Rob Schneider Talks Hollywood Cancellation, Election, And Free Speech With Ben Shapiro

Saturday Night Live alum Rob Schneider joined Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro for this week’s “Sunday Special.” The pair laughed through a wide-ranging discussion of the 2024 election, Schneider’s Hollywood “cancellation,” Democrats’ transformation into the anti-free speech party, and much more. 

Schneider has become increasingly vocal about his political views in recent years, which has won him few friends in Hollywood — a journey he recounted in his new book “You Can Do It!: Speak Your Mind, America.”

The “Grown Ups” star had Shapiro in stitches right from the start, pulling on his famous impressions to mock Vice President Kamala Harris’ ever-changing, pandering accents.

Schneider also said he knew the election was “over” far before any votes were cast. 

“People are coming back over and saying, look, this is somebody we want to fix the problem,” Schneider said of Trump. “Just like you have a plumbing problem and there’s s*** everywhere. Well then, you need to get somebody  – you don’t have him staying for dinner. Donald Trump’s not going to come to your son’s bar mitzvah; he’s certainly not going to come for Thanksgiving, you don’t have to invite him. But he’s going to clean up: he’s going to do that, and you want him to do that.” 

Shapiro agreed, adding that Americans don’t need the president to be a “moral exemplar,” but a person who gets the job done.

“I have plenty of people in my life I look to when I’m out and when I’m looking for, you know, moral ways to live, and I’m looking for a piece of life advice,” Shapiro said. “When I want somebody to threaten Iran to back down, then I go to President Trump, when I want somebody who’s going to make sure that the gas prices aren’t too high.” 

The pair also discussed Schneider’s 2019 Hollywood cancellation.

“I said, ‘Californians would vote for a bowl of s*** if it had a ‘D’ next to it,’” Schneider recalled a tweet he posted. “And then that put the final nail in my Hollywood career.” 

“I’m out. I don’t get hired in Hollywood,” he told Shapiro. “But there are some things more important than getting hired in Hollywood, and that is, I felt that we were close to having our rights taken away.”

“When they try to cancel you, when they do go after you and you think you will never work again … and you survive,” Schneider continued, “you do get emboldened. You think, what do I really wanna do? What do I really wanna say? And I’m not gonna be fearful anymore.”

You can watch the whole “Sunday Special” episode here.

Schneider added that he hopes he’s “helped people be slightly less fearful” and “be a voice for people who thought that they couldn’t critique Hollywood.” 

The actor repeatedly returned to free speech throughout the episode. Schneider said he felt we were “close” to losing that right, and much more. For example, he noted the political censorship that took place on social media, apparently done at the behest of the government, during the Biden administration. 

Speaking to The Daily Wire in September, Schneider revealed that he felt compelled to write his book over that very issue. “We’re kind of f***ed as a country,” he said. “And so I do feel a responsibility, even though it cost me money and cost me work, I feel like it is my comedic-patriotic duty to at least bring these things to attention.”

You can watch the whole “Sunday Special” episode here.

Related: When It Comes to Free Speech, Rob Schneider Isn’t Joking