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Within seconds of posting his tweet, Peterson - a clinical psychologist, author, and former professor at the University of Toronto - was met with a flurry of criticism from other users, many of whom began taking aim at his own appearance, while others labeled him an ‘a**’ and a ‘freak’.
‘My guy you look like a child’s skeleton covered in mayonnaise with dryer lint on the top. You’re in no position to be assessing anybody’s beauty you rickety junkie,’ one person fired back at Peterson, who is the author of the international bestselling book 12 Rules For Life: An Antidote to Chaos.
Others flipped the script by copying the words from the psychologist’s tweet and re-posting them with a picture of him.
Nu, 36, a Japanese and Dutch recording artist, became the first-ever Asian plus-size model to be featured in SI Swim as a rookie last year
Initially, Peterson stuck to his guns, firing back at ‘panderers’, and insisting that the decision to feature a plus-size woman on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit was ‘a conscious and cynical manipulation by the oh-so virtuous politically correct’.
In another tweet he added: ‘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.’
However, after he continued to be bombarded with what he described as a ‘vicious flood of insults’, Peterson called it quits, announcing that he was ‘departing’ Twitter, while branding the social media platform ‘intrinsically and dangerously insane’.
‘The endless flood of vicious insult is really not something that can be experienced anywhere else,’ he wrote. ‘I like to follow the people I know but I think the incentive structure of the platform makes it intrinsically and dangerously insane.’
He continued: ‘So I told my staff to change my password, to keep me from temptation, and am departing once again.
Seems to me, the picture is not consistent with the theme of Sports Illustrated. SI highlights the best athletes and athletic performance. But on the other hand, there’s always Sumo Wrestling.
Peterson has never had Sports Illustrated present him as the picture of beauty.
Howard Cosell never pretended to be a middle linebacker either, but he certainly commented on the performance of those paid to do the job.