ROK Columnist Matt Forney Receives Death Threats For Criticizing Tattooed Women

ROK writer Matt Forney has received hundreds of harassing and threatening tweets since we published his article “5 Reasons Why Girls With Tattoos And Piercings Are Broken.” Several of those have included serious death threats, levied against him solely because he wrote a piece of commentary that criticized women who partake in harmful self-mutilation. For his own safety, Matt is currently in an undisclosed location outside of the United States. Only a few trusted individuals know where he is housed.

At precisely 4:10pm on October 14, we began receiving a massive flood of traffic. It appears that this traffic originated from a Facebook group called Inked Till Death. They shared the article with the following text: “Well this is stupid.” At time of this writing, the posting has garnered nearly 7,000 shares, providing a large volume of visitors to our inadequate web server, which at one point served 3,805 simultaneous outraged people.

In addition to the thousands of angry comments on the Inked Till Death group, outrage spilled over onto Twitter, where tattooed females and their white knight protectors continue to spew invective at us:

Threats on Matt’s life

More severely, Matt has received death threats. While death threats on the internet are usually nothing serious, they are always taken to be 100% credible when targeted towards a woman, especially one who has successfully weaseled her way into the video game industry. At ROK, we see no reason why equal treatment should not be applied to both sexes when it comes to violent threats that could result in death.

ROK Publisher Is Standing By

When Anita Sarkeesian was threatened this week (again), major media outlets like the New York Times, Washington Post, and Time immediately reported on it with sympathetic coverage. We expect the same in response to the threats Matt has received. As publisher of ROK, I’m prepared to field questions from ABC News, Huffington Post, and Jezebel, who I’m sure will all want to report on this crime against Matt. I can also act as an intermediary to put both journalists and the federal authorities in contact with Matt, who understandably does not wish to reveal his location.

Final Decision In Response To The Controversy

After ensuring Matt’s safety, I carefully went through the emotional responses that his article received, and have failed to see one valid concern that these outraged individuals have provided. Their anger and criticisms are eerily void of logic, sense, or anything resembling a rational thought from a sane human entity. Therefore, Matt’s article will remain and he will receive a bonus for sacrificing his safety to exercise his free speech. As any man will tell you, tattooed and pierced women tend to exhibit the negative traits that he so eloquently described, and so we will not voluntarily censor information that can help the lives of millions of men who come across it.

God bless freedom of speech, and God bless America.

Read Next: Did Anita Sarkeesian Fake Death Threats Against Herself?