McCormack claimed one of Heilpern's tweets was a "bigoted dog whistle" and she was starting to sound like Katie Hopkins.
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Crypto personality Layah Heilpern has blocked fellow Bitcoin podcaster Peter McCormack after a row on Twitter.
On Wednesday, Heilpern had tweeted:
"Been filming content in London all day and I just can't believe what’s happened to my hometown. Rainbow flags everywhere and every single person is woke. The men are all feminine and the women masculine. Wokeness is a religious regime that is spreading fast."
McCormack shot back by arguing that LGBT pride is a good thing — adding that London is nothing like this at all. (For what it's worth, this reporter also lives in London, and it's daft to suggest that rainbow flags are everywhere.)
The What Bitcoin Did host went on to warn that Heilpern was starting to sound like Katie Hopkins — a far-right commentator who has been deplatformed by many social networks — "fostering unnecessary hate and division."
He went on to claim that her tweet "was a bigoted dog whistle" — and teased Heilpern by tweeting a picture of a rainblow flag flying in Edinburgh, where a Bitcoin conference is underway.
"Edinburgh has fallen. Rainbow flags everywhere, going to move to Miami to get away from this."
McCormack added:
"For those people worried about too many rainbow flags in their city, consider this. LGBT communities still experience discrimination and violence in many parts of the world. A city advertising itself as safe and inclusive is a good thing."
Heilpern accused McCormack of "purposely mischaracterizing her for clout," adding:
"People are quick to drop words like racist, sexist and homophobic without understanding the weight of their words. I don't know why but he purposely did me dirty so he got blocked. I don't tolerate dirty behavior."
And she claimed that he was trying to cancel her by "making up lies" that she is homophobic — repeatedly pointing to tweets where he called for "draconian centralized planning to reduce the spread of coronavirus and the overwhelming of health systems." (McCormack has said that, in hindsight, he believes lockdown restrictions were wrong.)
Sharing a screenshot to confirm that he had been blocked, McCormack said "this is how you get stuck in an echo chamber of bigotry" — a message surrounded by rainbow flags.
Both podcasters had appeared to be on a collision course last week during the Bitcoin Amsterdam conference, as they shared a stage on a panel called The Bitcoin Audience.
During a testy exchange, Heilpern had explained that he supported Andrew Tate — who runs "The Hustlers' University" and offers courses about crypto — despite the fact he's been accused of uploading violent and misogynistic videos.
McCormack questioned this and branded him a "scammer" who was "signing people up for substandard products, which are basically shit."
Heilpern dismissed the argument — and said "basically shit" was merely an opinion, adding:
"A lot of people find value from his content. Maybe it is substandard, but that's your opinion. A lot of people made a lot of money, and he's clearly a very intelligent individual. I think he knows what he is doing. Nobody's forcing you to buy it."
To applause, Heilpern went on to argue:
"You could say university's basically a scam — that's a lot more expensive. And I spent three years at university and that was a load of shit."
The pair didn't seem to especially get along back then.
While Bitcoiners are often united on the importance of cryptocurrency, this latest row shows there are big cultural and political divides between high-profile individuals in the space.
