Twitter's new "Chief Twit" Elon Musk says "Comedy is now legal" on the
platform. But you'll be banned if your comedy involves impersonating a celeb,
like Musk himself. Here are the stars who did it anyway.
In 2022, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion. Musk's
acquisition was met with criticism from many users concerned about the potential
spread of hate speech and misinformation on the site, and it prompted a slew of
celebrities to publicly exit Twitter entirely. Television producer Shonda Rhimes posted,
"Not hanging around for whatever Elon has planned. Bye."
While some left, others were banned from the platform. When Musk took over,
he posted "Comedy is now legal on Twitter," but also implemented a strict parody policy, posting,
"Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in
impersonation without clearly specifying 'parody' will be permanently suspended"
"You know the vibes. But I promise, if anything changes, I'll pull up."
It didn't take long for users to be banned for violating the new parody
policy — the famous and non-famous alike. Here are
the public figures who've been banned from Twitter since Elon Musk took over.
One of the most prominent celebrities to be banned from the social media platform
in the era of Elon Musk is stand-up comic, actor, and TV personality Kathy Griffin.
Griffin changed her name and profile picture to match Musk's, and tweeted,
"After much spirited discussion with the females in my life. I've decided that voting blue for
their choice is only right (They're also sexy females, btw.) #VoteBlueToProtectWomen
Griffin took to Instagram to address the suspension in multiple posts,
including one that reposted a TikTok explaining the drama, noting that the
comedian logged onto her dead mother's account to continue tweeting. The post's caption reads,
"Cannot stop laughing at this! Elon can't quit me."
This isn't the first time Griffin has sparked controversy on the platform. In 2017,
Griffin posted a photo of herself holding a bloody mask resembling
then-president Donald Trump. Griffin was not suspended from Twitter as a result,
but she was fired by CNN from her New Year's Eve hosting duties.
Ethan Klein rose to prominence through his podcast and work satirizing internet culture on YouTube,
and he's active on other social media platforms as well, including Instagram,
TikTok, and Twitter. However, after impersonating Elon Musk,
Klein no longer has access to his Twitter account — even after he marked his account
as "parody," as Klein noted on his podcast. One of Klein's tweets as Elon Musk read,
"Even though Jeffery Epstein committed horrible crimes,
I do still miss him on nights like this for his warmth and comradery. Rest In Peace old friend."
The YouTuber took to TikTok to crack wise about his suspension.
"Comedy is dead, and Elon Musk dug the grave. Shame on you."
Just weeks prior to his Twitter ban, Klein was suspended from YouTube for
comments he made about Ben Shapiro, a conservative political commentator.
Actor Rich Sommer is another celeb who was banned
from Twitter after violating its impersonation policy.
"Everybody's having fun."
Sommer posed as majority shareholder Elon Musk,
posting multiple tweets to his account. One tweet as Musk read,
"Does anyone know any advertisers who are, like, kind of 'into' racism NOT
ACTUAL RACISTS!! just ad ppl who are, y'know, curious about what it's all about (racism)."
Sommer, who's best known for his work on "Mad Men" and "The Devil Wears Prada," told the outlet
that while he figured he would get dinged for it, he was trying to illustrate the potential
issues with Musk's new blue check mark rules and requirements. Regarding his ban, he told Insider,
"I had absolutely, let me be very clear,
no intention of anyone truly believing that I was Elon Musk. I wanted to, I guess,
go down in flames. I knew I was headed for the exit door probably. But I also,
just while I had that blue check, wanted to show that anyone could say they were anyone."
Former Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe also impersonated Elon Musk, and he was subsequently
banned from the platform. Kluwe changed his profile to match Musk's, including changing
his location to "Hell" and his bio line to read "Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator," and tweeted,
"Gosh, if all these blue checkmarks started impersonating me to obliterate the power of
my management it would be JUST LIKE a union strike,
and I can't be having that! It would TANK the value of my $44b investment REAL quick."
Kluwe explained to Insider why he impersonated Musk,
and it sounds like he was not exactly surprised by how things played out:
"Really the whole point was that I knew I was breaking the terms of service – like if
they're perfectly within their rights to kick me off because you're not
allowed to impersonate people, it's bad for disinformation – but under this new plan of
trying to monetize the verified status, that's exactly what's going to happen."
Kluwe has weathered Twitter drama in the past. In 2014, the former pro athlete posted a series
of tweets about the Vikings after claiming he was fired for publicly supporting gay marriage.
Kluwe sued the team for wrongful termination, and the two parties settled outside of court.
Cartoonist Jeph Jacques also got booted for impersonating Elon Musk. Acting as
the new Twitter CEO, Jacques changed his profile picture and name on the platform,
and he posted a series of tweets. In one, he wrote,
"look can everyone just stop tweeting for a
second? it's too fast for me to moderate by myself."
A few hours before that one, he referenced Musk's ex-girlfriend and the mother of two
of his children, posting, "never did find out what Grimes' real name was."
Jacques is best known for Questionable Content, a sci-fi webcomic that has been
going strong since 2003. Following his Twitter suspension, he told Insider,
"Elon has reacted exactly as I would have expected. And I'm
very proud of everybody who took part in this amazing sequence of events."