Don't expect clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson, known for broadcasting his lectures to a large audience via YouTube, to express regret for a comment he made on the micro-blogging platform Twitter Inc. (NYSE:TWTR).
What happened: Peterson criticized the doctor who performed Elliot Page's mastectomy in a since-deleted tweet that Twitter identified as violating policies against abusive conduct.
"Remember when pride was a sin?" Peterson tweeted. "And Ellen Page just had her breasts removed by a criminal physician."
Page announced that he was transgender in 2020 and changed his first name to Elliot. His character on "The Umbrella Academy's" most recent season changed his character name from Vanya to Viktor Hargreeves.
“Twitter's a rat-hole, in the final analysis, I have probably contributed to that, while trying to use, understand and master that horrible, toxic platform - if I can’t be let back on because I won’t apologize, I could care less,” Peterson told the National Post.
Mikhaila Peterson, Peterson's daughter, used the platform to inform her 211.8k followers about her father's suspension.
Wow. @jordanbpeterson got a twitter strike. No more twitter until he deletes the tweet. Definitely not a free speech platform at the moment @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/YuBTwnjz5W
— Mikhaila Peterson (@MikhailaFuller) June 29, 2022
Peterson, who has 5 million-plus subscribers on YouTube, took a brief hiatus from Twitter in May after his remarks on a plus-sized Sports Illustrated cover model received backlash.
Why it matters: Elon Musk, the billionaire currently purchasing Twitter, has a transgender daughter and has highlighted the struggle for free expression on the platform. Musk stated in a mid-June interview with Bloomberg: “The approach to Twitter should be to let people say whatever they want, within the bounds of the law. But, limit who sees that based on any given use of preferences.”
Photo courtesy of Gage Skidmore via Flickr
