October 9, 2018

The Face of #HimToo Speaks Out Against His Mother’s Viral Post

The internet plot twist comes amid a Republican push to energize voters with their own #HimToo angle.

In the wake of the sexual assault allegations against now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a surge of social media posts using the hashtag #HimToo began circulating to claim that innocent men are regularly falsely accused of sexual misconduct. 

The trend, a backlash to the #MeToo movement and Christine Blasey Ford’s gripping testimony against Kavanaugh, reached something of a boiling point this past weekend as the final vote to confirm Kavanaugh was being cast. One of the most viral posts came from the mother of a Navy veteran. She claimed that her “gentleman” son no longer goes on “solo dates” out of fear he’ll be wrongly accused of misconduct.

It appears, however, that would be news to her son. On Monday, Pieter Hanson joined Twitter and posted the following message:

Hanson’s brother, Jon, also came forward to correct the record:

“It doesn’t represent me at all,” Hanson told the Washington Post. “I love my mom to death, but boy…I’m still trying to wrap my head around all this.” He explained his mother had a tendency to go overboard on social media, though the post still struck him as surprising considering he had been raised in a progressive household.

The initial post, which sparked a slew of parody memes, has since been deleted.

The internet plot twist comes amid a push to energize Republican voters ahead of the midterms by painting Kavanaugh as the victim of a #HimToo-style false accusation. No one appears more eager to lead the charge than President Donald Trump:

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PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

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