The Mercury News

Trump Jr. leaps into Twitter feud over net neutrality

- By Hamza Shaban

Donald Trump Jr. has leaped into the debate over net neutrality once again — this time attacking “Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill, otherwise known as Luke Skywalker.

The spat began when Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Hamill attacked each other on Twitter over the weekend regarding a recent video starring Ajit Pai, the chairman of the Federal Communicat­ions Commission. The video, titled “7 things you can still do on the Internet after net neutrality,” featured Pai dressed as Santa and brandishin­g a lightsaber to defend his contentiou­s move to dismantle net neutrality rules and mock the criticism against it. It was published last week by the conservati­ve news site the Daily Caller and shared widely on social media.

Hamill took issue with the scene of Pai wielding a lightsaber: “You are profoundly unworthy 2 wield a lightsaber-A Jedi acts selflessly for the common man-NOT lie 2 enrich giant corporatio­ns,” he said on Twitter.

Cruz responded with a reference to Darth Vader, a quote from Yoda and arguments in favor of repealing net neutrality:

• Cruz tweeted “.@HammillHim­self Luke, I know Hollywood can be confusing, but it was Vader who supported govt power over everything said & done on the Internet. That’s why giant corps (Google, Facebook, Netflix) supported the FCC power grab of net neutrality. Reject the dark side: Free the net!”

• Cruz tweeted “Yes, that’s it. So sorry to misspell your name. Respond not with facts, but with anger. Who was it that said, ‘Fear is the path to the dark side ... fear leads to anger ... anger leads to hate’?”

• Cruz tweeted “Rather than insults, try civil discussion of facts. Fact 1: until 2015, the FCC had NO authority over Internet. The Net grew free & unregulate­d. Fact 2: W/ ‘net neutrality’ the FCC declared power to regulate everything said & done on Internet. That’s really bad for freedom.”

That’s when President Donald Trump’s eldest child jumped in. “Ted Cruz kills Luke Skywalker again ... Jedi apparently no match for facts,” he said in a tweet Sunday evening.

 ?? GARETH CATTERMOLE — GETTY IMAGES FOR DISNEY ?? “Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill found himself fending off attacks over his stance on net neutrality last weekend.
GARETH CATTERMOLE — GETTY IMAGES FOR DISNEY “Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill found himself fending off attacks over his stance on net neutrality last weekend.

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