A Brazilian journalist took a swing at journalist Glenn Greenwald on Thursday during a contentious on-air exchange on a radio show.

The incident between Greenwald and Augusto Nunes occurred after Greenwald took issue with Nunes' previous comments about Greenwald and his family, Buzzfeed News reported.

Nunes implied that Greenwald and his husband, Brazillian politician David Miranda, neglected their children and that the country's Juvenile Court should investigate them.

"I was thinking of this couple: Glenn Greenwald spends the day on Twitter or working as a recipient of stolen messages; David is in Brasilia [...]. Who takes care of the children they adopted? That's what the Juvenile Court should investigate."

Greenwald, an American journalist and founder of The Intercept, said accusing him and Miranda of not having time for their children was the "most disgusting thing I've seen in my life," adding that "I have no problem being criticized for my work. I criticize him too, but what he did was the ugliest and dirtiest thing I've ever seen in my career as a journalist."

He then asked Nunes if he still believed his family should be investigated.

"He still can't identify ironies. He can't identify a humorous attack," Nunes replied. "I invite him to prove when I asked some court to do it. I just said that his companion spends time in Brasilia and he spends all his time dealing with stolen material, so who will take care of the children?"

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Greenwald repeatedly called Nunes a coward, prompting Nunes to take a swing and push his face. Staff from the show intervened and separated the pair. The program was interrupted for 12 minutes. During the break, Nunes left and Greenwald continued the show, The Rio Times reported.

Greenwald is best known for exposing National Security Agency surveillance programs based on documents received from Edward Snowden.