Joshua Topolsky, co-founder of Vox Media’s The Verge, ripped Daily Wire founder/editor in chief Ben Shapiro, saying the conservative publisher — who is Jewish — was similar to Nazi collaborators during the Holocaust.
“Ben Shapiro is the Jew who helps other Jews onto the train,” tweeted Topolsky, a veteran of Bloomberg Media who is currently editor in chief of his latest media venture, The Outline.
Topolsky quickly deleted the tweet and made it clear to his critics that he wasn’t doing it because he was sorry, but rather because he was annoyed at right-wing haters.
I see you deleted this, @joshuatopolsky but screenshots are forever pic.twitter.com/ZDc0trT1zw
— Ben McDonald (@Bmac0507) July 1, 2018
“I deleted it because a mob of right wing babies were flooding my mentions and it was frankly pretty annoying (as were the DM death threats),” he said.
I deleted it because a mob of right wing babies were flooding my mentions and it was frankly pretty annoying (as were the DM death threats).
— Joshua Topolsky (@joshuatopolsky) July 1, 2018
“You didn’t delete it bc it was an abhorrent thing to say?” asked one commenter.
“No,” Topolsky replied.
“This tweet is cool [for the record]” he told another user.
https://twitter.com/joshuatopolsky/status/1013561744550191105?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1013561744550191105&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Ffreebeacon.com%2Fpolitics%2Fco-founder-vox-media-calls-ben-shapiro-jew-helps-jews-onto-train%2F
https://twitter.com/joshuatopolsky/status/1013562971358945280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1013562971358945280&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Ffreebeacon.com%2Fpolitics%2Fco-founder-vox-media-calls-ben-shapiro-jew-helps-jews-onto-train%2F
In other instances, Topolsky responded by telling anyone who was upset that they did not understand the “metaphor” he tried to make.
Topolsky’s comparison to Nazi Germany was a bit of a departure from his previous stance to compare modern day figures to them. In 2011, he sternly warned against anyone suggesting that Hitler and Bin Laden were comparable.
“In all seriousness though, please stop comparing Bin Laden to Hitler,” he said. “There is no comparison.”
https://twitter.com/joshuatopolsky/status/64919884206845952
Shapiro, a rising star in conservative media, could not respond directly to Topolosky as he has been blocked from the service.
Topolosky co-founded the tech/gadget website The Verge in 2011 as part of the Vox Media empire that was initially launched in 2005.
For the record: A previous version of this story incorrectly described Topolosky as a co-founder of Vox Media, which he has claimed in his Twitter biography.