Conservative Writer Gets Owned By The Internet After Mocking NBA Player's Coming Out

After NBA player Jason Collins became the first active, openly gay athlete in the four major professional American sports, the word "hero" was immediately tossed around as a description.

It was a word that Breitbart writer Ben Shapiro mocked in a subsequent tweet:

Twitter/@benshapiro

Some political operatives and writers on Twitter took exception to that characterization, deciding to search for some people Shapiro labeled as "heroes" in the past.

BuzzFeed's Andrew Kaczynski noted that Shapiro has called conservative radio host Mark Levin a "hero" in the past:

On the phenomenal @marklevinshow tonight to discuss 'Bullies'! Very excited. Mark's a hero. amazon.com/Bullies-Cultur…

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) January 10, 2013

Mother Jones' Adam Server found a few more: former Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and comedian Adam Carolla.

Fact: Newt is a hero for speaking truth on the Palestinians. We need a president who is willing to do that, despite OPEC.

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) December 11, 2011

With Sen. Ted Cruz, Tea Party hero, in green room at @hannityshow! yfrog.com/mnk7sxuj

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) January 9, 2013

Bwahahahahahah RT @benshapiro: @adamcarolla is my hero: hotair.com/archives/2011/…

— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) April 29, 2013

He also has called Perez Hilton a hero.