Comedian Kathy Griffin’s Twitter account was suspended after she appeared to mock the company’s new owner.
On Sunday, she changed the title of her Twitter page to say “Elon Musk.”
JUST IN: Kathy Griffin’s Twitter account has been suspended after she made numerous fake post impersonating Elon Musk. “Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying ‘parody’ will be permanently suspended,” Musk declared. pic.twitter.com/niC6Y9i24r
— Election Wizard (@ElectionWiz) November 6, 2022
It came as Musk tweeted an announcement about parody accounts.
“Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying ‘parody’ will be permanently suspended,” Musk tweeted.
He continued, “Previously, we issued a warning before suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning. This will be clearly identified as a condition for signing up to Twitter Blue.”
Previously, we issued a warning before suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2022
This will be clearly identified as a condition for signing up to Twitter Blue.
Additionally, Musk wrote, “Any name change at all will cause temporary loss of verified checkmark.”
Any name change at all will cause temporary loss of verified checkmark
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2022
Several critics spoke out on Twitter following Griffin’s suspension.
One user tweeted, “Kathy Griffin is a comedian and a fierce smart activist I guess there is no such thing as free speech after all on this site.”
https://twitter.com/RoArquette/status/1589407417724710914
Another wrote, “Hi. I’m [Elon Musk] (THIS IS PARODY) and I’m going to suspend Kathy Griffin for a joke the same day I reinstate Kanye West because I’m an antisemitic, homophobic, broken, un-loved prick (NOT parody).”
Hi. I’m @elonmusk (THIS IS PARODY) and I’m going to suspend Kathy Griffin for a joke the same day I reinstate Kanye West because I’m an antisemitic, homophobic, broken, un-loved prick (NOT parody).
— Richard Marx (@richardmarx) November 7, 2022
One tweet called for Griffin’s account to be reinstated, adding, “Also, there’s an election Tuesday. Vote for Democrats.”
Kathy Griffin must be reinstated immediately. Also, there’s an election Tuesday. Vote for Democrats.
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) November 7, 2022
The New York Post reported Musk replied to a tweet about Griffin’s suspension.
“Actually, she was suspended for impersonating a comedian,” he said.
Musk added, “But if she really wants her account back, she can have it … For $8.”
Griffin herself went on to use her late mother’s Twitter account to speak out against Musk, as the Post reported.
“Look, please do a better job running this company. It used to mean something. This is KG btw,” she wrote.
The comedian also used the hashtag #FreeKathy.
The outlet pointed out Griffin risks getting her mother’s account suspended along with her own account due to Twitter’s “ban evasion policy.”
According to the policy, “Twitter reserves the right to also permanently suspend any other account we believe the same account holder or entity may be operating in violation of our earlier suspension, regardless of when the other account was created.”