Man Arrested for Alleged Online Threats Against Merriam Webster Over Definitions of “Woman” and “Girl

A 34-year-old man from California was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly sending death threats to Merriam Webster’s employees and terrorizing to bomb its offices over dictionary definitions of “woman” and “girl”, according to court documents.

Jeremy David Hanson of Rossmoor, Orange County, California, was arrested and charged on April 20 with one count of interstate communication of threats to commit violence for sending death threats to Merriam Webster between October 2 and October 8, 2021 regarding the definitions for the words “Girl” and “Woman,” according to the criminal complaint.

Hanson was released on conditions following an initial appearance in federal court in the Central District of California. If found guilty, Hanson could face up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.

DOJ reported:

According to the criminal complaint, between Oct. 2 and Oct. 8, 2021, Springfield-based Merriam-Webster, Inc. received various threatening messages and comments demonstrating bias against specific gender identities submitted through its website’s “Contact Us” page and in the comments section on its webpages that corresponded to the word entries for “Girl” and “Woman.” Authorities later identified the user as Hanson. As a result of the threats, Merriam-Webster closed its offices in Springfield and New York City for approximately five business days.

Specifically, it is alleged that on Oct. 2, 2021, Hanson used the handle “@anonYmous” to post the following comment on the dictionary’s website definition of “female”: “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.”

Hanson also allegedly sent the following threatening message via the website’s “Contact Us” page: “You [sic] headquarters should be shot up and bombed. It is sickening that you have caved to the cultural Marxist, anti-science tranny [sic] agenda and altered the definition of ‘female’ as part of the Left’s efforts to corrupt and degrade the English language and deny reality. You evil Marxists should all be killed. It would be poetic justice to have someone storm your offices and shoot up the place, leaving none of you commies alive.”

It is further alleged that on Oct. 8, 2021, Hanson posted another threatening comment on the dictionary’s website and a threatening message via the “Contact Us” page that threatened to “bomb your offices for lying and creating fake…”.