Shmuley Boteach tweets photo with Bannon, gets into one-sided feud with ‘Ellen’ producer

Josefin Dolsten
Published December 8, 2016

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, left, and Andy Lassner (Twitter)

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, left, and Andy Lassner (Twitter)

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach found himself flooded with angry tweets after he shared a photo of himself with Stephen Bannon, Donald Trump’s controversial senior adviser. But one detractor, Andy Lassner, an executive producer of “The Ellen Degeneres Show,” seemed to especially irk the celebrity rabbi, launching him on a tirade in which he mentioned that he knew some of Lassner’s “secrets.”

It all started Wednesday evening when Boteach shared the picture on Twitter with Bannon, who has been denounced by some Jewish groups for his links to the “alt-right,” a far-right movement whose followers traffic variously in white nationalism, anti-immigration sentiment, anti-Semitism and a disdain for “political correctness.” Bannon has called Breitbart News, the conservative news website where he previously served as chairman, a “platform for the alt-right,” but denied being an anti-Semite or white supremacist.

Boteach’s tweet led to a barrage of angry responses.

But Boteach seemed especially bothered by Lassner, who called him “shameless” and said he “only cares about fame.”

Boteach accused the Jewish “Ellen” producer, whom he called “my old friend,” of engaging in “smear campaigns.”

Lassner issued no response, but that didn’t deter Boteach, who went on to mention that he knew Lassner’s “secrets.”

Boteach continued attacking Lassner well into Thursday, accusing him of spewing “so much hatred” and being an “internet troll.”

Lassner, for his part, seemed to have moved on. By that afternoon he was busy pondering why Jewish pride seems to surge around Hanukkah.