H3 Podcast Suspended For A Week After Host Ethan Klein Makes An Off-Color Holocaust Joke About Ben Shapiro

October 21st, 2022 - 11:29 AM EDT by Phillip Hamilton

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Ethan Klein, left, Ben Shapiro, Right.

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.


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.


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."


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."


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.



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