Actor and staunch conservative Scott Baio slammed children’s author Laurel Snyder on Twitter Monday, calling the writer a “vile person” who “teaches children to hate.”
The former Happy Days star posted the tweet after Snyder reportedly spoke at his daughter’s private school in California on Monday, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.
In his tweet, Baio, 58, said Snyder spoke to children at the school and then told his followers to “see how she teaches her children to hate and disrespect people like @realDonaldTrump and @FLOTUS” followed by the hashtags “classless” and “trash.” He also included screenshots of some of Snyder’s older Twitter posts in which she expressed discontent with President Donald Trump.
In one of the tweets Baio referenced, Snyder said that Trump’s State of the Union address was “mostly echoes of the Holocaust.” In another post, the author likened watching the address to a sporting event, where she and her family would have orange drinks and eat Cheetos, adding that her boys would only watch the event if they were allowed to eat Cheetos.
In other tweets, Snyder said she was having to restrain herself from live-tweeting her rage during the address. The author also wondered if the president insisted first lady Melania Trump dye herself orange so that he “could look normal by comparison.”
This vile person spoke to my child and other children today at her school. See how she teaches her children to hate and disrespect people like @realDonaldTrump and @FLOTUS !!! #classless #trash @robbystarbuck pic.twitter.com/9F0AgFJLNV
— Scott Baio (@ScottBaio) April 8, 2019
Baio’s tweet sparked an online debate from users who supported his beliefs as well as those who thought Snyder should be allowed to speak to children as long as she kept politics out of it.
There was no mention of what Snyder discussed with the children. However, the Constitution reported that the school’s Instagram account thanked Snyder for visiting the children and they “loved hearing her tips on how to tap into their inner creativity.”
Snyder took time to thank her supporters on Twitter .
“I want to thank everyone in the #kidlit world (& beyond) for the support. We really have an incredible community, & I feel blessed to be part of it. I haven’t been able to keep up with all the backchannels, & can’t reply to everyone right now. But it all mattered so much,” she said
Snyder’s books include Orphan Island , Bigger than a Bread Box , and Penny Dreadful . The author’s book Charlie & Mouse won the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award and Orphan Island was nominated for a National Book Award.
Baio is a known Trump supporter, and in 2016, he spoke at the Republican National Convention.