Congratulations to those who had Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, and Hellboy star Ron Perlman on their Twitter feud bingo cards.
Here’s how it started: Last week, Gaetz criticized the U.S. Soccer Federation for reversing the league’s previous stance on players kneeling in protest during the national anthem. “I just could not believe this when I saw it. This is the U.S. National Soccer Team, making the decision that the soccer players who play underneath our flag do not have to stand for it as it is being presented,” Gaetz said on his podcast. “I don’t like soccer enough for the U.S. to even have a soccer team if that soccer team is going to disrespect our anthem and our flag. It is not like some essential thing that we have to have if latched to the U.S. Soccer Team is this sense of such extreme wokeness that we cannot be proud of the United States while wearing the uniform of the United States.”
Those remarks drew the ire of Perlman, who tweeted on Sunday directly at Gaetz and President Donald Trump, both of whom have misrepresented protests during the national anthem in the past. “The U.S. Soccer team called and you guessed it… said they couldn’t give any less of a fuck about what you two dipshits think,” Perlman wrote.
So began a lengthy back and forth between Gaetz and the Sons of Anarchy star, one that quickly devolved into name-calling: Gaetz claimed Perlman was a “racial justice warrior,” while Perlman said the congressman was an “asshole.”
After Perlman posted a photo of Ohio congressman Jim Jordan and wrote, “You’re lucky for this guy Matt. If it weren’t for him you’d be the ugliest politician walking,” Cruz got involved.
“Listen Hellboy. You talk good game when you’ve got Hollywood makeup & stuntmen. But I’ll bet $10k—to the nonpolitical charity of your choice—that you couldn’t last 5 min in the wrestling ring w/ @Jim_Jordan w/o getting pinned. You up for it? Or does your publicist say too risky?” Cruz wrote.
“Wait, is this THEE Ted Cruz? Holy shit man! Is this the same guy let little Donnie call his wife A dog and his father an assassin and now kisses his ass? Yo, can I get your autograph man?” Perlman replied, referencing a pair of insults Trump made toward Cruz during the 2016 presidential race.
Perlman added, “I tell you what teddy boy, since mentioning Jim Jordan and wrestling is… problematic, why don’t we say fuck him and just make it you & me. I’ll give 50k to Black Lives Matter and you can keep all the tax payer money you were thinking of spending.”