Ben Shapiro, the editor-at-large of the
conservative Breitbart News, on Thursday defended saying Jason
Collins is not a hero for coming out gay.
Collins is the 34-year-old 12-year NBA
veteran who came out gay in a cover story for Sports Illustrated,
making him the U.S.'s first openly gay professional athlete.
“So Jason Collins is a hero because
he's gay?” Shapiro tweeted. “Our standard for heroism has
dropped quite a bit since Normandy.”
During an appearance on CNN's Piers
Morgan Tonight, host Piers Morgan asked, “Why such a cheap shot
against a guy who did a pretty brave thing?”
Shapiro stuck by his remarks, shooting
back: “Why do you hate America so much that you think it's such a
homophobic country, that when Jason Collins comes out it is the
biggest deal in the history of humanity and President [Barack] Obama
has to personally congratulate him?”
Shapiro argued that he was open about being
Jewish despite anti-Semitism in American and he doesn't consider
himself a hero.
“Being who you are in 2013 in America
is what America is about,” Shapiro said. “It is not heroic to be
who you are publicly. I'm glad for Jason Collins if he feels he's
going to live a happier life now, but it does not make you a hero to
be who you are.”
Morgan dismissed the claim: “To have
your first thought to be get on Twitter and sneer at him? It's cheap
and abysmal.” (The video is embedded on this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)