Seth Rogen has dubbed Ted Cruz a “white supremacist fascist” in a Twitter clash over Joe Biden’s plans to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement.
Cruz, a US senator, drew mockery on Wednesday (20 October) after appearing to suggest that the Paris Climate Agreement, in which global nations vow to collectively tackle the climate crisis, only affects the citizens of Paris. While president, Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement.
After Biden signed an executive order to rejoin the agreement within hours of taking office, Cruz claimed without evidence that it would “harm the livelihoods of Americans”. Quick to respond was Rogen, who tweeted to Cruz: “F*** off you fascist.”
Cruz attempted to hit back at Rogen, tweeting: “If you’re a rich, angry Hollywood celebrity, today’s Democrats are the party for you.”
He then added: “If you’re blue-collar, if you’re a union member, if you work in energy or manufacturing... not so much.”
In response, Rogen went for the jugular. “If you’re a white supremacist fascist who doesn’t find it offensive when someone calls your wife ugly, Ted Cruz is the exact motherf***** for you,” he tweeted.
Rogen’s comment was a reference to a 2016 incident in which Trump made disparaging comments about the appearance of Cruz’s wife Heidi.
While Cruz has been a vocal supporter of Trump, they were initially at odds when both were competing for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. During one particularly low moment, Cruz used a number of Melania Trump’s old modelling photographs to criticise his rival in campaign ads.
In response, Trump tweeted a side-by-side picture of his wife and Cruz’s wife Heidi, with the latter deliberately unflattering in comparison. “No need to ‘spill the beans’,” Trump wrote. “The images are worth a thousand words.”
In December, George Clooney referenced the incident when discussing Cruz, and used it as evidence as to why Cruz is a “yutz”.
“I don’t care what your political view is: if a guy said that my wife was ugly and my father killed Kennedy, there is no way in the world you could have me come out and say, ‘I’ll defend you’,” Clooney said.
Cruz has yet to respond to Rogen, who also informed Cruz that rather than being anti-union, he is a member of four of them.
