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The Covid-19 pandemic is the worst it's ever been in Florida and soaring in Utah as the highly contagious Delta variant continues to spread.
Despite this, many venues are still not requiring that patrons be fully vaccinated against the virus in order to attend events.
However, this is what prompted comedian Patton Oswalt to cancel some of his upcoming tour dates... which happened to really bother Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
After the conservative outlet The Blaze reported the news of Oswalt's cancellations, Cruz attempted to mock the comedian by saying that "both" of his fans would be "disappointed."
Both of his fans were disappointed.https://twitter.com/theblaze/status/1435770065937260544\u00a0\u2026— Ted Cruz (@Ted Cruz) 1631165078
Oswalt has more than just two fans, by the way.
His resume boasts 219 film and television credits, including as one of the stars of The King of Queens, as the male lead inYoung Adult, and as the narrator of television's The Goldbergs.
He's had several well received stand-up comedy specials, winning an Emmy as recently as 2016.
Oh, and he has 4.7 million Twitter followers (more than Cruz's 4.5 million).
Oswalt soon hit back with several witty replies, proving he wasn't about to take any of Cruz's criticism lying down, telling him:
"Not as disappointed as Texas was when you cut your Cancun vacation short and came home."
Oswalt's response harked back to criticism Cruz received for flying to Cancún while millions of people went without food and water as a result of the Texas power disaster in February.
(sigh)\nOkay Ted, here we go\u2026\n\nNot as disappointed as Texas was when you cut your Cancun vacation short and came home.https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1435836521920270338\u00a0\u2026— Patton Oswalt (@Patton Oswalt) 1631186986
But he didn't stop there.
Oswalt proceeded to shred Cruz in several short and sweet replies, telling him to "return to liquid form" and concluding by referring to him as a "friendless, cowardly embarrassment."
Ted, you Tweeted this at 1am. Put the phone down and return to liquid form for a few hours— Patton Oswalt (@Patton Oswalt) 1631186987
Ted, my fans are all at home, waiting to see you at the January 6th hearings.— Patton Oswalt (@Patton Oswalt) 1631186987
I\u2019m so flattered you took time from your porn scrolling for this, Ted.— Patton Oswalt (@Patton Oswalt) 1631186987
Well, that was fun. As always Ted, you\u2019re a friendless, cowardly embarrassment and your beard looks stupid.— Patton Oswalt (@Patton Oswalt) 1631186987
Oswalt's fans ate it up, and it's safe to say he garnered even more followers in the process.
One of the more satisfying series of dunks I've read in quite some time. Never take on a comedian who is smarter, faster, and funnier than you.https://twitter.com/pattonoswalt/status/1435928413575864323\u00a0\u2026— Elizabeth Hackett (@Elizabeth Hackett) 1631217133
Gee, I wonder if old Teddy Boy is regretting taking THAT shot? Because Patton fucking BURIED him. Great job, @pattonoswalthttps://twitter.com/pattonoswalt/status/1435928413575864323\u00a0\u2026— deepFreeze (@deepFreeze) 1631225080
This thread is reason 32,012 to love @pattonoswalt. (Also, if you\u2019re not watching @APBioPeacock, you should be.)https://twitter.com/pattonoswalt/status/1435928413575864323\u00a0\u2026— Alafair Burke (@Alafair Burke) 1631210794
Patton is king.https://twitter.com/pattonoswalt/status/1435928413575864323\u00a0\u2026— Josh Cooley (@Josh Cooley) 1631206367
Always love to see @tedcruz get absolutely ragdolled. All that sad little man seems to do is shoot his mouth off on the internet, yet he can\u2019t even do *that* without embarrassing himself.https://twitter.com/pattonoswalt/status/1435928413575864323\u00a0\u2026— \ud835\udd16\ud835\udd20\ud835\udd2c\ud835\udd31\ud835\udd31 \u211c\ud835\udd32\ud835\udd30\ud835\udd30\ud835\udd22\ud835\udd29\ud835\udd29 (@\ud835\udd16\ud835\udd20\ud835\udd2c\ud835\udd31\ud835\udd31 \u211c\ud835\udd32\ud835\udd30\ud835\udd30\ud835\udd22\ud835\udd29\ud835\udd29) 1631206122
Meanwhile, others criticized Cruz for his Cancún trip as well as for continuing downplay the severity of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Patton Oswalt raises money for charities that help children & communities. Ted Cruz supports laws that inflict pain on children & communities. #OswaltFan #FuckTedCruzhttps://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1435836521920270338\u00a0\u2026— Rufus\ud83e\udd89 (@Rufus\ud83e\udd89) 1631224362
Ted Cruz knows as much about comedy as he does about serving the people of Texas. #CancunCruzhttps://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1435836521920270338\u00a0\u2026— Indie Revolver - BLM\u270a (@Indie Revolver - BLM\u270a) 1631227956
Ted, you're a gutless friendless coward. Go back to abandoning Texas during a crisis, go back to trolling comics on Twitter while Texas runs out of ICU beds, and go back to eating alone in the congressional cafeteria because even Republicans can't stand to be around youhttps://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1435836521920270338\u00a0\u2026— Matt Oswalt (@Matt Oswalt) 1631204295
Imagine being a Senator of a state that's running low on ICU beds due to a pandemic you've been downplaying for 18+ months and you decide that at 1 am you're going to take a jab at a stand-up comedian over Twitter for canceling some of his shows due to the pandemic.https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1435836521920270338\u00a0\u2026— DrDigOlBickPhD (@DrDigOlBickPhD) 1631221430
Oswalt has no regrets about canceling his shows after venues failed to comply with his requests that attendees show proof of full vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test.
Speaking to his Instagram followers, he said:
"This difficult decision was made due to the rising numbers of Covid cases and also because I have an ego, but my ego is not big enough to think that people should die to hear my stupid comedy."
"So hopefully, hopefully, in the future we can rebook those when sanity holds sway again."
"But this sucks, I was really looking forward to Florida, to Salt Lake City."
Bravo, Mr. Oswalt.
If there's one thing we hope Senator Cruz has learned from all this, it's to never go after a comedian. You just won't win.