Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson is sinking to new lows. On Tuesday, he tweeted that he would rather be a “fascist cunt” than have a “feminine penis.”
Notch penned the tweet after he encouraged his followers to “punch a commie,” as “the only good commie is the one your fist is connecting with right this second.” The tweets were controversial in their own right for seemingly condoning violence (though Notch would tell his followers “do not punch anyone” three hours later).
But the backlash didn’t end after Notch’s first tweet. Sasha, a nonbinary anarchist and feminist who uses they/them pronouns, responded to Notch’s “punch a commie” post by writing, “suck my feminine dick fascist cunt.” One minute later, Notch quote-tweeted Sasha, exposing their post to his 3.7 million followers.
“I’d rather be a fascist cunt than have a feminine dick, so gladly!” Notch replied. The tweet continues with him saying, “wait no not the last pa,” as if to soften the blow.
https://twitter.com/notch/status/1108132684738420737
Suffice to say, his tweet wasn’t received well.
https://twitter.com/TransHerobrine/status/1108347975850438658
Said like someone who’s never experienced the mouthfeel
— Mothy (@bimbomoth420) March 19, 2019
people that proudly post about how fascist they are & how much they hate trans women dont deserve any sort of platform & shouldnt be allowed a twitter account, thats beyond hate speech https://t.co/zbmC6YVQFZ
— 🌷 lily-heather 🌷 FREE PALESTINE (@x86witch) March 20, 2019
notch is a testament to the failures of capitalism, because despite being absurdly rich he’s still one of the biggest losers on planet earth
— Jack Saint (INACTIVE, SOCIALS IN BIO) (@lackingsaint) March 20, 2019
https://twitter.com/therealHachiko/status/1108354971647516673
Whether or not he downplays this as a joke (Notch couldn’t be reached for comment), Notch is implying that it is better to be a fascist than have a trans body. Even if you don’t think Notch is endorsing the far-right, the tweet is a put-down toward trans women and trans nonbinary people with penises. It plays into the transphobic notion that a trans body—or specifically, a feminine penis—is disgusting, instead of something to be proud of.
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Notch’s transphobia isn’t surprising. The Minecraft creator has spiraled further and further into the far-right over the years. In 2017, he carried water for Pizzagate, arguing that there are “suspect codewords” in the leaked John Podesta emails. By March 2019, he endorsed the QAnon conspiracy theory, tweeting “Q is legit. Don’t trust the media.” He also changed his profile URL’s to a QAnon conspiracy website.
Q is legit. Don’t trust the media.
— notch (@notch) March 2, 2019
You do know governments have done things like that before in history?
— notch (@notch) March 4, 2019
How anyone is still on the left now that they’re advocating infanticide and claim walls don’t work is a mystery to me.
— notch (@notch) March 3, 2019
Then, Notch started going after trans people. On March 6, he criticized the word “correct pronouns,” tweeting that he is “completely fine with calling people whatever they prefer,” but using someone’s “correct pronouns” is “clearly the WRONG pronouns.” The tweets are confusing and vague, but they suggest Notch believes a trans person’s pronouns are entirely superficial.
“People should celebrate being different if they are, not claim it’s not,” he wrote.
People should go “oh, I should let you know I actually prefer to be referred to as him”, then the other person goes “oh wow ok! Sure thing ba– uhh.., bro! :D”
— notch (@notch) March 6, 2019
But instead the left pretends people go “HOW DARE YOU NOT KNOW I’M A MAN, YOU FILTHY DISGUSTING MAN”, and they do it so thoroughly people assumed that’s how things are.
— notch (@notch) March 6, 2019
Kinda lke how I won’t but a new brand of soda unless I’ve seen it in a movie.
Four days later, he penned a tweet complaining about people “celebrating fucking body dysphoria,” arguing that they are “making it illegal to use the wrong pronouns.”
“THEY ARE THE ONES USING THE WRONG PRONOUNS FUCKING HELL,” Notch tweeted.
For the record, Notch’s claim that trans people are “making it illegal to use the wrong pronouns” is a common conspiracy theory among transphobes. It can be traced back to a 2015 post on Breitbart, which wrongfully claims New York City will “fine you $250,000 for ‘misgendering’ a transsexual.”
Celebrating fucking body dysphoria.
— notch (@notch) March 10, 2019
Making it illegal to use the wrong pronouns
— notch (@notch) March 10, 2019
THEY ARE THE ONES USING THE WRONG PRONOUNS FUCKING HELL
Notch isn’t just screaming conspiracy theories into the void. After Notch quote-tweeted Sasha, Sasha told the Daily dot their posts were “bombarded by transphobes.” While Notch’s behavior wasn’t surprising, “the sheer amount of abuse his supporters threw at myself and some of my followers and friends on here” was “terrifying,” they said.
“My biggest worry right now is being doxed,” Sasha explained. “My parents don’t know I’m enby, nor do they know I go by Sasha, and beings that they’re Catholic, I worry about being disowned, particularly since my father sides with a lot of their opinions and stances.”
By early Wednesday afternoon, Sasha learned that their account had been locked by Twitter. To remove the lock in 12 hours, Sasha had to delete their tweet. Meanwhile, Notch’s tweet was still up and his account remained unlocked.
https://twitter.com/dierealpolitik/status/1108148755570876418
https://twitter.com/dierealpolitik/status/1108167542684766208
Don’t expect Notch to change any time soon. When 49th Parahell podcast host Rob Rousseau told Notch that communists “aren’t the ones shooting up mosques and synagogues,” he also implied that Notch doesn’t “care about that.”
“Correct,” Notch responded, “idgaf.”
“commies” aren’t the ones shooting up mosques and synagogues, but you don’t care about that do you
— Rob (@robrousseau) March 19, 2019
Correct, idgaf.
— notch (@notch) March 19, 2019
This post has been updated to include Sasha’s Twitter suspension.
