Superhero Feed founder Jumah Eid, formerly Jace Reid, has a reputation for taking things. Recently, he took his popular Twitter account and turned it into Comic Book Now! to serve as a branch for geek news site ComicBook.com, where he’s a social and community coordinator.
That’s apparently not the only Twitter account he’s taken.
Earlier this week, Michael Dorian Parks accused Eid of stealing the Geeks of Color Twitter account (@GeeksofColor) for his own personal use. Eid helped start Geeks of Color last year, along with Parks, who wanted to build a community of diverse comic book fans. However, Eid hadn’t been involved for months.
Parks said Eid gave him full control so he could focus on Superhero Feed, which had grown to more than 250,000 followers by that time.
Dude who created SuperheroFeed took Geeks of Color page from Dorian & made it his account so he could keep followers https://t.co/w5eerkZC74
— Black Girl Nerds (@BlackGirlNerds) June 9, 2016
Parks told the Daily Dot that, a few weeks ago, Eid demanded to be given the new password for the Twitter account. Parks was hesitant because he’d heard rumors about Eid’s reputation in the geek community, but he relented when Eid threatened legal action.
Soon after, Eid reportedly locked Parks out of the account, changed the password, and turned it into a personal Twitter account, renaming it @ItsJumah. The account had about 9,000 followers at the time, all of whom found themselves automatically following Eid.
“I pretty much felt, I don’t want to say backstabbed, I was just upset,” Parks said. “I thought, you have a big enough following on Superhero Feed. If you wanted to, you could’ve just said, ‘Hey, follow me here.’ You didn’t have to take something that I put my heart and soul into and try to pass it off as your personal account.”
After Parks went public with the news that he no longer had control of Geeks of Color, the community responded. Groups like Black Girl Nerds tweeted their support, demanding the account be given back to who they say was the rightful owner.
“I think he underestimated the amount of followers that actually paid attention to me and had my back,” Parks said. “I think he thought he was just going to get away with this.”
Hey guys! It’s @AgentDorian we have the account back! Everything is good to go. Thank you for all the love and support.
— Geeks of Color (@GeeksOfColor) June 9, 2016
Since then, @ItsJumah has been deleted (he’s now using @TheUnholyPrince), and Parks has regained control of the original Geeks of Color account. Parks said management at ComicBook.com contacted him and helped him get control of the account back at about the same time the Daily Dot emailed the news site for comment on the situation.
It’s unclear if this was related, or whether the reported account theft has impacted Eid’s status at the company. The Daily Dot reached out to both Eid and ComicBook.com, but there’s been no reply.
You might be wondering why any of this matters. After all, if you look up Jumah Eid on Google, not much comes up, except for an interview with Talk Nerdy With Us where he discusses his work on Superhero Feed and, most importantly, his dedication to LGBTQ representation in comic books and geek culture.
However, search his previously used name, Jace Reid, and you’ll find something else entirely—several people accusing Reid, now Eid, of online harassment and theft.
proof he just steals peoples work never gives credits pic.twitter.com/BRUL51tZ4y
— shit jumah eid did (@problematicreid) June 2, 2015
According to multiple online sources dating back to Superhero Feed’s start in 2014, Eid has published dozens of stolen images, memes, and videos without giving credit.
For example, while most of the Twitter account’s content is now dedicated to ComicBook.com, an unchanged Superhero Feed YouTube page contains several movie trailers, clips, and featurettes. None of the ones viewed contained permissions, courtesies, or credits. They were basically copied and pasted.
There are two Twitter accounts dedicated to Eid’s reported plagiarism, Shit Jace Reid Did and Report Jace Reid, as well as Reddit discussions and a hashtag on Instagram, #ExposeSuperheroFeed. In a now-deleted Tumblr post, an admin for the Marvel Cinematic Universe Facebook page wrote how Eid, a former page admin himself, took several images from the group’s Facebook page and posted them on his account, removing logos and even watermarks.
“I cannot, WILL NOT, sanction this plagiarism and cowardice,” the admin wrote. “We’ve tried pointing this out, and asking [Eid] to stop. He has blocked me and several others, and deleted posts that clearly show he’s stolen content.”
Eid also has a reputation for harassing people online, including celebrities. He made headlines last August when Superhero Feed mocked Iggy Azalea, prompting a full-blown Twitter fight where he made fun of her music and accused her of having ghostwriters. He also lashed out against The Flash CW star Grant Gustin after the actor unfollowed Superhero Feed on Twitter, calling him a “bitch.”
— shit jumah eid did (@problematicreid) May 31, 2015
Eid looks to have had multiple personal accounts on Twitter, where he’s allegedly engaged in harassment against fans, strangers, and critics. Several other potential accounts are believed to be his, but it’s impossible to confirm because they’re either anonymous or didn’t last long. Pictured tweets from these accounts show he’s mocked feminists and called people names. At least two pictured messages show Eid telling people on Twitter to kill themselves, which was especially criticized given Eid’s stated advocation against mental-health stigma.
Parks said he wasn’t originally aware of Eid’s reputation of harassment and stealing content until Geeks of Color was already in full swing. He said he’s since gotten first-hand experience at both.
“When the page started taking off and he claimed to be a part of it, people were tweeting at me [about Eid],” Parks said. “That’s when I really wanted to separate myself and the page from Jace. He wasn’t really a part or a face of Geeks of Color.”
Now that Eid is out of the picture, Parks said he’s excited for the future of Geeks of Color. Parks now has a blog where people can write articles about their experiences as diverse nerds. He said it’s important for people of color to have a space where they can express themselves and celebrate their love of all things geeky without worrying about having that taken away from them.
“I was always into superheroes, and sometimes I would be called white or an Oreo because that wasn’t the cool thing to do in my culture,” Parks said. “There is a community of people of color that love comic books, that want to see people like them on the screen being represented. That’s why I’m doing it.”
Update 12:08pm, Nov. 22: In an email to the Daily Dot, Eid claimed that the Twitter accounts attributed to him and accused of plagiarism were the work of trolls and that he was not associated with them. “All of my followers know I’ve never went by those usernames,” he wrote. “I haven’t committed harassment, sexism or any of that.” Eid also disputed the sequences of events that led to Parks ultimately regaining control of @GeeksofColor, but he admitted to temporarily turning it into a personal account.
“After the account was facing trouble with me, Dorian and our third admin getting locked out, (which happened even when I was NOT in the group anymore) the account closed down. After that, I was accused of the account’s issues,” Eid wrote. “Being honest, I can absolutely admit my mistake in making use of the account as a personal after I’ve ruled out the possibility of the group coming back together after our conflict. And that’s all of it.”
Update 12:08pm, Nov. 22: In an email to the Daily Dot, Eid claimed that the Twitter accounts attributed to him and accused of plagiarism were the work of trolls and that he was not associated with them. “All of my followers know I’ve never went by those usernames,” he wrote. “I haven’t committed harassment, sexism or any of that.” Eid also disputed the sequences of events that led to Parks ultimately regaining control of the account, but he admitted to temporarily turning @GeeksofColor into a personal account.
“After the account was facing trouble with me, Dorian and our third admin getting locked out, (which happened even when I was NOT in the group anymore) the account closed down. After that, I was accused of the account’s issues,” Eid wrote. “Being honest, I can absolutely admit my mistake in making use of the account as a personal after I’ve ruled out the possibility of the group coming back together after our conflict. And that’s all of it.”
Editors’ note: In an earlier version of the story, the cover image featured Geeks of Color co-founder Michael Dorian Parks, not Comic Books NOW! owner Jumah Eid.
