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Lance Jay Tsosie is Diné, a content creator, and social media personality, born and raised in the Navajo Nation. He has gained a wide following on TikTok under the username Modern Warrior, where he posts content about Native American culture. Early life Tsosie grew up on the Navajo nation reservation in Arizona. At the age of 11, his mother moved their family to Glenwood Springs in search of better opportunities, particularly in education. In 2008, when Tsosie was a high schooler at Glenwood Springs High School, he was selected by actor John Lithgow to participate in the Theater Masters' National MFA Playwright's Festival along with nine writers from UCLA, NYU and other high-ranked universities. Career Activism Tsosie received a B.A. from the University of Denver in Political Science. While at the University of Denver, he served as the president of the university's Native Student Alliance. In a 2012 scandal on campus, the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and Delta Delta Delta sorority hosted a party where students were seen wearing Native American garb. In response to the scandal, Tsosie stated to The Denver Post, "We are not costumes. I ask that we all stand together to learn from this incident." In an interview about the photojournalist Aaron Huey's TEDxDU presentation "America's Native Prisoners of War", Tsosie stated, In 2019, Tsosie was an active supporter of Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential bid. Today, he is active in the Denver Native American community and is attending the Morgridge College of Education. Tsosie is on track to graduate with a master’s degree in June 2022. Controversies In March 2022, the content creator Chelsea Hart accused Tsosie of denying them informed consent after meeting Tsosie and having sex with him. Shortly after Hart returned home, Tsosie posted a video of himself being intimate with another woman and Hart had learned that Tsosie was having sex with multiple people. Hart posted a video in which they accused Tsosie of taking advantage of their poor mental state. In the video, Hart said "I have an ache deep inside my womb, Lance." The words "womb Lance" was often misinterpreted as "womblands", which then developed into an internet meme. The fallout between Hart and Tsosie was highly sensationalized within the TikTok community due to the popularity of both creators and the personal nature of their relationship. On March 21, 2022, Tsosie announced that he would no longer be active on TikTok effective March 22, and stated, "Every negative experience that I've had over the last year or so stemmed from this app. From being doxxed, harassed, stalked, threatened. I'm just so tired. My goal was to be an educator, and that is still my goal, but this app is not getting me anywhere closer to my goal." As of April 23, 2022, with a following of 2.6 million, Tsosie returned to posting on TikTok. In July 2022, Tsosie and his girlfriend, known on TikTok as Miss Jones, posted a video that stated, “If you identify as white presenting or white-passing...you’re white”. This caused a backlash from other indigenous influencers and POC content creators, with many pointing out that he was promoting racial purity, invalidating individuals of mixed race, and dismissing the importance of culture.<ref name=":0" />
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