A grown man in California is accused of terrorizing companies that make children's toys, Disney, the publishers of the Merriam-Webster dictionary, and even a comic book writer over his outrage at the supposed “radical homosexual agenda” he said had corrupted Mr. Potato Head and “ruined Superman.”
That’s according to a criminal complaint unsealed today in federal court, charging Jeremy David Hanson, 34, with one count of interstate communication of threats to commit violence. His alleged beefs echoed many of the talking points used recently by far-right politicians, with authorities alleging he targeted “woke” companies with inclusive corporate policies, such as Land O’ Lakes, and vowed to bomb USA Today’s newsroom for naming Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services Rachel Lavine, who is openly transgender, as one of its 12 “Women of the Year.”
Hanson, a Trump supporter who lives in the Los Angeles suburb of Los Alamitos, has been carrying out his threat spree for several years, prosecutors say. In April 2020, an unnamed Land O’ Lakes employee reported a threat Hanson allegedly posted on Instagram using the handle @quinserath1: “Land O Lakes headquarters deserve to be shot up and bombed for turning into a cultural Marxist company that panders to political correctness.”
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Eleven days earlier, Land O’ Lakes announced that it would remove a depiction of a Native American woman from its packaging.
That same month, Hanson posted threats online that he’d like to “go on a shooting spree” in the ACLU offices, and told a New York City rabbi who included pronouns in their profile, “That identifies you as some kind of tranny abomination and a radical Marxist… You and your entire family should be gassed and your synagogue shot up and bombed,” court records say.
After threatening a local politician in Madison, Wisconsin about the removal of a monument, something which Hanson apparently found objectionable, Hanson went after America’s oldest publisher of dictionaries, according to prosecutors.
In one comment on the Merriam-Webster website, beneath the definition for “Female,” which includes, among other explanations, “Having a gender identity that is the opposite of male,” the feds say Hanson wrote, “It is absolutely sickening that Merriam-Webster now tells blatant lies and promotes anti-science propaganda. There is no such thing as ‘gender identity.’ The imbecile who wrote this entry should be hunted down and shot.”
Beneath the definition for “Girl,” Hanson allegedly wrote, “The moron who created this fake definition should be hunted down and shot. I am sick and tired of these cultural Marxists denying science and destroying the English Language. Merriam-Webster headquarters should be shot up and bombed. Boys aren’t girls.”
Hanson is also said to have sent messages directly to Merriam-Webster through the “Contact Us” page of its website, allegedly writing in one, “I am going to shoot up and bomb your offices for lying and creating fake definitions in order to pander to the tranny mafia… The only good Marxist is a dead Marxist. I will assassinate your top editor. You sickening, vile tranny freaks.”
On Oct. 8, “after Merriam-Webster’s executive management learned of additional, more direct threats, Legal Counsel for Merriam-Webster reported the threats to the FBI,” the complaint states. “As a result of the threats, executive management for Merriam-Webster closed its [offices] in Springfield and New York, and these offices remained closed for approximately five business days.”
A few days later, prosecutors say Hanson became incensed by the comic book industry’s push to diversify its characters. An employee at games and entertainment media company IGN contacted the San Francisco Police Department about a series of unnerving social media posts and email messages “in response to an IGN Instagram post stating ‘Exclusive: DC’s New Superman Jon Kent Comes Out as Bisexual.’”
“Of course someone like you (read: radical Democrat anti-American traitor) doesn't have a problem with innocent children being corrupted by degenerate filth in the form of a villain being disguised as a ‘superhero’ IGN is obviously a far-left extremist, cultural Marxist propaganda site that discriminates against conservatives and hates free speech,” one read. “I will have to keep posting my comment, and if IGN keeps deleting it, I will shoot up their offices. The radical left needs to pay for silencing and oppressing conservatives.”
He then used his personal Facebook account to send messages directly to a DC Comics writer, the complaint states. “I am going to fucking kill you,” Hanson allegedly wrote in one. “I am going to rape your wife and decapitate her then blow up DC Comics headquarters.” In others, he allegedly threatened to “EXTERMINATE you cultural Marxists destroying America,” ending his missive with, “TRUMP 2024.” The feds say Hanson also vowed to burn the writer alive and “DECAPITATE YOU FOR MAKING SUPERMAN GAY.”
Prosecutors say Hanson followed up with an email to “several” DC employees, under the subject line: “I am going to shoot up and bomb your offices for ruining Superman.”
“First, you turn him into a faggot,” the body of the email read. “Now, you make him anti-American. You fucking Marxist pieces of shit. I will make you pay,” the message read, threatening to kill the publisher of DC and “rape and murder his wife.”
Another company that drew Hanson’s alleged ire: Hasbro, the maker of the beloved Mr. Potato Head toy. In February 2021, Hasbro announced it would be dropping the “Mr.” from its logo in a redesign, but that the characters would not change. Still, many conservatives howled with outrage, calling the move a symptom of “cancel culture.”
A few weeks later, a Hasbro employee reported threatening messages that came in from a “Jeremydhanson@outlook.com.”
“I am going to shoot up and bomb your headquarters for pandering to the tranny freaks,” said one. “Mr. Potato head is male. You sickening tranny cultural narcist [sic] need to be exterminated. Death to tranny [sic].”
Last month, Disney CEO Bob Chapek got an email from “DestroyWokeCorporations@mail.com,” an address the FBI said was used previously used to threaten the president of the University of North Texas for “supporting child genital mutilation and transgenderism.”
“I am going to shoot up and bomb your headquarters for being a bunch of pedophile faggots who foist transgender ideology onto children,” the subject line read. “You are a sickening, spineless woke corporation, and you all deserve to die,” said the body of the email. “The only way to stop the destruction of America by woke corporations is through terrorism.”
He followed up with a phone call, according to the complaint:
“Hey, I just learned that your company supports the transgender agenda and wants to brainwash children with gender ideology. So, just to let you know, I’ve left multiple pipe bombs at your corporate headquarters. See ya.”
Disney, of late, has been embroiled in a standoff with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over the company’s supposed “wokeness.”
Hanson also lashed out at a professor at Loyola-Marymount University and the Eau Claire, Wisconsin school board for being “Marxists,” Amnesty International for being “anti-Semites,” and sent an email to USA Today saying he would “shoot up and bomb your offices for being a lying fake news rag that declared a man ‘woman of the year,’” according to the complaint, which says Hanson then promised to “assassinate” Lavine, calling her by her pre-transition name, and “blow up” the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the federal agency Lavine helps to oversee.
Investigators didn’t have much trouble identifying Hanson, tracing the IP address associated with the threats back to Hanson’s mother’s home, where he lives.
Hanson’s mom, Lauren Zack, told the FBI that her son is “fixated on transgender issues,” and said he is prone to “verbal hyperbole.” She told agents that Hanson “”suffers from developmental disorders, including autism, and is unable to reason through the consequences of making statements that could be construed as threats,” the complaint states. Zack claimed Hanson was lashing out “due to the stresses of the coronavirus, and recent changes to medication,” but that he “poses no threat to the community because he is reclusive, she supervises him, and he has no access to weapons.”
In his own interview with agents, Hanson said he is “usually able to vent his anger to his mother,” the complaint states. “However, after his mother has gone to bed, Hanson makes comments online without the added benefit of his mother as a filter or sounding board.”
It wasn’t Hanson’s first brush with the FBI, according to the complaint. In 2015, he was interviewed by agents about a message he posted to an unidentified Wikipedia page, reading, “I will kill you, you anti-Semitic freak. I will rape your sister and bash her fucking skull in. Then I’ll fuck your mother and kill her too.”
“He similarly regretted that on October 23, 2014, he sent an e-mail to Irish politician Averil Power that stated, among other things: ‘Hope you enjoy getting raped by savage Muslims when Ireland falls to sharia law,’” the complaint states, adding that Hanson “repeatedly expressed remorse and indicated that he promised to refrain from sending any threatening remarks via social media or online in the future.”
In a statement issued Friday, United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins said, “Hate-filled threats and intimidations have no place in our society. We believe Hanson sent a multitude of anonymous threatening and despicable messages related to the LGBTQ community that were intended to evoke fear and division. My office and our law enforcement partners will not tolerate threats against members of our communities, no matter what corner of the internet they’re sent from. Perpetrators will be identified, arrested, and held accountable in federal court.”
If convicted, Hanson faces up to five years in prison. He does not have a lawyer listed in court records and The Daily Beast was unable to reach him or his mother by phone on Friday night for comment.
