Piers Morgan hosted Breitbart editor Ben Shapiro for a testy exchange about Jason Collins on Thursday night.
Collins came out as gay on Monday, becoming the first openly gay male athlete in a major American sport. Shapiro tweeted, "So Jason Collins is a hero because he's gay? Our standard for heroism has dropped quite a bit since Normandy" — and was disparaged for his response.
Morgan confronted him over "the cheap shot" on Thursday. "I don't think it's a cheap shot," Shapiro said.
Then, he asked Morgan, "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 Obama has to personally congratulate him?"
Morgan appeared surprised by the question, and suggested that Shapiro was "homophobic" for his tweet.
"I don't think it's homophobic to say that we're apathetic about people's personal lives," Shapiro shot back.
He continued, "Being who you are in 2013 in America is what America is about," he 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."
"Come off it," Morgan dismissed. "To have your first thought be to get on Twitter and sneer at him? It's cheap — cheap and abysmal."
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