Rightwing podcaster Ben Shapiro blasted the New York Times for its coverage of the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, as its website displayed two stories referencing Islamophobia.
Page A2From§Eachthe early evening edition — 11 September 2026
9/11 anniversary opens with a plea against bigotry, closes with a pundit demanding the press stop naming it.
“You got a kid whose dad is dead because of that day, and all he wants is for people to stop cashing in his father's name to go after Muslims — that's it, that's the whole ask, "please stop." And the response he gets, same week, is a guy with a podcast picking a fight with the New York Times for the crime of reporting that the hate happened. Nobody's arguing the Islamophobia isn't real — they're arguing about whether you're allowed to say it out loud, and that tells you exactly who the "please stop" was really aimed at.”
“Look, nobody's saying Islamophobia didn't happen, Ben's just asking a fair question about editorial balance — why two stories, why now, is the Times leading with the anniversary or leading with the angle. That's not defending bigotry, that's media criticism, there's a difference. ...though I'll grant, going after the paper the same week a guy is literally burying his father and asking for less hate is not the hill I'd have picked, but hey, that's above my pay grade.”
The receipts
Twenty-five years after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States that killed nearly 3,000 Americans and others and sparked a worldwide US-led war on terrorism that has left nearly one million people dead , some relatives of 9/11 victims pleaded that their grief must not be weaponized in the form of anti-Muslim bigotry. Michael…
Ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on New York City and Washington, DC, progressives this week have expressed appreciation for the few Democratic leaders who have defended Mayor Zohran Mamdani against openly Islamophobic attacks from right-wing city lawmakers demanding that he skip Friday's memorial event. But…
The attacks on September 11, 2001, unleashed a wave of Islamophobia in the United States that resulted in widespread harassment and persecution of Muslim Americans. In addition to vigilante attacks targeting Muslims or those perceived to be Muslim, there was also state repression including police roundups, community surveillance…
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.