Antisemitic Instagram comment from WV delegate’s account attributed to ‘basically homeless’ man

by Caity Coyne, West Virginia Watch
July 2, 2025

House Majority Leader Pat McGeehan shared more details Wednesday regarding the proof he says he’s collected showing Del. Ian Masters, R-Berkeley, was not responsible for making an antisemitic comment on Instagram last month.

McGeehan — in an interview for WRNR 10TV — said he personally investigated the accusation against Masters and found the person who he says left the comment from an Instagram account that was using Masters’ full name and that linked to the Citizens Defense League, where Masters once served as president. WRNR is owned by another member of the House Republican caucus, Del. Mike Hornby, R-Berkeley, per the West Virginia Secretary of State.

The comment in question was left on June 21 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. 

In a June 25th interview with West Virginia Watch, Masters denied leaving the comment and said he didn’t have “any active Instagram account.” The next day, House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, told MetroNews Talkline that Masters told him the @NoQuarterMasters account used to be his, but he no longer used it. 

According to McGeehan’s radio interview, Masters knew the person who allegedly left the comment through his late brother. When Masters was visiting his hometown in Hancock County “sometime last year,” McGeehan said he ran into the “younger guy” and wanted to help him.

“… [Masters] gave resources to him — gave money, he gave him his old iPhone which didn’t have any cellular service, but you could work it with WiFi or whatever,” McGeehan said.

McGeehan said Masters’ social media accounts, including Instagram, were still logged in on the phone. The person opened them, McGeehan said, and used Masters’ account to leave the antisemitic comment.

“I don’t even think he knew he was on [Masters’] account,” McGeehan said.

McGeehan would not name the individual who he claims made the comment, saying he was “very sick,” “basically homeless” and living with substance use disorder after a recent extended hospital stay where he woke up from an almost two-month-long coma.

“Look, this is a guy that is probably going to eventually die in the near future, either from the disease he has or from overdosing on the narcotics he’s been prescribed to deal with it,” McGeehan said. “… so I’m not getting [him] involved.”

West Virginia Watch left a voicemail for McGeehan on Tuesday afternoon. He responded via text: “Do not contact me.”

When asked by WRNR host Bill Stubblefield if law enforcement should be getting involved as the person who left the comment “hacked” an elected official and impersonated him online, McGeehan laughed.

“Ha. No. This is over as far as I’m concerned,” McGeehan said. “… There’s a lot of things that would go into [an official investigation] and I’m not going to have some sort of witch hunt. I’ve done due diligence.”

Shortly after Masters’ interview with West Virginia Watch last week, the name on the account was changed from “Ian T. Masters” to “I. Masters.” Masters told Hanshaw, according to MetroNews, that he couldn’t access the account and needed tech support from Instagram to change the password. 

The profile picture on the @NoQuarterMasters account shows a letter addressed to “Ian” in Chester, West Virginia — where Masters grew up, McGeehan said Wednesday. 

The letter is partially covered up by runes burnt into wooden pendants hanging from strings. 

McGeehan said the letter in the profile picture was from Masters’ late brother, who died by suicide in 2014. The runes, McGeehan said, were “symbols from Scandinavian Norse mythology” and were meant to be an “homage” to Masters’ brother as the two grew up reading Norse literature.

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.

Masters has not commented publicly on this situation, however he is scheduled to give an interview to WRNR on Thursday morning. He could not be reached by phone on Wednesday.

The state Democratic Party has called on Speaker Hanshaw to perform a “full forensic investigation” of Masters’ devices, social media accounts and email; seek an explanation of the account’s profile picture and the symbols within it as well as how the name and bio on the account were changed after his interview with West Virginia Watch if he did not have access to the account.

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.