Eric July’s Rippaverse Comics launch was banned by the ComicBooks subreddit, which has over 2.5 million subscribers.
A screenshot shared by the Twitter account UncappedTurtle shows that the promotional video was banned and the user who attempted to share it permanently banned from the subreddit, BoundingIntoComics reported.
“Sorry, this post has been removed by the moderators of r/comicbooks. Moderators remove posts from feeds for a variety of reasons, including keeping communities safe, civil, and true to their purpose,” read the notice following the ban.
A moderator told the user that they had been “permanently banned from participating in r/comicbooks.”
“You can still view and subscribe to r/comicbooks, but you won’t be able to post or comment,” the message from the moderator added. “If you have a question regarding your ban, you can contact the moderator team for r/comicbooks by replying to this message.”
On contacting the moderator to ask why they had been banned, the moderator said: “You broke rule #1 as pertaining to supporting comics from hate groups.”
The rule states: “Be Civil: Racial, sexual, homophobic, or cultural slurs will result in a permanent ban. Do not disparage the differently abled or threaten or incite harm against other users, creators, or industry professionals. Any form of bigotry or support of hate groups (such as comicsgate) is not permitted.
“Please be respectful of people’s pronouns. Intentionally continuing to use the incorrect pronouns after being corrected is a violation of Rule 1. While debate and differing views are encouraged, please keep all discussion on-topic and do not resort to personal attacks. As a general rule, don’t be a jerk.”
The ban has not affected the launch of Rippaverse Comics’ first book Isom, which had reached over 10,000 sales by the second day
Responding to the ban on Twitter, July said: “It’s all good. We do not need the folks that wish to protect the old guard. They can’t stop us and we’re going to win.”
BoundingIntoComics has a full breakdown of the incident.