DALLAS — The podcast community is abuzz today over an unscheduled appearance by a personality who hosts a Westwood One-distributed radio show in addition to an on-audio audio offering that has legions of fans and detractors.
Ben Shapiro appeared at the booth for his company at Podcast Movement.
That set off a firestorm, and saw the conference organizers take to social media to apologize for his short time at the venue.
According to Shapiro, he visited the podcast industry event for a short period of time, and solely at the booth for The Daily Wire. The company sponsored the booth at a cost of $10,000, Streamline Publishing’s Podcast Business Journal reports.
Shapiro adds that while at The Daily Wire booth, he took photos with fans and departed shortly thereafter. He was not a panelist, and noted that political discussions were not conducted while onsite.
However, Shapiro’s brief appearance made enough people incensed enough for Podcast Movement organizers to apologize for letting him appear.
The key issue: Shapiro’s views on the LGBTQ+ community.
Thus, Shapiro’s presence in the building was enough to make some people feel unsafe.
The producer of The Lore podcast, Aaron Mahnke, tweeted, “Podcast Movement’s apology is a good start. But more needs to be done. Namely, remove the Daily Wire booth and staff from the conference entirely. Their presence made every LGBTQ attendee feel unsafe.”
Here’s the string of apologies Podcast Movement posted to Twitter on Thursday:
Not all attendees supported the apology.
In a conversation with Podcast Business Journal, Pod Digital Media CEO Gary Coichy, who participated in Streamline Publishing’s 
How to Make Real Money Podcasting virtual conference in July, commented, “If the podcast industry has made it this far to diversify the content being delivered, expos and conference producers should seriously take the necessary measures to carefully vet sponsors in an effort to confidently represent the industry. As the leader in multicultural podcasting the goal has always been inclusivity and diversification. There were definitively some errors made here that that were insensitive to the communities we proudly represent, however an apology is a small but good start.”
The Daily Wire posted a video on Twitter of Podcast Movement attendees stopping by their booth to take pictures with Shapiro. Watch it HERE:
The conservative-leaning host has enjoyed one of the most-listened-to podcasts for years.
