Actor Adam Pearson has been smacking down ableist commenters on X after one user called him “scary” due to his genetic condition. The star of the 2024 dark comedy A Different Man trashed the remark as “ableist nonsense,” resulting in some backlash after people flooded the anonymous user with criticism over their comment.
This user has since deleted their account and Pearson deleted his quote tweet response, but he’s still got heat for others making bad jokes about his face.
Who called Adam Pearson scary?
Last week, former X user @FlopHive posted a screenshot of the BAFTA Awards seating plan showing Pearson next to singer Camila Cabello.
“This is genuinely so scary,” they said in the post. “I would not attend the event if I were Camila.”
This remark was in reference to Pearson’s appearance, which has been altered by his condition, Neurofibromatosis Type 1. The disorder causes skin and bone abnormalities including spots, benign tumors, and lesions that range from mild to severe. Pearson’s condition has impacted the appearance of his face, and not everyone is cool about it.
Pearson, who has participated in multiple anti-bullying programs, didn’t take @FlopHive’s comment lying down.
“Luckily for everyone you’re not Camila and—most importantly—weren’t invited,” he shot back on Feb. 15. “So from me, Adam Pearson, directly to you @FlopHive — take your nonsense opinions elsewhere as I have EXACTLY zero time for your anonymous, ableist nonsense.”
‘Thousands of people harassing me’
The X user deleted their original tweet, but not before news spread of what they said and the platform did what it’s famous for. According to @FlopHive in a follow-up post to Pearson, thousands of other users started yelling at them for calling the actor “scary.” The OP accused Pearson of facilitating harassment and demanded accountability.
“I made an insensitive joke and deleted the tweet when it had less than 200 likes,” they wrote. “I addressed you & apologized. I deleted the tweet before you had even made a post about it. You took that tweet and turned something that was already deleted, into thousands of people harassing me and sending me death threats and news articles made about me.”
“I took my accountability, now it’s your turn. As a celebrity, especially one with a disability, you already know you’re bound to get comments. Does that make them OK? No. But using your platform to send people to harass everyone who makes a comment about you isn’t either.”
They then claimed that they would take the backlash because they didn’t care, but later deleted that post and then their entire account anyway.
Cue the harassment vs. consequences discourse
Some witnesses to this incident agreed with @FlopHive that Pearson had crossed a line by putting them on blast because he has more followers than they did. In another deleted tweet, one user scolded him for “enabling the mass harassment” with his celebrity status.
Pearson had a different take on the matter.
“So discrimination is OK as long as it’s not by a celebrity?” he asked. “Jog on sweetheart!”
Other non-celebrity users took the actor’s side, feeling that @FlopHive said a terrible thing and simply faced consequences for their actions, because having a smaller account shouldn’t mean you get immunity from bad behavior.
“You guys don’t feel a little pathetic saying heinous things to a public figure and claiming victim hood because they have more followers than you?” asked @themusingnotes. “Their publicity doesn’t make horrible things you say to them acceptable.”
Ableists beware, Adam Pearson is here
As the controversy did its rounds, Pearson ended up deleting his response to the original tweet but wasn’t done taking down users who made ableist comments about his appearance. Retweeting a now suspended account that posted images of him next to actor Warwick Davis (who has Spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita) and asked if the circus was in town, Pearson queried, “Has no one learned anything?”
![Tweet reading ''Has no one learned anything?' 'So, to clarify @fartsniffer0614 this was the 2025 BAFTA Film Awards. I find it somewhat ironic that you have 'spreading kindness' in your name whilst punching down at 2 successful actor [sic] simple for being disabled.' 'Take your ableism elsewhere.'](https://uploads.dailydot.com/2025/02/adam-pearson-ableism-5.png?auto=compress&fm=png)
“So, to clarify @fartsniffer0614 this was the 2025 BAFTA Film Awards,” he wrote. “I find it somewhat ironic that you have ‘spreading kindness’ in your name whilst punching down at 2 successful actor [sic] simple for being disabled.”
“Take your ableism elsewhere.”
When user @gothichotchreid called others on X “too brave” and needing to find out that “this isn’t a safe space to hate on a man bc of disability,” Pearson signaled his approval with an old classic.
“Louder for the people at the back!”
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