact 1: until 2015, the FCC had NO authority over Internet. The Net grew free & unregulated. Fact 2: W/ "net neutrality" the FCC declared power to regulate everything said & done on Internet. That's really bad for freedom. https://t.co/uwMMzgKC1R
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 17, 2017
It looks like Hamill decided to disengage — but if there is any further response, we’ll update it here.
Net Neutrality was officially repealed last week by a 3-2 party line vote at the FCC.