H3 Podcast Suspended For A Week After Host Ethan Klein Makes An Off-Color Holocaust Joke About Ben Shapiro
The H3 Podcast has received a one-week ban from YouTube after its host Ethan Klein made an off-color holocaust joke about the Daily Wire's Ben Shapiro during the Monday episode of "H3TV."
In the episode, which has been removed from YouTube following an "abusive content" report, Klein joked that if there was another holocaust, he hoped that Ben Shapiro, a Jewish, conservative political commentator and founder of the Daily Wire, "gets gassed first." Klein is also Jewish. In the full clip, he said:
"If there's another Holocaust and people start rounding up the Jews again I hope Ben gets gassed first. Or last; do you think it would be more justice if he got first or last?"
Keemstar, another content creator who has had an ongoing beef with Klein for years, shared the clip on Twitter on Wednesday, writing, "Ethan Klien fantasizing about another holocaust hoping Ben Shapiro gets killed first." The post gained over 8,000 likes and 1,000 retweets in two days and was reposted by a variety of other notable conservative voices on the platform like Andy Ngo and Libs of TikTok, gaining millions of views.
Ethan Klien fantasizing about another holocaust hoping Ben Shapiro gets killed first. #DramaAlert pic.twitter.com/2UARM68RkL
— KEEM 🍿 (@KEEMSTAR) October 19, 2022
Shapiro responded to the clip himself yesterday by first taking the high road, quote-retweeting Ngo's post and writing, "If there were another Holocaust, I would hope that Ethan and his family escaped. But maybe that's just me," garnering over 29,000 likes in a day. He added a comment retweet to the thread, sharing a previous tweet of Klein's where he shares his criticisms of the Israeli government.
Klein then took the opportunity to make it clear he was joking. He quote-retweeted Shapiro and wrote, "Hey Ben. It’s a joke. Do conservatives know what those are?" He then admitted that the joke was in poor taste, adding, "but not as poor taste as you platforming anti-semites who spread dangerous conspiracies that leads to REAL violence against Jews."
Klein's response is in reference to political commentator Candace Owens, who is employed by The Daily Wire. Owens has been accused of being anti-semitic before, with the ADL even calling her out for specific comments in 2019.
Recently, Owens has also notably been blamed for sharing those anti-semitic views with Kanye West and inspiring his recent anti-semitic tweet.
Soft-pedaling genocidal terror group Hamas and lying about the IDF while chortling over which Jews go first in the next Holocaust is also an interesting look https://t.co/S7VymFTx3V
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) October 20, 2022
Ben Shapiro, intellectual titan, arguing with this guy btw pic.twitter.com/nE3Q1vX6WS
— Ethan Klein (@h3h3productions) October 20, 2022
Later that day, Twitter user @MartyAmericaUSA, aka Dark Marty, shared screenshots of themself reporting the H3 Podcast for "Hateful or abusive content," along with a response from YouTube telling them that the video would be taken down. Sure enough, roughly 20 minutes later, Klein tweeted announcing the ban, writing, "A few white supremacists successfully lobbied YouTube to suspend me, a Jewish dual citizen of Israel & USA, for anti-semitism."
The tweet thread goes on for seven more tweets where Klein accused Shapiro of platforming anti-semites and being "desperate to be accepted by his Christian nationalist friends as white," as well as calling conservatives the "greatest beneficiaries of cancel culture" and refusing to "back down or be silenced by bad faith provocateurs."
Got the H3 Podcast suspended from YouTube (again) for hate speech LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOO 🖕😂🖕 Sorry Ethan, but hate speech has no place on YouTube in 2022, sweetie ✨💅💅💅💅💅💅 also YouTube is a PRIVATE COMPANY and THEY get to decide what is allowed on their platform 🥰🥰💖✨💅 pic.twitter.com/NoEhmKPLgG
— Dark Marty 🇺🇸 (@MartyAmericaUSA) October 20, 2022
Ben Shapiro, who was happy to perform a purity test on me and declare me a bad Jew for criticizing Israel, hosts Candace “hitler just wanted to make Germany great again” Owens on his website The Daily Wire. He is constantly excusing, enabling and platforming real anti-semitism. pic.twitter.com/YN8egUFULR
— Ethan Klein (@h3h3productions) October 20, 2022
The people reporting me, excepting Ben, are tiki torch carrying, white Christian nationalists. They do not give a fuck about anti-semitism or Jewish people. They revel in the fact that YouTube and other institutions are so quick to act on bad faith & malicious outrage.
— Ethan Klein (@h3h3productions) October 20, 2022
I, unlike many who would dismiss me as woke, have spent hundreds of thousands actively fighting to strength our first amendment. Our first lawsuit against Matt Hoss has been published on https://t.co/7g00bWdCrX as a seminal case for fair use and is often sighted in legal briefs.
— Ethan Klein (@h3h3productions) October 20, 2022
And I, once again, humbly request that all naysayers, haters, detractors, and fallen fans alike, suck my tiny Jewish dick. Thank you.
— Ethan Klein (@h3h3productions) October 20, 2022
The suspension and growing feud between Klein and Shapiro was picked up by the media, with the Jerusalem Post reporting on it today and "Ethan Klein" trending on Twitter as people weighed in with their own opinions, including fellow creators.
The responses have been very mixed, with people on each side taking stances. Some of Klein's defenders note that Klein and Shapiro are both Jewish, wondering if he should be allowed to make a Holocaust joke because of this.
Klein has even received defense from some unexpected sources, like political commentator Tim Pool, who Klein has criticized multiple times on his podcast. Pool tweeted, "Ethan should never have been suspended for this. I think it was crass but how did it even break the rules?"
Even Shapiro thinks the ban was unfair, tweeting that same day, "I don't believe that Ethan Klein should be suspended from YouTube for his awful garbage," then further criticizing Klein, continuing, "But I'll shed no tears for a person who has routinely engaged in cancellation of others. World's smallest violin."
Ethan should never have been suspended for this
I think it was crass but how did it even break the rules? https://t.co/wz6BcgeWB5— Tim Pool (@Timcast) October 20, 2022
You don’t understand Ben’s point. Dark humor about the Holocaust is unacceptable, but promoting the ideology that led to the Holocaust is totally ok. I hope this helps!
— Vaush 🇺🇸 🇧🇫 (@VaushV) October 20, 2022
I don't believe that Ethan Klein should be suspended from YouTube for his awful garbage. But I'll shed no tears for a person who has routinely engaged in cancellation of others. World's smallest violin. pic.twitter.com/sjemJpHevQ
— Ben Shapiro (
— Harley Morenstein (@HarleyPlays) October 20, 2022benshapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1583407847995383809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 21, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ethan’s joke is 100% ok. In my opinion, a Jew can make a joke about the Holocaust. It would probably be weird if he weren’t a Jewish person. <br> Interestingly, it’s people who never mention the Holocaust who are the ones getting maddest at <a href="https://twitter.com/h3h3productions?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">
h3h3productions for making the joke. https://t.co/rgcpgorq1a
Love the definitely not antisemitic audience Ben Shapiro has cultivated! pic.twitter.com/hqmLcGqql2
— Rayy (@RayyvanaTTV) October 20, 2022
Keemstar recently tweeted suggesting the YouTube strike and suspension could be due to another incident that happened in the episode altogether. At one point, Klein and the crew were discussing Amouranth's abuse allegations against her husband.
One of the crew members, Olivia, claimed that her husband's name was Nick Lee and that he was a music producer, seemingly resulting in some of the viewers sending harassing messages to the wrong man on Instagram. Klein and the rest of the crew repeatedly told viewers not to do this and expressed regret over saying a name at all. Olivia apologized for sharing the name, saying she got her information from a Reddit thread.
Some people have framed the incident as accidental doxxing, with Keemstar now suggesting it could have been the reason for the strike. However, this is unconfirmed.
You need to understand in the same video/Live stream that the Holocaust comments were made.
Ethan & his staff Doxed a person live on YouTube. (Wrong Person) too.
The strike was probably for that.
Cc @Timcast— KEEM 🍿 (@KEEMSTAR) October 21, 2022
Well there ya go https://t.co/QN0rETdUoA
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) October 21, 2022
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