Joss Whedon has stepped away from Twitter after an offensive tweet he sent Thursday attacked the appearance of teen cancer survivors. The tweet has since been deleted but here it is:

Whedon has a particular hatred for Paul Ryan. In January he tweeted about how funny it would be to see Ryan killed by a rhino. The problem with the tweet above is that it’s not really focused on Paul Ryan. Whedon is making the young women in the photo contestants in an imaginary reality TV show and he seems to be mocking their appearance as well, i.e. “Not a 10.” That’s particularly despicable because the young women in this photo are teen cancer survivors. Here’s Speaker Ryan’s tweet explaining the photo:

Advocacy is not limited to adults. These Wisconsin teens shared some powerful stories with me about their fight against childhood cancer. pic.twitter.com/VJ0eQDXu7U

— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) April 27, 2017

And here’s the group that organized the meeting:

Some of our campers had an opportunity to meet with @SpeakerRyan & advocate for pediatric cancer research! #OneStepCamp pic.twitter.com/IAtogR1ioT

— Camp One Step (@CampOneStep) April 27, 2017

Teaching our Campers to advocate for themselves & their battles w/ #PediatricCancer in #DC. Thanks to @SpeakerRyan for meeting with us. ✌🏼❤🏕 https://t.co/uSV52UzDYp

— Camp One Step (@CampOneStep) April 27, 2017

Whedon was criticized by hundreds of people in the hours after posting his tweet, including some progressives who told him he ought to reconsider.

Another enlightened, compassionate progressive, making fun of teenage cancer survivors. Great example, @joss. https://t.co/YVdQJkVndo

— Robert Tracinski (@Tracinski) April 27, 2017

https://twitter.com/MikeCiandella/status/857962560343203841

*at Joss Whedon's office*

"That tweet about a rhino goring Paul Ryan was great. How can we go lower?"

"Let's mock teen cancer survivors!" https://t.co/lLosG92gqH

— Conrad Close (@conradclose) April 27, 2017

Sometime shortly after Buzzfeed published a story on the tweet, Whedon finally deleted it and put up this explanation:

So I tweeted something that inadvertently offended everyone except the people I was trying to offend. I'm sorry. I'll be quiet for a bit.

— Joss Whedon (@joss) April 28, 2017

Whedon hasn’t tweeted anything else in the past two days. Does this pattern of behavior sound familiar? A guy who gets really angry, lashes out in a rage, and then tries to isolate himself. Joss Whedon acting as if he’s Bruce Banner/the Hulk from one of his own films. Only this isn’t a comic book movie. Whedon is an adult who ought to know how to control himself in public. Maybe his self-imposed break from Twitter should last until he can model himself after a more constructive Marvel character.