Maia Poet "Left and Joined Team MAGA" Lazy Eye Controversy

Overview

The Maia Poet "Left and Joined Team MAGA" Lazy Eye Controversy refers to backlash and discourse surrounding an X / Twitter post by writer and detransitioner advocate Maia Poet in which she shares a photo of herself in a MAGA hat and writes, "Who else left the left & joined team MAGA?" The post inspired criticism shortly after with many making fun of Maia's lazy eye. In response, Maia made a post informing users that she has a lazy eye because she was born prematurely.

Background

Maia Poet is an American-Israeli X^[1] user and writer on Substack.^[2] She is notable as a detransitioning advocate, having detransitioned herself at the age of 20 after moving to the Middle East. According to a piece on Maia by Awake Illinois,^[3] she decided to detransition because "living through Middle Eastern wars caused Maia to understand the impracticalities of transition." Maia identified as a trans male from age 12 to 20.

On October 25th, 2024, Maia Poet made a post on X^[4] sharing a photo of herself in a MAGA hat, writing, "Who else left the left & joined team MAGA?" garnering over 14,000 likes and 4,000 reposts in six months. The post became the subject of reactions and criticism over the following days, with many making fun of Poet's lazy eye seen in the image.

Developments

Maia Poet's Response to Eye Comments

On October 28th, 2024, Maia Poet made a follow-up post to X^[5] responding to users who made fun of her lazy eye, sharing a screenshot of a particular post commenting on her eye and writing, "Let’s set the record straight: I have a lazy eye because I was born prematurely and SURVIVED. My lazy eye is the price I pay for surviving my own birth. I’m more than ok with that. Attacking the appearance of your political opponent showcases your weaknesses- not mine." The post gained over 83,000 likes and 6,500 reposts in a day.

Online Reactions

Reactions To October 25th, 2024, post

Reactions to the X post from Maia Poet on October 25th, 2024, were strong, with many criticizing Poet and making fun of her lazy eye as it garnered virality on the platform.

For example, on October 26th, 2024, X^[6] user @casey_actually quote-reposted Poet, writing, "One of your corneas still lookin left," garnering over 1,400 likes in five days. Later that day, X^[7] user @mikey_almeida quote-reposted Poet, writing, "bitch you can’t even see left," garnering over 22,000 likes in the same span of time.

Reactions To October 28th, 2024, Response Post

Reactions to Poet's X response post on October 28th, 2024, were mixed, with some still making comments about her eye. For example, on October 29th, X^[8] user @IHateNYT posted in response, "Getting called out for being ugly & being like 'I have a doctor’s note!' is so funny," garnering over 3,000 likes in two days.

On October 30th, 2024, X^[9] user @jules_su posted the photo from Poet's post next to a photo of X^[10] user @alexmalawski95, who had recently made a post supporting Donald Trump that was highly criticized, writing, "they’re not sending their best," garnering over 9,800 likes in a day.

That same day, X^[11] user @fiercalicious quote-reposted the original October 25th post, simply writing, "your eye," garnering over 90,000 likes in a day.

Search Interest

External References