The claim: Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro received about $21,000 in federal loan forgiveness
President Joe Biden’s recently announced plan to wipe out as much as $20,000 in student loan debt for millions of Americans has drawn criticism from conservative politicians and commentators.
Political pundit Ben Shapiro is one of those critics.
“I have a controversial idea about paying off student loan debt: don’t take out debt you will likely be unable to pay off, and don’t ask others to pay off your debts,” Shapiro tweeted on Aug. 23, a day before the plan was officially announced.
Shortly after, a Twitter user, @GrownRoom, shot back at Shapiro with a screenshot of an image that showed someone named Ben Shapiro had about $21,000 in loans forgiven by the federal government.
The loans in the image were issued and forgiven through the Paycheck Protection Program. This program was created during the Trump administration to help companies weather the pandemic-related economic downturn, and it allowed small businesses to receive low-interests loans and, in certain cases, have them forgiven.
The screenshot was taken from ProPublica’s searchable database of PPP loan recipients.
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A screenshot of the Twitter exchange was posted on Facebook on Aug. 23 and was shared more than 3,500 times. Similar posts with screenshots of the exchange garnered hundreds of likes on Facebook.
But the recipient of the loans was actually a different person.
A California-based real estate agent named Ben Shapiro received the loan in 2021. He has the same name as the political commentator, which is what sparked the false claims. Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro never took out PPP loans, according to his spokesperson.
USA TODAY reached out to Shapiro and the social media users who shared the claim for comment.
Mistaken identity fuels false claims
Neither Ben Shapiro nor The Daily Wire, a conservative media company he co-founded in 2015, accepted any funds from the federal Paycheck Protection Program, Alyssa Cordova, a spokesperson for the political commentator, told USA TODAY in an email.
USA TODAY did not find any evidence that commentator Ben Shapiro, The Daily Wire or The Daily Wire’s parent company, Bentkey Ventures, took out PPP loans.
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The recipient who was granted about $21,000 in loan forgiveness has the same name as the political commentator, but he works in the Los Angeles real estate industry, according to the ProPublica database.
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro is not a licensed real estate broker, and he moved from California to Florida in 2020, according to news reports and his own YouTube channel. The Daily Wire also relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, that same year, according to the Nashville Business Journal.
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The political commentator has also debunked the claim.
“So they found a person named Ben Shapiro who applied for and received a loan in Los Angeles in 2021. Here’s the full screenshot – notice the same amount. As you may know, I am not a real estate agent or broker,” he wrote in a tweet.
USA TODAY reached out to the real estate agent for comment.
Our rating: False
Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that conservative commentator Ben Shapiro received about $21,000 in federal loan forgiveness. The loans were granted to a licensed real estate agent in Los Angeles who has the same name.
Our fact-check sources:
- Alyssa Cordova, Aug. 26, Email exchange with USA TODAY
- ProPublica, accessed Aug. 27, BEN SHAPIRO
- ProPublica, accessed Aug. 27, Search for The Daily Wire
- ProPublica, accessed Sept. 1, Search for Bentkey Ventures
- Accountable.us, accessed Sept. 1, Searchable PPP loan database
- AFP Fact Check, Aug. 26, Posts falsely claim conservative US commentator received loan forgiveness
- Ben Shapiro, Aug. 24, Tweet (archived)
- USA TODAY, Aug. 23, Biden set to announce plan to cancel $10,000 in student loan debt Wednesday
- USA TODAY, Aug. 31, Your federal student debt repayments are resuming: Don’t get surprised, prepare now
- Department of Treasury, accessed Sept. 1, Paycheck protection program loan forgiveness
- California Department of Real Estate, accessed Sept. 1, STATE OF CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF REAL ESTATE
- California Department of Real Estate, accessed Sept. 1, Benjamin Shapiro
- White House, Aug. 24, FACT SHEET: President Biden Announces Student Loan Relief for Borrowers Who Need It Most
- Small Business Administration, accessed Sept. 1, First Draw PPP loan
- USA TODAY, March 25, 2021, PPP small business loan program deadline extended to May 31 with Senate vote
- Nashville Business Journal, Dec. 9, 2020, Exclusive: What swayed the CEOs of The Daily Wire to move headquarters to Nashville
- PolitiFact, Aug. 26, Political commentator Ben Shapiro didn’t receive Paycheck Protection Program loan forgiveness
- Factcheck.org, Aug. 30, Commentator Ben Shapiro Didn’t Receive $20K in Federal Loan Forgiveness
- Ben Shapiro via YouTube, Sept. 22, 2021, Ben Shapiro Reflects on His Decision to Leave California
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Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.
