Ben Shapiro Defends Racist Text Messages Of Conservative Parkland Survivor Kyle Kashuv

Vocal gun rights advocate and Parkland shooting survivor Kyle Kashuv recently revealed that his Harvard University acceptance was rescinded following the unearthing of racist text messages attributed to him from 2016, as The Inquisitr previously reported. Kashuv defended himself by stressing that he was only 16 and said he is “embarrassed” by his words. He further claimed they are “not indicative of who I am and who I’ve become in the years since.”

Not long after Kashuv revealed Harvard’s decision, conservative commentator Ben Shapiro came to his defense on Twitter.

“Regardless of what you think of @KyleKashuv — and for the record, I think he, like many other Parkland survivors, has handled the public limelight with grace and strength — Harvard’s auto-da-fe sets up an insane, cruel standard no one can possibly meet.”

Shapiro also wrote an article for The Daily Wire, the news and opinion website he created, that claimed universities may be “irrevocably broken” and lambasted Harvard’s decision to rescind Kashuv’s acceptance even after his apology.

Media outlets were quick to respond to Shapiro’s position. Esquire’s Gabrielle Bruney blasted Shapiro for his response and said that Shapiro’s belief that not using the N-word is a high standard “says a lot more about him than it does Harvard.” She also highlighted that all 16-year-old’s are judged by the things they do during their teens — such as their summer jobs and volunteer work.

Kyle Kashuv, a Parkland shooting survivor who's built a conservative following, apologized for using "abhorrent racial slurs" in digital messages almost two years ago and blasted Harvard for rescinding his admission https://t.co/wz7979Eicy

— CNN (@CNN) June 18, 2019

Others — including Kashuv — were critical of Harvard and accused them of hypocrisy, as the university has a history and involvement with slavery.

“Throughout its history, Harvard’s faculty has included slave owners, segregationists, bigots and antisemites,” Kashuv tweeted, adding that if Harvard’s decision suggests a person’s past defines their future, “then Harvard is an inherently racist institution.”

As The Inquisitr previously reported, Tamara Lanier is currently suing Harvard for “shamelessly” profiting off of 169-year-old pictures of her ancestors — slaves that she says were exploited for a racist study. The study in question was conducted by former professor Louis Agassiz, a biologist, who used Lanier’s relatives to support a false theory called polygenism, which was previously used to argue that African Americans were inferior to white people.

Lanier claims that the images are records of her family history and rightfully hers. She is accusing Harvard of the wrongful seizure, possession, and monetization of the photos, in addition to other things.

Benjamin Crump, one of Lanier’s lawyers, believes that the case is the first of its kind and “unprecedented in terms of legal theory.”