Magic: The Gathering Artist Terese Nielsen Responds to Fan Accusations of Bigotry and Facism

Magic: The Gathering Artist Terese Nielsen Responds to Fan Accusations of Bigotry and Facism

A seasoned and iconic Magic: The Gathering artist has issued a personal response to the fan base after being targeted by fans for her political beliefs.

Terese Nielsen is a veteran artist whose portfolio includes providing the interior artwork for Marvel’s limited series Ruin, cover artwork for Del Rey Books’ Star Wars: The New Jedi Order series, and illustrating the tie-in graphic novel for the Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathervideo game. Most famously, Nielsen has also worked with Wizards of the Coast as an illustrator for the popular Magic: The Gathering trading card game, providing now-iconic illustrations for cards such as Force of Will, Heroes’ Renuion, and the entire set of Guru Lands. Recently, fans and players of Magic: The Gatheringhave accused Nielsen of being ‘alt-right’, a ‘bigot, and a ‘Nazi’ due to her personal politics.

According to some fans, the basis for this accusation is ‘guilt by association’ regarding content which Nielsen has interacted with to some extent on her personal Twitter account. This includes retweeting content from accounts such as Mike Cernovich, Eric Trump, and Jack Posobiec, liking tweets involving positive attitudes towards President Donald Trump and negative attitudes towards Anti-Fa, and following accounts such as Sean Hannity, The Drudge Report, and Infowars:

Terese Nielsen is a Trump supporter and I’m sick of seeing her art on my timeline — Ally🌹, Secretly a Flerken™ (@AllyEncampment) August 15, 2018

This became way more popular than I thought it would, so some things:

1) I’ve muted the thread

2) she liked Trump/MAGA stuff towards the start of the year. That’s how we know. She’s been careful since after we called her out. Check her follows to see Alt right conservative “news” — Ally🌹, Secretly a Flerken™ (@AllyEncampment) August 15, 2018

3) no, I don’t have the screenshots anymore. I deleted them back when I thought I didn’t have to see her work anymore. That’s on me and I’ve learned a lesson — Ally🌹, Secretly a Flerken™ (@AllyEncampment) August 15, 2018

This is news to me but uh yeah, looks like Magic’s favorite artist is not just a fan of the republican party, but is fairly deep down the rabbit hole. All these screenshots I took just now, 8/16/18https://t.co/7Bgl301EdK

/status/1029538812437950465 pic.twitter.com/FQFS77Ktin — Travis Allen (@wizardbumpin) August 16, 2018

The appropriate response to this isn’t “separate the art from the artist.” It’s a hard sever. RTing how much you hate the right and everything they do is easy. The hard part is taking a stand when it’s someone you know and like. What will Magic do? — Travis Allen (@wizardbumpin) August 16, 2018

Travis Allen, an author for MTGPrice.com, a Magic: The Gathering value and pricing blog, also pointed to similar accounts followed by the personal account of Nielsen’s wife, Dawn Rickabaugh, as evidence of Nielsen’s bigoted views:

There’s more. I decided to do some quick digging. We know Nielsen’s wife is named Dawn, as is referenced here, on her official page. It’s also on Nielsen’s Twitter regularly. One of the first accounts Nielsen followed on Twitter was her wife. pic.twitter.com/uJCjT2tCqZ — Travis Allen (@wizardbumpin) August 17, 2018

Let’s take a look at Dawn’s account. We don’t exactly need to hunt for clues. pic.twitter.com/aUTZTB1oDu — Travis Allen (@wizardbumpin) August 17, 2018

Due to Nielsen’s engagement with and support of outlets, people, and ideas which don’t heavily skew towards the American political left, some fans have begun associating her with fascist rhetoric and bigoted ideals, with some fans even protesting against Nielsen’s Magic: The Gathering work by defacing cards featuring her work with anti-right and pro-left slogans:

If you have a Dismember and want me to cross out Terese Nielsen’s name, write some anti-fascist stuff and sign it hmu – Liz Lynn (@DevotedDruid) March 27, 2019

If I ever do more favourite art in magic posts, I’m adding Terese Nielsen to the “I’m not comfy showing off her art in a positive way right now” list along with Mr. Invoke Prejudice — Evelyn Ramiel (@Evvycology) March 29, 2019

So, Terese Nielsen is a Nazi but I love my Eternal Witness playmat.

Are there any aggressively left wing/antifa Magic artists i can get to deface it with sick art and anti-Nazi stuff?

100% serious. — Sneal, Queerion Ranger (@sneal69) March 29, 2019

On April 2nd, Nielsen took to her personal Twitter account to post a statement responding to the bevy of accusations regarding her personal beliefs, acknowledging that political opinions differ while also stating that her emphasis is on her core values, rather than a specific political belief:

Treading out softly to place this here. pic.twitter.com/aHmX3Rmy23 — Terese Nielsen (@tnielsenart) April 2, 2019

What do you make of Nielsen’s statement? What ado you think about the people calling her a Nazi and stating she is a member of the alt-right?

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