Before this Friday, many people in the US probably didn’t know who Andrew Neil was. But after the BBC host’s on-air dust-up with conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, he’s being hailed as someone who took Shapiro’s “facts don’t care about your feelings” mantra and turned it around to show how the 35-year-old founder of The Daily Wire is mired in the muck that he claims to detest.
To Shapiro’s credit, he seems to have done a little soul-searching amidst the fallout over his tantrum. In a tweet posted after he walked off Neil’s show, Shapiro acknowledged that he now knows what it feels like to be ‘destroyed.’
“@afneil DESTROYS Ben Shapiro!” he tweeted, referring to the multiple ‘Ben Shapiro DESTROYS [insert leftist’s name here]’ videos that permeate the internet.
“So that’s what that feels like 😉 Broke my own rule, and wasn’t properly prepared. I’ve addressed every single issue he raised before; see below. Still, it’s Neil 1, Shapiro 0,” he added, linking to a Daily Wire article where he acknowledges “all the dumb stuff” he’s said in the past.
Fair enough.
Thanks to the popularity of the Shapiro segment, another interview conducted by Neil is getting some renewed attention, and it was with none other than career conspiracy theorist and all-round right-wing wackjob Alex Jones.
In 2013, Jones was invited on Neil’s show to appear alongside journalist David Aaronovitch for a discussion on the legendarily secretive Bilderberg conference, an annual event established in 1954 by the Netherlands’ Prince Bernhard to “foster dialogue between Europe and North America.” The conference has long-been a lightning rod for conspiracy theorists who claim it’s actually a meeting of global elites looking to implement the New World Order, or something.
During the segment, Jones launched into several tirades, calling the conference a “Nazi plan” and accusing the UK of being complicit.
The segment was a beautiful show of tongue-in-cheek play between Neil and Aaronovitch while Jones grew more and more agitated at their obvious mocking of him. Eventually, Jones became so belligerent that Neil had to tell him to “shut up” in order to let Aaronovitch get a word in edgewise.
“Hey listen! I’m here to warn people!” Jones yelled. “You keep telling me to shut up — this isn’t a game!”
As Jones took over the segment with his yelling about FEMA camps, Neil interjected, saying, “You are the worst person I’ve ever interviewed and we’re ending it.”
“We have an idiot on the program today,” Neil said while signing off.
Watch the full 2013 segment below:
H/T @politijoe1
Featured image: YouTube
