When Twitter user The Science Femme (or @piney_the), who claimed to be a female scientist, spoke about how he prevented his superiors from publishing a statement condemning racism, he himself was accused of racism. To this, «Lady» found a convenient answer: she allegedly belonged to racial minorities and, moreover, was an immigrant.
Sounds weird? And for good reason. Soon, internet detectives claimed that Science Femme was not a racial minority — not even a woman. The profile and controversy was allegedly behind a white man named Craig Chapman: assistant professor of chemistry at the University of New Hampshire.
If the accusations leveled at Chapman by the Daily Beast and confirmed in an email from one of his faculty leaders prove to be true, the man will become the fourth white academic to impersonate racial minorities.
sept. 28 — is the #sciencedrama of piney_the solved?
context: piney_the been incriminating people, repeatedly harassing scientists, trying to fight “wokeness”, all while claiming to be an immigrant woman of color
which would be hard for a white man from Jersey 🧵 pic.twitter.com/J6ezzwDaQT
— Science Drama Queen (@drama_science) September 28, 2020
Earlier this year, Twitter users have already raised concerns about the true identity of @piney_the, which was characterized by extreme belligerence, as well as racist and chauvinistic views.
The account owner has at least once described a female opponent using crude anatomical terms, published transphobic statements, was an active participant in the campaign against Kamala Harris, and posted nude photos of ex-Senator Katie Hill, who had previously resigned after the pictures were posted online.
To date, both Chapman's account and @piney_the's profile have been deleted. The latter had over 13 thousand subscribers at the time of deactivation.
In an official statement, the University of New Hampshire said the man had been suspended from work pending the investigation.
“Recently UNH became aware of the accusations made on social media against one of the teachers. A university official told the Daily Beast. «We are deeply concerned about what we learned and immediately launched an investigation.»
«In order to protect the integrity of this investigation, we are unable to comment further.»
