Pro-Trump conservative pundit says men shouldn't use emojis because they're 'for women'

If men have any “self-respect”, they shouldn’t use emojis – at least according to conservative commentator Matt Walsh.

The right-wing political pundit took to Twitter on Monday to share his opinion (that nobody asked for) about emojis only being for “children and women”.

Don’t worry though, guys – gifs are OK and memes can be used on a case-by-case basis, apparently:

The tweets caused quite the stir on social media, sparking a conversation about masculinity and it’s ever-restricting nature:

The backlash to the tweets caused it to trend on Twitter for a short time, prompting Walsh to respond directly:

Fellow conservative commentator Candace Owens jumped in to Walsh’s defence:

And some agreed with Walsh’s sentiment, saying they don’t find men who use emojis attractive:

While others rushed to the defence of emojis and brought up hieroglyphs – an ancient Egyptian writing system characterised by small pictures – saying that if it was good enough for a whole ancient civilisation, it’s probably fine for 21st century men:

Some responded with the “fellas, is it gay” meme format:

And others just flooded Walsh’s replies with emojis:

How about we just let people express themselves however they want, huh.