Bitmap Books has abandoned author Moses Norton over mild Twitter jokes from 2022, forcing him to forfeit all royalties from his upcoming book in a corporate capitulation that demonstrates how cancel culture continues to poison creative industries. The publisher’s response to a targeted harassment campaign reveals the cowardice that has become standard when companies face online pressure.
Bitmap Books, founded in 2014 by Sam Dyer, has built a reputation as a premium publisher of video game history books, specializing in visually rich hardcover volumes that celebrate retro gaming culture. The company’s latest release, “The Definitive Book of SNES RPGs Vol. 1,” is a 550-page comprehensive guide to Super Nintendo role-playing games written by Moses Norton, covering titles A-K with detailed analysis, developer quotes, and restored artwork.
The controversy erupted when user St1ka dug up Norton’s old Twitter exchanges and weaponized them against Bitmap Books. The offending tweets from October 2022 show Norton responding to gaming discussions with comments that, while crude, hardly rise to the level of career-ending offenses.
The Twitter exchange began when St1ka wrote: “Let’s be honest, anything is a hoot next to the mediocre gaming experiences of the super nintendo 😴”
Norton replied: “Sure, if you’re from a third world country.”
When St1ka asked: “Did you guys get PS2 over there yet?” Norton responded: “Hoo boy here comes the cries of misogyny, fascism, xenophobia, oh my!”
In another exchange, Norton wrote: “Ninty still making consoles. Where’s Sega? Making a monopoly on Brazilian homebrews nobody cares about, wheee”
These comments, while not particularly clever, represent typical internet banter rather than serious hate speech. The jokes are tasteless but hardly warrant the corporate overreaction that followed.
Bitmap Books issued a lengthy statement distancing themselves from Norton:
“Dear supporters of Bitmap Books,
Last week, after the launch of our latest book, The Definitive Book of SNES RPGs Vol.1, we first became aware of some historical comments made online in 2022 by the author, Moses Norton. We fully understand that these comments were insensitive, offensive and are absolutely not views shared by Bitmap Books or any of our stakeholders.
We have spoken to Moses, and he’s agreed that Bitmap Books will donate all his royalties, present and future to charity. We have selected Special Effect, an organisation that helps severely physically disabled people enjoy video games through the innovative use of technology (specialeffect.org.uk).
Ultimately, it’s on our shoulders who we work with, so we take full responsibility for this situation. We research all prospective authors before we begin working together, so this is clearly an area where we need to further improve.
We hope that this resolution means that we can move forward, as we have lots planned for the rest of 2025 and beyond.
Sam Dyer, founder of Bitmap Books”
The statement reveals the personal animus driving this controversy. St1ka, who initiated the harassment campaign, has admitted to targeting Norton out of personal hatred rather than genuine offense at the comments. This individual specifically sought to damage Norton’s career and pressured Bitmap Books until they capitulated.
Norton, unfortunately, chose to apologize rather than defend his right to make jokes, however poor they might be:
“My name is Moses Norton.
I’m the author of The Definitive Book of SNES RPGs Vol.1. I need to take a moment to speak honestly with you.
Some old remarks I made have resurfaced and I understand why they’ve hurt, alarmed, and disappointed many people. Those statements, escalating from a simple argument over video games, were wrong. I’m Hawaiian-Portuguese on my mother’s side and no stranger to hurtful comments regarding race, so I’m not proud of the stupid and insensitive statements I made myself.
To St1ka and everyone disturbed by my past remarks, I am sorry. I deeply regret and resent them.
I also want to make it absolutely clear that my publisher, Bitmap Books, had no part in those remarks and was not aware of them. The comments were made long before any collaboration on my book began and they in no way reflect the views, beliefs, or values of Bitmap Books and its team. They have conducted themselves with professionalism and inclusiveness. My past mistakes have nothing to do with their integrity and the quality of their work.
-Moses Norton”
Norton’s apology, while well-intentioned, legitimizes the harassment campaign against him and sets a precedent that authors can be retroactively punished for old social media posts. His decision to forfeit all royalties represents a complete surrender to cancel culture tactics.
The incident demonstrates how easily companies abandon their creative partners when faced with online pressure. Bitmap Books could have defended Norton’s right to make jokes, however tasteless, or simply ignored the manufactured controversy. Instead, they chose to sacrifice their author to appease a single individual with a personal vendetta.
The timing makes this capitulation particularly absurd. These tweets are three years old and were made in the context of gaming discussions, not serious political commentary. The idea that such mild provocations warrant career destruction shows how far cancel culture has metastasized.
St1ka’s admission of personal animus against Norton exposes this as targeted harassment rather than legitimate concern about offensive content. The individual specifically sought to damage Norton’s livelihood through coordinated pressure on his publisher, achieving exactly the result they intended.
Bitmap Books’ response rewards this behavior and encourages future harassment campaigns against authors who express unpopular opinions. The company’s statement about “researching prospective authors” suggests they will now conduct ideological vetting of writers based on their social media history.
The real tragedy is Norton’s unnecessary apology. He had every right to make those comments, and they hardly constitute hate speech worthy of career destruction. His decision to grovel before his accusers only emboldens future cancel campaigns.
What do you think about publishers abandoning authors over old social media posts?
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Never apologize to these people. They see it as a sign of weakness and your supporters see it as a betrayal.
Those are some seriously mild tweets. The woke borg is truly an inflexible cube of humorless scolds. His comments were not hateful by any stretch of interpretation, nor were they hurtful and even if they were who cares – the "left" spews offensive shit all the time (of course, condoned if directed at the usual whipping boys of "hate" and such, ironically; hypocritically).