I haven’t seen “Don’t Worry Darling” the new movie by Olivia Wilde but it seems that Chris Pine’s character, who I think plays the villain in the film, is based on Jordan Peterson. Earlier this month, Wilde gave an interview saying that was the case.

GYLLENHAAL: Yeah, he’s wonderful.

WILDE: Terrifying. We based that character on this insane man, Jordan Peterson, who is this pseudo-intellectual hero to the incel community. You know the incels?

GYLLENHAAL: No.

WILDE: They’re basically disenfranchised, mostly white men, who believe they are entitled to sex from women.

GYLLENHAAL: Oh, right.

WILDE: And they believe that society has now robbed them—that the idea of feminism is working against nature, and that we must be put back into the correct place…But this guy Jordan Peterson is someone that legitimizes certain aspects of their movement because he’s a former professor, he’s an author, he wears a suit, so they feel like this is a real philosophy that should be taken seriously.

This week, Peterson gave an interview to Piers Morgan where he was asked about those comments. The whole interview is about 45 minutes long but at that point Peterson became a bit emotional.

Wilde called Peterson “this pseudo-intellectual hero to the incel community.”

“Sure. Why not?” Peterson said when Piers Morgan asked if Wilde’s assessment of him was true. “You know, people have been after me for a long time because I’ve been speaking to disaffected young men.”

Peterson then broke down into tears and said, “It’s very difficult to understand how demoralized people are, and certainly many young men are in that category. You get these casual insults, these incels — what do they mean? These men, they don’t know how to make themselves attractive to women who are very picky, and good for them. Women, like, be picky. That’s your gift, man. Demand high standards from your men. Fair enough. But all these men who are alienated, it’s like they’re lonesome and they don’t know what to do and everyone piles abuse on them.”

I watched the interview and I think it’s pretty clear that Peterson isn’t upset because he was made a villain or called a name. As he says, that has been happening for a while and in ways much worse than this.

My impression is that he’s thinking of some of the young men he’s met over the last few years who are in danger of becoming bitter and a bit crazy like some of the more extreme incels because they don’t know how to behave and don’t have anyone willing to show them a better path. I think he’s genuinely sad for them. Morgan came back to Peterson’s emotion at the end of this. Peterson became emotional again as he said, “It’s really something to see…constantly, how many people are dying for lack of an encouraging word, and how easy it is to provide that if you’re careful.”

But of course, given the level of pre-existing hate for Peterson, there are a lot of reactions suggesting he’s hurt by the attack and that he deserves this and more. Here’s the interview cued up to the final six minutes where Morgan asks Peterson about Olivia Wilde’s comments. 

Update: Since we’re talking about incels, a self-described incel was just arrested not far from where I live in California for multiple attacks on women with tear gas.

Johnny Deven Young, 25, of Anaheim, was arrested and charged with four counts of assault with great bodily injury and four counts of illegal use of tear gas, with enhancements for use of a deadly weapon and hate crimes.

Young was wanted for a series of attacks he filmed himself and put on his YouTube channel. In the videos, Young would approach unsuspecting women and pepper spray them. Costa Mesa Police identified him in at least two attacks in the city. Young describes himself as an “incel,” which is short for involuntary celibate. The Orange County District Attorney’s Office described incels as members of “an online community of men who exhibit their sexual frustrations by voicing their misogynistic views against women.”

Anything we can do to have fewer guys turn out like 25-year-old Johnny Deven Young seems like a good idea to me.