Best-selling author, retired college professor, and clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson is holding his ground regarding two controversial posts on Twitter in the last month that has resulted in a suspension from the site.
According to the Telegraph, Peterson said this week that he will stand by the tweets, one from early June and one from this week that led the social media platform to suspend him. He most recently criticized Canadian trans-actor Elliot Page for their transition from female to male in 2020.
The tweet, since taken down by Twitter but published by the New York Post Thursday, read "Remember when pride was a sin? And Ellen Page just had her breasts removed by a criminal physician."
"A few days ago, I penned an irritated tweet in response to one of the latest happenings on the increasingly heated culture war front in response to the decision of an actress/actor named Ellen/Elliot Page," Peterson said in a video posted on Twitter Friday by The Daily Wire, with which he has recently partnered. "I've been essentially banned from Twitter as a consequence. The suspension will not be lifted unless I delete the 'hateful' tweet in question, and I would rather die than do that."
A representative for Twitter told the Post that Peterson, a Canadian, was suspended for violating the company's policy "against hateful conduct," and that he could resume using the still-available account if he deletes the offending post.
Peterson launched onto the public scene in 2016 by opposing a Canadian law that included the use of "gender pronouns" as a form of discrimination, which could be prosecuted criminally under the measure.
He spoke out against the "compelled speech law" and began mounting a following that has significantly increased through his two best selling books, "12 Rules for Life," and its sequel, "Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life."
Through a worldwide book tour, podcast, and a variety of posts on social media, Peterson's following numbers in the millions, and so has his critics.
"I knew when all this nonsense started back in 2016 with C-16, you dumb [expletive] are going to start a psychogenic epidemic," Peterson told the Telegraph. "And that's exactly what happened with this rapid onset of gender dysphoria. For every kid you save, you will doom a hundred."
Earlier in June, Peterson posted a tweet critical of the plus-sized model used on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition.
The model for the cover shot was Yumi Nu, 25, a plus-size model and singer of Dutch and Japanese heritage, which was a marked departure from the traditional women used.
"I'm on cloud nine," she told the Post about getting the coveted cover. "This is nothing I could prepare for. It's unexpected. I feel like we're in a place right now where people are making space for more diversity on magazine covers. It's a big time for Asian-American people in media. I know I play a big role in representation in body diversity and race diversity, and I love to be a role model and representative of the plus-size Asian community."
Peterson, however, said the use of a plus size model on the cover of a sports magazine, which was supposed to promote a healthier lifestyle, was a "manipulation" of what "beauty" was supposed to mean.
"Sorry. Not beautiful," he posted June 9. "And no amount of authoritarian tolerance is going to change that."
Even after a huge backlash, Peterson stood his ground on what he posted.
"It's a conscious progressive attempt to manipulate and retool the notion of beauty, reliant on the idiot philosophy that such preferences are learned and properly changed by those who know better," the Post reported he said at the time.
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