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NYT Columnist Bret Stephens Quits Twitter After Challenging Heckler to Meet Face-to-Face

Bret Stephens had invited a Twitter critic who called him a ‘bedbug’ to his home to call him the name to his face.

New York Times columnist Bret Stephens has deactivated his Twitter account after inviting a heckler who called him a “bedbug” to his home to meet his wife and kids and insult him to his face. Stephens wrote a scathing column last month comparing vitriolic tweets directed at him to the French Reign of Terror after which he engaged online with the George Washington University associate professor who had insulted him. On Tuesday, he deactivated his Twitter account with one final message. “Time to do what I long ago promised to do,” he wrote. “Twitter is a sewer. It brings out the worst in humanity. I sincerely apologize for any part I’ve played in making it worse, and to anyone I’ve ever hurt.” He then thanked his 140,500 followers and deactivated the account.