The Weird Controversy Surrounding the Creator of Earthworm Jim

If you’re a gamer of a certain age, you probably have warm feelings about the Earthworm Jim games. These tongue-in-cheek action platformers perfectly balanced humor and excitement back in the days of SNES and Sega Genesis.

Unfortunately, mentions of those classic games are popping up more on social media lately. Why? Because of various controversies surrounding Doug TenNapel, the creator and voice of Earthworm Jim.

But what’s the deal with these controversies? And is this a new thing, or has TenNapel been a controversial figure all along? We’ve got the full deets.

Peaking early

In all fairness to TenNapel, the first thing you should know about him is that he’s talented. Like, really talented. While he is mostly known for video games thanks to the success of Earthworm Jim, he’s also a successful artist, animator, writer, and media figure.

With all that in mind, none of his other projects ever reached the heights of Earthworm Jim. That game spawned a sequel, a toy line, and even a cartoon. Despite TenNapel creating his own game company, his future games (such as the PC game Armikrog) never resonated with audiences or critics.

That’s why TenNapel inevitably returned to the well of Earthworm Jim. Early in 2020, he launched a massively successful Kickstarter campaign for an Earthworm Jim comic. This brought him in league with some controversial comics figures and also highlighted his previous bigoted comments.

Opposing gay marriage

If you’ve followed TenNapel’s life and career very closely, he’s no stranger to being controversial. However, he shocked many of his fans back in 2011 when he opposed the legalization of gay marriage.

Why would someone oppose gay mariage? In TenNapel’s own words, “The same argument I have against letting a man take a dump in the ladies room. And (sic) office appropriate for one sex isn’t automatically appropriate for another, no matter how much a man loves taking a dump in the ladies room.”

So, not only did he reveal himself as a homophobe nearly a decade ago, but he did it in the grossest possible way.