Mark Hamill owns Ted Cruz over net neutrality claims

Trying to use Star Wars to make a net neutrality point didn't work out well for Ted Cruz

By Matthew Rozsa

Staff Writer

Published December 18, 2017 8:47AM (EST)

 (AP/Evan Vucci)
(AP/Evan Vucci)

A lesson for Ted Cruz: If you come swinging at a Jedi, you'd better not miss.

Over the weekend, Cruz got into a back-and-forth debate with Mark Hamill, the star of the Star Wars series, over net neutrality, after the Texas Republican tried to defend the FCC's decision to repeal net neutrality.

Hamill's first tweet referred to Ajit Pai, the Trump-appointed head of the Federal Communications Commission, who repealed net neutrality rules last week. By allowing broadband providers to block websites or increase charges for certain types of content, critics claim that the move will increase the power of big businesses online and make it harder for lower income Americans to access quality internet service.

Cruz's reply was a tad mystifying, considering that the internet does not seem to exist in the "Star Wars" universe — and certainly there was never a subplot about Darth Vader trying to control people through net neutrality policies.

Hamill's response may have hit the Republican where it hurts. In saying Cruz may have been "distracted from watching porn at the office again," Hamill referred to an incident in September when Cruz's Twitter account appeared to have liked a pornographic video. Although there is no evidence that Cruz was in control of the account when that like occurred (he later denied doing it), the incident was enough to make Cruz a laughingstock — especially given his own history as an anti-pornography crusader.

A quick reminder of the irony of Cruz's anti-pornography stance, courtesy of an April tweet from his former college roommate, comedy writer Craig Mazin.


By Matthew Rozsa

Matthew Rozsa is a staff writer at Salon. He received a Master's Degree in History from Rutgers-Newark in 2012 and was awarded a science journalism fellowship from the Metcalf Institute in 2022.

MORE FROM Matthew Rozsa


Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Ajit Pai Mark Hamill Net Neutrality Ted Cruz