‘This Is a Lie’: Ben Shapiro Lashes Out At Reporter Claiming New ‘Pro-ICE Movie’ Is ‘Terrorizing’ Montana Town

Screenshot via The Ben Shapiro Show

Ben Shapiro lashed out at a reporter, claiming his company’s new “pro-ICE” movie is “terrorizing” a Montana town as filming was temporarily suspended.

“The crew of Ben Shapiro’s pro-ICE movie is terrorizing a Montana town, with violence filmed in residential neighborhoods and security guards dressed like paramilitaries. Now the town says they’ve had enough,” The Bulwark’s Will Sommer wrote on X.

Sommer originally reported on the script to Pawn Shop, a film he described as centering “on an Antifa siege of a Minneapolis pawn shop amid anti-ICE unrest.” Following that report, town commissioners in Livingston, Montana voted to suspend filming. That decision has since been unanimously reversed.

Shapiro denied his film has been “terrorizing” anyone and said that security was hired to deal with protesters disrupting filming.

Shapiro wrote in reply to Sommer’s latest reporting:

This is a lie.

Protesters threatened our crew, disrupted our production in violation of law, forced us to hire security in consequence, and then got the idiot City Commissioners to revoke our permit. Then the City Commissioners backed down because we threatened to sue them under the First Amendment.

But it remains truly incredible how far TDS and Left-wing entertainment media will go to defend censorship of anything they don’t like. Petty tyrants all.

On his podcast, Shapiro discussed the matter further and even shared footage of a protester on set, screaming, “free Palestine” and complaining about the film. Another protester could be seen demonstrating and screaming outside the set of the movie. Yet another played a trombone to disrupt filming.

“So that crazy lady is just one of the huge number of angry leftists trying to stop our next movie from being made. They’re angry because the flick we have in production is about ICE arresting a criminal illegal immigrant and then what comes after. The film is awesome, but that’s not the issue. The issue is that they tried to shut us down and they actually succeeded temporarily,” Shapiro said.

Producer Dallas Sonnier spoke to town commissioners before they allowed filming to continue and shared his comments to them with Mediaite. He noted the film has met all requirements and they were welcomed into the city until reports about the movie started dropping and inspired protests.

The producer said:

This movie was a homecoming. We filmed here in 2021, and the City welcomed us. What changed is not our conduct. A group opposed to this movie’s subject matter spent two weeks trying to stop it, and on Saturday this Commission gave them what they asked for.

The constitutional principle is clear: government cannot suppress lawful expression simply because an audience objects to its message. Courts call that a heckler’s veto. A filming permit should depend on compliance with lawful requirements, not approval of the story being told.

We will finish this movie in Livingston. This Commission can honor the permit the City issued, or it can force us off the streets it already approved. But, it cannot decide that this story does not get made here. The last time I checked this was the United States of America.

Sonnier shared footage of multiple protesters with Mediaite, including one he and others on the crew engaged with.

“No, I don’t want to talk to you,” the woman (the same Shapiro showed a brief clip of yelling, “free Palestine”) tells a crew member as she walks away.

The woman then turned and yelled, “F*ck ICE! Free Palestine! F*ck this movie being made in my town! It’s not a documentary. It’s a dramatization funded by Ben Shapiro!”

“Hey, you and your 200 followers, no one gives a sh*t!” Sonnier tells her as she goes back to protesting.

Daily Wire is no stranger to controversy when it comes to its films. Its most recent release, Run Hide Fight: Infidels, was labeled Islamophobic by critics and advocacy groups before it even hit the media company’s streaming service.

Sonnier recently told Mediaite that Daily Wire is ramping up its cinematic output in the coming months.

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