The creator of Earthworm Jim has found himself in hot water after making certain statements on Twitter.
American animator Doug TenNapel started a war on Twitter after making transphobic remarks towards a Kotaku reporter by the name of Heather Alexandra. Alexandra had written an article about the 1994 Sega Genesis game, Earthworm Jim, criticizing many different aspects of the side scroller. In response to this, TenNapel took to Twitter and requested that the two have a chat about the game’s development. Several of his responses have sparked controversy however, when TenNapel purposefully referred to Heather as a man. When his fans began calling out TenNapel for misgendering Alexandra, TenNapel doubled down on his stance and defended his comment.
This isn’t the first time that TenNapel has been in hot water with the LGBTQ community. The artist has made it no secret that he’s against gay marriage. When questioned on why he’s opposed to gay marriage, TenNapel stated that the idea was as inappropriate as a man using a women-only bathroom.
Doug TenNapel has a history in both animation and video game design. He originally worked on projects such as 1993’s Jurassic Park and Stimpy’s Invention for the Sega Genesis. In 1994, he created Earthworm Jim. Earthworm Jim went on to star in a number of video games, toy lines and an original cartoon series. TenNapel identifies as a politically conservative Christian and has written articles for Breitbart’s Big Hollywood blog, expressing his opinions on political and social issues.
