Ben Shapiro Defends Tomahawk Chop: If People Went to a Stadium and Cheered for the Jews, ‘Do You Know How Happy I’d Be?’

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Conservative pundit and Daily Wire founder Ben Shapiro kicked off a speech at Florida State University (FSU) Monday by doing the tomahawk chop as he took to the podium. The controversial hand gesture elicited loud applause from the audience and was mentioned in the question and answer session after his speech – which gave him the opportunity to defend it.

“When people say that’s a racist thing, I have to say, if people just went to a stadium and started cheering for the Jews, do you know how happy I’d be?” Shapiro explained after a student thanked him for doing the gesture, “Very epic.”

Shapiro identifies as practicing orthodox Judaism.

Florida State Seminoles refer to themselves as Tomahawk Nation and fans use the tomahawk chop to support the team. However, the gesture, which is used by other sports organizations like the Atlanta Braves, is considered disrespectful to Native Americans by critics.

Florida State fans are in a unique position, however, as their team’s use of names and images associated with Seminole history has been officially sanctioned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and approved by the NCAA.

Shapiro, the former editor of Breitbart, used his speech to slam “woke” culture in the U.S. saying “wokeness is destroying America.”

“If wokeness wins, it destroys the country,” he told the 1,500-seat audience. “If wokeness loses, maybe we find our way back.”

Shapiro’s speech on the campus drew protesters, including some members of Students for Justice in Palestine who held signs that read, “Free Palestine” and “Go home fascist.”