DALLAS — The world's largest podcast conference holding an event in Dallas apologized Thursday for the presence of a conservative podcaster who showed up at his company's booth.
The Podcast Movement conference brings together some of the top and most popular podcast companies and voices every year. In 2022, the conference is being held at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel in downtown Dallas.
Thursday morning, the conference Tweeted an apology before the session started for the day. Podcast Movement apologized for Daily Wire co-founder and conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro being at the conference, saying "we take full responsibility for the harm done by his presence."
The Daily Wire, which is a conservative news website and media company, did have a booth near the PM22 expo area, according to Podcast Movement. It's most known for its podcast, "The Ben Shapiro Show."
The conference did not provide anymore details about what happened while Shapiro was there.
Podcast Movement provided a follow-up Tweet that said:
"There’s no way around it: We agreed to sell The Daily Wire a first-time booth based on the company’s large presence in podcasting. The weight of that decision is now painfully clear. Shapiro is a co-founder. A drop-in, however unlikely, should have been considered a possibility."
Later in the thread, Podcast Movement also tweeted, "The pain caused by this one will always stick with us. We promise that sponsors will be more carefully considered moving forward."
The Daily Wire booth pictured images of three of its main hosts: Ben Shapiro, Candace Owens and Jordan Peterson. None of the company's representatives were scheduled to appear on any panels and Shapiro remained in the common space, according to Podcast Movement.
This situation caused "Ben Shapiro" to trend nationally Thursday on Twitter and brought with it many responses in the comments below Podcast Movement's Tweet.
User Seth Silvers tweeted, "This tweet is frustrating. I LOVE PM. I have always appreciated how inclusive PM has been. However, apologizing for hosting one of the largest networks in the industry because they believe differently than some in the PM community is the least inclusive move I’ve seen PM do."
One user by the name Mary Mo tweeted, "I don’t know why it’s hard to understand that someone such as a trans person or anyone in the LGBTQ+ community might not feel safe around Shapiro, since he & many conservatives are often speaking against them & attacking their very existence. I can see how that could happen."
Twitter user Brian Chovanec said: "Please. As someone who often disagrees w/Shapiro, his mere physical presence at an event, especially as it seems his company had a booth, should be viewed an opportunity for discussion, not something to be feared. Don't help them turn the 'triggered snowflakes' meme into reality."
Daily Wire CEO and co-founder Jeremy Boreing announced in February that The Daily Wire had officially become a $100 million business. The conservative media company has also started moving into the entertainment industry, releasing multiple feature-length films.
