Ben Shapiro loses it over made-up story about nonbinary Blue Jays prospect

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A well-known conservative media personality is calling out the Toronto Blue Jays for something that didn't even happen.

Columnist and political commentator Ben Shapiro is also known for his right-wing outrage takes on social media. Among his latest targets, Shapiro called out the Toronto Blue Jays organization on Monday for allegedly promoting a minor-league catcher reported to be the first pro player to identify as nonbinary.

But there was just one problem with Shapiro's rage-bait tweet: the article he cited was completely fabricated, and the player in question doesn't even exist.

There are now two ways to reach the major leagues.
1. Be a good hitter or a good pitcher.
2. Bat .207 in Double A but pretend you're not a male.https://t.co/5bw7lU5r5O
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) June 12, 2023

Shapiro cited an article posted by conservative media outlet, the National Review, a publication which has promoted other bogus stories in the past, including conspiracy theories about Barack Obama's place of birth and articles denying climate change.

Shortly after the tweet was sent, several fans pointed out the obvious fact that this was satire, and Twitter added a note to the original post, clarifying that "This is satire - there is no player with the name Brady Deeker in the Toronto Blue Jays organization or on their active roster."

Not real.
No baseball reference page.
— Alex talking at the end of the bar. (@AlexS1898) June 12, 2023

The screw-up must have been made apparent to Shapiro, who replied to his own tweet about 15 minutes later.

I assume @richlowry's piece is hilarious satire, but...you can't really assume anything these days.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) June 12, 2023

Shapiro's initial tweet spreading the fake story has been viewed 1.5 million times on Twitter, while his clarification that it is fake has only 200K views, leaving many of his over 5 million followers with the impression that this is an actual thing that happened.

According to an interview with Fox News (because, of course), the writer of the fake story, Rich Lowry, claimed that he penned the fabricated piece — which is not clearly labelled as satire — "to prove a point." Lowry used fake quotes from Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins to pad out his rage bait piece, which effectively fooled conservative onlookers, including Shapiro.

The majority of responses to Shapiro's tweet read like an echo chamber of fans assuming that this story was true and slamming the Blue Jays for a move they never made, but a handful of commenters called out the columnist for his laser-focus on deconstructing any gender identities that don't fit into his rigid definitions.