Daniel Negreanu’s latest outrageous post on Twitter about running a highstakes poker series called “Gaza Gazillions” in Palestine has incensed fellow players.
Irish pro and long-standing critic of Negreanu, David K Lappin was quick to highlight Negreanu’s “cruelty”…
Cruel, but totally on brand from a man who delights in callousness and the deaths of tens of thousands and the suffering of millions. No shame. pic.twitter.com/yHlG3r1iFk
— 🃏 David Lappin 🃏 (@dklappin) February 5, 2025
Negreanu, once one of the biggest public opponents of Donald Trump, seemed to delight in the idea of running a big tournament in Trump’s newly-envisioned “Riviera of the Middle East” replacement for the war-torn Gaza Strip.
Trump’s idea to resettle 2.2million Palestinians to make way for redevelopment of the Palestinian homeland has come under fire from almost every side. So, too, has Negreanu’s crass tweet about playing poker in what is currently the destroyed homes, businesses, schools and hospitals of the Palestinians.
Justin Bonomo, a long-time foe of Negreanu, described him as a “monster” for his tweet:
What utter depravity
2 million people devastated by unconscionable horrors
They've finally gotten the tiniest reprieve – a chance to return home and rebuild
But you salivate at the thought of them being ethnically cleansed in full?
You're a monster. pic.twitter.com/6xuDDSXoA8
— JustinBonomo.bsky.social 🇵🇸 (@JustinBonomo) February 5, 2025
The responses from others among Negreanu’s poker peers were also plentiful:
- “Goddamn you suck, what happened to you that you’d dance on the misery of a populace that’s been crushed, shame on you.” –Max Silver
- “Dancing on the graves of murdered children is a risky way of going for lols.” –Barny Boatman
- “Not just on brand that the joke tasteless, but also unfunny and overworked.” –Sam Greenwood
- “Glad the tweet in question was screenshotted before deletion so people can see for themselves how nasty this is.” –Steve O’Dwyer
Negreanu revealed why he had deleted the tweet and it was nothing to do with how disgusted many were with his “joke”:
Literally one person I respect said I should take it down and they are a voice of reason so I canned it.
It was really hard to pass up an opportunity to use Gaza Gazillions.
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) February 5, 2025
From anti-Trump to anti-Democrat
For those with short memories, Negreanu infamously took out US citizenship back in 2016 in order to vote against Donald Trump, stating at the time: “I will continue to speak out against the violence and racist, bigoted, vitriol encourage by Donald Trump. This is serious. It’s not a joke.”
The Canadian-born poker legend added: “I don’t want to see America take a step backwards on people’s constitutional right to freedom of religion. Yes, that includes Islam!!! I don’t want to see “temporary bans” on people who may or may not be Muslim. I don’t want to see our president insulting women.”
The past 8 or 9 years, however, have seen “Kid Poker” change his tune almost 180˚ veering from centre-left to right-wing in many of his opinions.
Following the October 7th 2023 Hamas murders at a music festival, Negreanu took an extreme pro-Israel/anti-Palestine stance, despite not being Jewish or having ever visited the troubled middle-eastern lands.
Last year, he claimed in an interview with the Jewish Journal that “The people my age and in my circle…everyone agrees with my point of view for the most part, with very little pushback.”
Despite describing himself as “a classic Obama/Bill Maher liberal”, he also shared multiple controversial and divisive tweets, Elon Musk even appearing in his replies during last year’s US presidential election debate.
Elon Musk replied to Daniel Negreanu https://t.co/hedXTcxXhj pic.twitter.com/5JNaBxfByH
— ELON ALERTS (@ElonAlertsX) November 7, 2024
To the surprise of many, including even those who had watched his journey from left to right across the political spectrum, he was interviewed on the openly right-wing Timcast IRL YouTube channel last month.
Despite deleting his latest tweet, it is unlikely this will be the end of the story. Daniel Negreanu may have finally crossed a line that many will not allow him to return from.
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