G Willow Wilson
Marvel writer G. Willow Wilson believes company CEO Ike Perlmutter’s donation to a veterans charity linked with Donald Trump “raises more questions than answers.” Translation: I won’t put my money where my activist-mouth is because I like getting a paycheck.

If a man wants to know just how sad and bizarre the social justice crowd is, then he only needs to look at the reaction over Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter’s $1 million donation to Donald Trump’s recent fundraiser for veterans. Yes, we’ve now reached a point where charitable donations now cause all sorts of hand-wringing among liberal kids over at Vox, Comic Book Resources, The Mary Sue and a whole host of other websites.

The Hollywood Reporter got the ball rolling Jan. 28:


“One of the great, great men of our country in terms of business and talent,” Trump said.

A rep for Perlmutter said: “The Perlmutters are thrilled to support their friend Donald Trump in his efforts to help veterans.”

The Perlmutters also donated $2 million to Marco Rubio’s campaign this season.

Writer G. Willow Wilson was publicly lamenting the news by Friday in her Tumblr feed:

Under normal circumstances, a CEO making a generous donation to aid American veterans would be laudable–and probably not newsworthy in and of itself. But given the concerns raised over the questionable way in which The Donald has solicited donations, and the fact that several major veterans groups have rejected his money, a lot of people have been left wondering: was this really a donation to benefit veterans? Or was it a donation to benefit Donald Trump? And if it was the latter, what does that mean for fans of Marvel comics? Did the money come out of Perlmutter’s private fortune, or did some portion of what you spent on your Marvel pull list support a political candidate who wants to deport millions of immigrants, build a wall along the Mexican border and require religious minorities to carry ID badges?

I have no easy answers to these questions. In an ordinary election cycle, I’d say that when the CEO of an entertainment company supports a conservative candidate while also fostering diverse creative talent within his company, it is a sign of a healthy democracy. Being a Republican is not a crime. However, this is not an ordinary election cycle, and Trump is not an ordinary Republican. The irony that Ms Marvel was launched on Perlmutter’s watch–while Donald Trump would like to prevent Muslims from even entering the United States–was not lost on the mainstream media, nor on me.

Rather fortuitously, I’m down in California on Marvel-related business at the moment, so I had the opportunity to talk all of this over in depth with a bunch of people who have been at the company a long time, and whose opinions I value. But after we talked, I found myself with more questions than answers. Can we separate a CEO from the company he runs, or the company from the creators, or the creators from the art? Should we?

Years ago the G. Willow Wilsons of the world were weirdly boycotting chicken sandwiches because the openly-Christian CEO of Chick-Fil-A held a definition of marriage that (gasp!) adhered to his Christian faith.

Today, writers like Ms. Wilson find themselves distraught because a hands-off CEO who lets them randomly turn Iceman gay and Thor into a woman happened to give to a veterans charity linked to Donald Trump.

Donald Trump wants to deport illegal immigrants. Donald Trump wants to easily identify refugees from the Middle East and North Africa because the men have this weird habit where they get together in groups and rape women.

No matter what one thinks of Trump’s delivery of the message, at the end of the day it has nothing to do with charitable donations that go to wounded veterans.

It is rather telling that an activist-writer like Ms. Wilson suddenly has “more questions than answers” when it comes time to putting her money where her mouth is. She won’t bite the hand that feeds because to do so would mean the end of a steady paycheck.

If I found out tomorrow that Mr. Perlmutter gave $1 million to a veterans charity started by Bernie Sanders, then I would not call for the man to be fired. I would think it was weird that he didn’t go through Wounded Warriors or countless other reputable organizations, but I wouldn’t wail and moan about what it means about “the creators or the art.”

Ms. Wilson says “being a Republican is not a crime,” but the reaction by she and her followers makes it clear that being a Republican is certainly a mind crime to social justice stormtroopers. 

A man is being called on to step down from his job because he donated to a veterans charity. This is where we’re at today, and the people who scream the loudest about Donald Trump’s rhetoric do not even have the self-awareness to see that they are his mirror image.

Editor’s Note: Check out Hube’s take over at Colossus of Rhodey.


  1. It’s ironic that the social justice clowns are all upset about Ike Perlmutter’s donation to Trump’s veterans charity when they’re the first in line to defend creators’ (such as Wilson) political views and slime people as “racisthomophobicsexist.” They’re sad, sad people.

    And frankly, it’s none of their business as to what groups/politicians Perlmutter or indeed any other CEO donates to, just as Brandon Eich’s donations and Dan Cathy’s views were none of their business. Sane people don’t care about who the CEOs of their favorite restaurants support politically; they go there to have a good meal. It just goes to show they do not like people with different views and will go to any length to destroy their lives. It’s disgusting. This online public shaming crap needs to end. It’s the modern equivalent of being flogged in the town square.

  2. Marvel writers seem to think acclaim for average funny books should translate into them having perspectives and viewpoints that the more worldly communities want to hear….they genuinely want to act like everything is as grey-shaded as the superhero worlds their overly fertile imaginations demand they create. This is a tightrope position to tread in.

  3. Another day, another example of self-identified liberals having a problem with something that doesn’t tow the line. I don’t care for Trump at all; at best, he’s only useful in calling attention to an issue, but I don’t trust him on his positions, and I think he’d make a terrible president. But what’s the big deal with donating to a charity connected to him? Why is donating to charity suddenly a bad thing? Is that really the lesson these morons want to teach? The only legitimate complaint I could see in any of this is if the charity spent more cash on operations and such instead of the advertised group, but it’s not like that’d be on Perlmutter if it were the case.

    Yeesh, for a bunch of people who harp on the black list half a century later, progressives sure are willing to go all-in on “guilt by association.” No wonder Willow is in overdrive to distance herself from this as best as possible.

    “Being a Republican is not a crime. However,”

    That’s the equivalent of saying, “I support free speech, but…” You’d think someone who writes for a living would realize that it’s not a good idea to be okay with people objecting to (as you put it) mind crimes. Just ask Joss Whedon.

    “this is not an ordinary election cycle, and Trump is not an ordinary Republican.”

    Hell, he’s not a Republican at all. He’s a Democrat… which would probably infuriate Willow to no end if she knew.

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