Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro on Monday responded succinctly to a heckler shouting “F*** you” during his speech at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro campus, titled, “Men cannot become women.”
At least one heckler gained the audience’s attention after shouting “F*** you” at Shapiro, prompting the author to respond. As things settled down, Shapiro briefly addressed the disruption.
“Okay, so two quick things; one: ‘F*** you’ is not an argument,” Shapiro said to cheers. “And two: no thanks, I’m not interested.”
When he was heckled, Shapiro was talking about the tragically high suicide rates of people who identify as transgender, even if they’ve had so-called “gender-affirming” surgeries or not.
Shapiro took on a host of students’ questions following his speech, including one from a student who took to spewing insults at the author after unsuccessfully trying to point out flaws in Shapiro’s sources. The Daily Wire reported on the exchange:
“I’m a mathematician and physicist, here, a double major, and I also just won the prestigious award in the country to pursue research at any institution I want –” the student prefaced his question.
“Ah, congratulations,” a sincere Shapiro interjected.
“So, I think I’m pretty qualified to say that most of what you’re saying is based on old data,” the student claimed.
“I literally cited a study from last month, but sure,” Shapiro said.
“Like, for example, gender identity disorder, that’s a DSM 4 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), bro. We used the DSM 5, now,” the student said.
“I literally cited the DSM 5 in the speech, and it’s called gender dysphoria,” Shapiro explained, before the student started mimicking him in a mocking voice and said Shapiro “sounds like a bozo, bro.”
The insults continued. “And you get no p**** and can’t even get your wife w**, bro, so what’s good?” the student said, smiling to himself.
After boos were let out by the audience, Shapiro replied, “So, the nice thing about having several small children is I don’t feel the necessity to have my masculinity challenged by someone like you.”
The student, more aggressive now, scolded Shapiro for having a “Western colonial idea of gender.”
“You’re right, men and women don’t exist in any other culture,” Shapiro sarcastically shot back. “You’re right. Nailed it.”
“I’m a mathematician and a physicist!” the frustrated student screamed after the two continued to debate “gender identity.”
“As a mathematician and physicist, what in the hell do you know about human biology that allows you to deny it?” Shapiro questioned, sparking applause.
The student then yelled to Shapiro, “You got your law degree from Harvard! What do you know about biology?”
“One other thing,” Shapiro closed up the exchange, “if your logic is so flawed as a mathematician and physicist, I would suggest that whichever institution gave you an award, revoke it immediately.”
