David Bridges
Jordan Peterson deadnamed Elliot Page on Twitter. (Getty)
Jordan Peterson has staged his Twitter comeback by, of course, deadnaming Elliot Page once again two months since being suspended.
Peterson, a conservative author and psychologist notorious for his anti-trans attitudes, was suspended for violating the social media service’s rules against hateful conduct.
He both misgendered and deadnamed the trans actor on 22 June, saying: “Remember when Pride was a sin? And [Elliot Page] just had [his] breasts removed by a criminal physician.”
Twitter said Peterson could return to the service if he deleted the offending tweet, which he said Saturday (27 August) he had done – but proceeded to share a screenshot of it instead.
Announcing his return, Peterson tweeted: “I had to temporarily delete the Tweet that resulted in my banning to do some unassociated necessary housecleaning of my account but here is a screenshot which I am posting because I said I wouldn’t delete it and meant it.”
Peterson had previously said he’d “rather die” than ever delete his dig against the Umbrella Academy star. In a 15-minute-long YouTube tirade against Page, who likely has no idea who Peterson even is, he also called trans people a “viciously harmful fad”.
So the so-called philosopher’s plea for attention went down about as well as you’d expect with Twitter users who urged their followers to report Peterson’s post.
RuPaul’s Drag Race star Divina DiCampo said: “Obsessive with a life in total mess. Anyone seeking help or guidance from this skip fire of a human really should reconsider how qualified he is.”
“Whelp, he just gave another tweet to report then. Though I thought he’d ‘rather die’ then delete the tweet but I guess ‘housecleaning’ probably beats that firm conviction,” said a Twitter user.
Another added: “Man that’s still you deleting it you can’t taksies backsies.”
Twitter slapped Peterson with a suspension as per the company’s rules which say: “When we determine that a Tweet violated the Twitter Rules, we require the violator to remove it before they can Tweet again.”
The platform said it does this to “ensure that we are not being overly harsh with an otherwise healthy account that made a mistake and violated our rules”.
Peterson has a lengthy track record of anti-trans remarks. He has described being trans as a “contagion” similar to “satanic ritual abuse” and said young people are being “convinced they’re transgender“.
