Kelvin Peña, also known as “Brother Nature,” has caused an uproar when his old tweets were released and labeled as racist, antisemetic and sexist. The tweets included language regarding Hitler, women’s rights and racial slurs targeted at black people. 

Peña has been creating videos of his interactions with deer since he was 18 years old, and currently has 1.58 million followers on Twitter. He is known for uploading a video of himself with a doe he refers to as Canela, that went viral in 2016. The Twitter community was amazed at how this animal whisperer was able to attract the wild creatures and create videos of him feeding them with organic foods such as apples and grapes, for the most commonly known deer he named Canela and Tay Tay. As his fan base began to increase, so did the different animals he encountered including pigs, goats, squirrels, llamas and many more as he travels to other parts of the world.

[media-credit name=”Photo Courtesy of Brother Nature/ Twitter” align=”alignright” width=”500″][/media-credit]Peña’s tweets were revealed from 2011-12 that were identified as offensive by many. When asking Quinnipiac students how they reacted when seeing his tweets, many concluded that they were disrespectful, but expressed sympathy for him.

“…you’re still maturing and going about your life [and] not having a sense of how much your actions can affect everyone else around you, but at the same time you can’t take back the words you said,” freshman psychology major June Kim said.

The world we live in has become more aware of sensitive content that is posted on social media, and people are expressing their opinions loudly. It is apparent that there will always be someone who will challenge a person’s perspective. It has come to question whether Peña should be punished for what he said six years ago.

“Punishment sounds really harsh because he apologized and he knows what he did wrong. I feel like everyone should learn to live and move on,” Kim said.

According to his apologetic note on Twitter from his account, @COLDGAMEKELV, the backlash caused him to admit to “seeking attention,” and encouraged his fans to believe that he has matured over the years to become a role model for others.

A large portion of his viewers have defended him on social media by acknowledging that our community ignores public figures who express racist and sexist material to the public, but will cancel people like Peña for the immature actions he made as an adolescent.

It is unknown whether the community outside of Twitter is aware of his charity work, the Everybody Eats Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps single-parent families during the holidays and after-school children. There is a debate on whether people should give Peña a pass for his mistakes in the past, or whether he should adhere to consequences. The Twitter backlash has created the question whether everyone should have to pay for their actions in their adolescent years.

“I guess it does make him a good person, but not overall. It does not make up for what he said [in the past],” freshman health science major Chris Johnson said.

In today’s society, people heavily rely on the internet to stay updated on the latest trends and topics. Once something is uploaded on the internet, it never goes away. Many internet-users are unaware of the things they have uploaded in years past, which can result in consequences – whether they be negative or positive.

“Sure it was a while ago, but the internet is the internet; it’s still there,” sophomore psychology major Sal Maglione said.

Social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, have become a network that provides people a place to express their opinions and thoughts. It can also be a place to look for information and media evidence. Peña uses Twitter as a place to encourage people to donate money and get involved with his Everybody Eats Foundation.

“I feel like in the social media aspect he definitely built himself up, and he has a platform for himself where he can now provide for people in need,” Maglione said.

According to Twitter, there seem to be both negative and positive reactions after Peña uploaded an apology note.