West Virginia Delegate denies running Instagram account that made antisemitic remark

by Caity Coyne, West Virginia Watch
June 24, 2025

State Del. Ian T. Masters, R-Berkeley, denied on Tuesday allegations that he is responsible for an antisemitic comment made by a private Instagram account that used his name and is linked to an organization he recently led.

In a statement Tuesday, West Virginia Democratic Party Chairman Mike Pushkin called the comment — which he says came from Masters — “disgusting, dangerous, and completely disqualifying.” Pushkin, who is Jewish, urged Gov. Patrick Morrisey to “show moral leadership” and call for Masters’ resignation.

The comment in question was made three days ago by an account with the handle @NoQuarterMasters in response to another comment on a post from April 12 about Dave Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports. The comment read: “[Portnoy is] not white. He’s a Jew. We never claimed them. That’s why he’s short tiny and weak.”

In a phone interview Tuesday with West Virginia Watch, Masters said he didn’t have “any active Instagram account.”

“That is certainly not something I am typing or saying or believing,” Masters said, continuing to call the framing of the comment “bizarre.”

“Yeah, that is certainly not something — I mean, I’m not declaring who white people do and don’t claim, and that, that’s — no it’s just not a belief [of mine],” he continued, referring to antisemitism and the idea that “there’s declarations as to who is and is not white.”

A screenshot of the comment from @NoQuarterMasters was sent to West Virginia Watch on Monday. It was still posted and public on Instagram on Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon, Pushkin reached out independently to West Virginia Watch with a statement regarding the post.

Until Tuesday afternoon, the name on the @NoQuarterMasters account was Ian T. Masters and the link in the bio was for the West Virginia Citizen’s Defense League, a Second Amendment advocacy group where Masters served as president from 2015 until at least January 2025, when he was appointed by Gov. Patrick Morrisey to serve in the West Virginia House.

By 2:20 p.m. — after Masters’ conversation with West Virginia Watch — the name on the account was changed to I. Masters and the link to the state Citizens Defense League was removed from the bio.

The profile picture on @NoQuarterMasters shows a letter addressed to “Ian” in West Virginia. The rest of the information in the letter is covered up by runes burnt into wooden pendants hanging from strings. 

The runes include several symbols listed by the Anti-Defamation League, an advocacy organization dedicated to stopping anti-semitism across the world, as antisemitic symbols used by groups and individuals espousing white supremacist, neo-Nazi and antisemitic ideals. The runes include the Valknot, the Life Rune and the Wolfsangel, among others.

According to Instagram, the last two digits of the phone number used for a password reset on the @NoQuarterMasters account match those from Masters’ personal cell phone number, which he used to return a phone call from a West Virginia Watch reporter on Tuesday.

When asked Tuesday if there was any chance someone would be impersonating him given all these connections, Masters said he “didn’t know.”

“I’ll certainly be looking into it,” Masters said. “I’m trying to recall even having any active Instagram account, so I don’t know.”

Many posts from the West Virginia Citizens Defense League’s Instagram account in 2023 — when Masters was serving as its president — showed @NoQuarterMasters tagged in photos alongside accounts with the same names as other officers for the organization. 

Masters, a lawyer by trade, signed off on many of the captions for those posts as Ian T. Masters, Esquire.

In his statement, Pushkin said the comment made by @NoQuarterMasters — which he attributes to Masters despite his denial — was not just antisemitic but “rooted in white supremacy.”

“As a lawyer and a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, he should have known better — but clearly, he does not,” Pushkin wrote. “His bigotry is an embarrassment to his district, to our state, and to the values we are supposed to uphold as Americans.”

In addition to calling on Morrisey to call for Masters’ resignation Pushkin said House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, “should speak clearly and unequivocally in defense of decency and demand that Delegate Masters resign.”

“There is no place in our legislature for vile hate speech,” Pushkin said. “West Virginians deserve better.”

Morrisey’s office did not respond to requests for comment on this article. Hanshaw was not available for comment on Tuesday. Ann Ali, communications director for the state House of Delegates, said Hanshaw is not unfamiliar with dealing with situations where allegations have come against sitting members of the House.

“Unfortunately, this is not the first time we’ve had a report of a delegate doing or saying something completely unbecoming of the office of the West Virginia Legislature and I think in every instance [where the allegation is proven], Speaker Hanshaw has used the tools at his disposal to demonstrate his disapproval,” Ali said. 

Ali said that those powers, however, can be limited; they do include removing a sitting member from committee assignments as well as changing office assignments, seating assignments in the chamber or parking spot assignments. Other powers, Ali said, are not in the speaker’s purview since members are often elected to the Legislature by people in their respective districts. 

Masters, however, is not one of those members as he was appointed to the House seat by Morrisey in January after delegate-elect Joseph de Soto was accused of threatening to harm and kill lawmakers. De Soto had won the November 2024 election as a Republican then switched his party affiliation to Democratic shortly before being arrested for making terroristic threats. 

House Republicans in January voted to vacate the seat instead of expelling de Soto, saying it was the correct way to deal with the seat since de Soto was on house arrest and never sworn in. The vacate move prompted a legal challenge from the state Democratic Party, who argued that the seat should have gone to Democrats due to de Soto’s party switch.

The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals ruled against state Democrats in one of their challenges over the seat. 

During the 2025 session, Masters served on the House Committee on Health and Human Resources as well as the Public Health and Health Care Regulation subcommittees. 

He was the sponsor of three bills this session: House Bill 2662, creating a felony vehicular homicide and aggravated vehicular homicide charges in the state; HB 3483, relating to mental health examination requirements and HB 3489, relating to vaccine requirements. 

None of those bills made it out of committee, however the Senate version of HB 3489 did pass and became law earlier this year with Morrisey’s signature.

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West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com.