Seth Rogen Breaks Down His Online Battle Against Ted Cruz

Seth Rogen is not in a “feud” with Sen. Ted Cruz.

At least, that’s what the actor and newly minted author said on Thursday’s Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

“Feud implies equal ground,” Rogen said after the CBS host asked about the pair’s heated Twitter exchanges. “If someone’s trying to murder someone with a baseball bat and someone is yelling that person to stop, is that a feud between the baseball bat-wielder and the person yelling at the baseball bat-wielder? I don’t know if that’s a feud. Feud implies two people hitting each other with baseball bats.”

The online back-and-forth began in January after the Texas Republican condemned President Joe Biden’s decision to reenter the Paris Climate Agreement.

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“Fuck off you fascist,” Rogen responded.

The politician dismissed Rogen as “a rich, angry Hollywood celebrity,” and the spat took off from there. They’ve since sparred over everything from the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol to the Disney film Fantasia.

“This isn’t a Twitter ‘feud.’ @tedcruz tried to overthrow our government,” Rogen tweeted on Jan. 24. “He inspired a deadly mob to storm the Capitol. And I think that deserves ridicule. So fuck him.”

Added Rogen in another tweet, “Your lies got people killed. You have blood on your hands.”

Talking to Colbert on Thursday, Rogen doubled down on his assertion that Cruz played a role in the January attack on the Capitol.

“Ted Cruz is a fascist,” Rogen said on The Late Show. “He denies the reality of the election. His words caused people to die, and I’m making jokes about it. Is that a feud? I don’t know. To me, it seems I’m pointing out the fact that he’s a terrible man whose words have resulted in death.”

Rogen went on to explain that the entire situation “speaks to what I think is a bigger problem in America, which is a false equivalency.”

“I think even I was going to use the term ‘between the right and left,’ which makes it seem like two appendages of the same creature, which I don’t think it is,” he told Colbert. “I think one is a creature and the other is just trying to stop it from destroying the country.”

Rogen did acknowledge that there “are people in my life who hold the beliefs that Ted Cruz holds,” however, any efforts to try and engage with them this past year have been “horrifying,” he said.

“And truly, I felt like there is nothing I could convey that would reframe this person’s reality as they viewed it,” Rogen continued. “So, no. … I don’t think being nice to Ted Cruz, for me, I don’t think that would be a positive thing for the world. It would be good for him.”

A spokesperson for Cruz tells The Hollywood Reporter in a statement: “We know Sen. Cruz is busy fighting to save the country from Biden’s disastrous policies. It’s surprising to see that he’s living rent free in Seth Rogen’s head at the same time.”

Watch Rogen’s complete interview on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert below.

9:26 a.m. This story has been updated with a statement from a spokesperson for Sen. Cruz.