Why Elon Musk has banned Kanye West from Twitter
Disgraced rapper Kanye West saw his Twitter account suspended by Elon Musk on Thursday night after he shared a picture of a swastika interlaced with a Star of David.
The post came hours after an interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. West sparked outrage by declaring his ‘love’ of Nazis and his admiration for Adolf Hitler.
Musk, who reinstated West’s banned Twitter account just last month after taking control of the company in October, on Thursday night decided the musician’s latest outburst on his social media platform was the final straw.
West’s account was initially locked for 12 hours, preventing him from tweeting, and later suspended. It is unclear whether the suspension is temporary or permanent.
Kanye West has been temporarily suspended from Twitter after Elon Musk told him he had ‘gone too far’ by tweeting a swastika within a Star of David
West shared an image (redacted above) of a Nazi swastika inside a Star of David, a religious symbol in Judaism, indicating it would the logo for his proposed 2024 presidential campaign
In recent weeks, West has made a string of vile antisemitic comments leaving his reputation in tatters, causing brands – including Adidas, Balenciaga and GAP – to leave him in droves. As a result, his net worth has plummeted.
His divorce from ex-wife Kim Kardashian was also finalised this week.
West was kicked off Twitter ‘for incitement to violence,’ after the rapper posted the picture of the swastika – the symbol of the Nazi party – and the Jewish holy symbol.
He indicated it would be the logo for his proposed 2024 presidential campaign.
Musk, who purchased Twitter in October and who has since taken a more relaxed stance on content moderation, told West: ‘Sorry, but you have gone too far. This is not love’ in a text message shared by the rapper before the ban took effect.
West responded: ‘Who made you the judge.’
‘I tried my best,’ Musk wrote in a tweet after Twitter deleted West’s offending tweet and temporarily locked his account. ‘Despite that, he again violated our rule against incitement to violence. Account will be suspended.’
Initially, Twitter locked West’s account for 12 hours, according to a screenshot he posted on Truth Social, the rival platform founded by Donald Trump
West’s account was later suspended. It’s unclear whether the suspension is temporary or permanent
Shortly afterward, Musk tweeted ‘FAFO’ which are initials for the term ‘f*** around, and find out.’
West’s account then disappeared from Twitter, appearing with the label ‘Account suspended,’ a term the company uses for permanent bans.
It was unclear whether West’s Twitter suspension is temporary or permanent. Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com.
Following West’s tweet of the swastika-and-star image, some noted that it appeared identical to the symbol for Raëlism, a UFO religion that believes aliens created humanity using advanced technology.
Nevertheless, West’s extensive comments praising Nazis just hours earlier weighed heavily on any interpretation of the symbol.
Musk, who purchased Twitter for $44 billion last month, has previously styled himself as a ‘free speech absolutist’ and vowed to reduce moderation on the platform to the minimum.
After the takeover, Musk swiftly reinstated West’s account, which had been banned for the rapper’s anti-Semitic threats and insults.
Musk, who purchased Twitter for $44 billion last month, has previously styled himself as a ‘free speech absolutist’ and vowed to reduce moderation on the platform
After West mocked Musk by tweeting a photo of the billionaire shirtless, Musk responded ‘That is fine’
‘This is not,’ said Musk in response to the image of the swastika and Star of David
Musk said that West had been suspended for ‘incitement to violence’
Shortly afterward, Musk tweeted ‘FAFO’ which are initials for ‘f*** around, and find out’
But despite his free speech ideals, Musk has his own limits, and last week vowed to maintain a Twitter ban on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his Infowars website.
‘I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame,’ Musk said of Jones, who has previously claimed the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting was a hoax.
West’s temporary Twitter suspension came just hours after he appeared on Infowars with Jones and noted white supremacist Nick Fuentes.
In a rambling, hours-long interview with Jones, West praised Hitler, professed his ‘love’ for Nazis, and denied that the Holocaust occurred, in remarks that drew widespread outrage.
Initially, Musk appeared eager to insert himself in the controversy by responding to a tweet from West’s account commemorating the bizarre interview.
West had originally tweeted ‘Jesus is King’ along with a photo of a tweet that Jones, who is banned from Twitter, sent from West’s own account during the podcast.
Musk responded: ‘Jesus taught love, kindness and forgiveness. I used to think that turning the other cheek was weak & foolish, but I was the fool for not appreciating its profound wisdom.’
It’s unclear whether Musk’s musing on ‘turning the other cheek’ was in reference to West, or to Jones, who signed the printed tweet in the photo to which Musk responded, or to a general philosophy of life.
Musk earlier waded into Kanye West’s latest controversy by responding to a photo of a tweet that Alex Jones, who is banned from Twitter, sent from West’s own account and then signed
Kanye West (left) appears on Alex Jones’ podcast Infowars on Thursday with white supremacist Nick Fuentes. Kanye – who now goes by ‘Ye’ – said he ‘likes Hitler’ and that he ‘brought value’
Regardless, West’s vile, protracted outburst praising Hitler and Nazis raised fresh controversy over how Musk handles content moderation on Twitter, drawing calls for the ban on West to be reinstated.
Jonathan Greenblatt, the director of the Anti-Defamation League, wrote in a tweet directed at Musk: ‘is this someone you still want to warmly welcome back to the platform? Jews right now need allies, not enablers.’
‘Saying you ‘like Hitler,’ ‘love the Nazis,’ and spending all your time with a white supremacist makes one thing clear: Ye is a vicious antisemite,’ wrote Greenblatt. ‘His comments today on InfoWars are not just vile and offensive: they put Jews in danger.’
During the Infowars podcast on Thursday, West addressed Greenblatt’s organization, saying, ‘Nobody cares about the ADL. They’re played out.’
‘We don’t care anymore, ADL, obviously. No one cares. Shut up, no one cares, Jesus is king!’ added West.
West allowed Jones, who is banned from Twitter, to use his phone and account to tweet on Thursday
During the three-hour broadcast, Jones’ assistants printed out his tweet he sent on Kanye’s account. The rapper added a note ‘Jesus is king’ and Jones also signed the paper
Musk faced fresh calls to ban West, including from ADL director Johnathan Greenblatt
West appeared on Infowars alongside Nick Fuentes, the young white supremacist whom the rapper recently brought along on a social visit with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
Wearing a fabric mask to cover his entire face, West ranted: ‘I see good things about Hitler… every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler.’
‘I’m done with the classification, every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler. I like Hitler,’ said West.
Among Hitler’s many atrocities, he was chiefly responsible for the Holocaust – the systematic murder of Jewish people and other minority groups across Europe.
Approximately six million Jews were killed, along with 11 million people from other groups – including Soviet civilians and prisoners of war, Poles, Serbs, disabled people, Romani people and homosexual people.
Though West wore a mask for the entire appearance, there was no doubt that it was the rapper himself speaking, as cameras showed him allowing Jones to use his Twitter account to post in real-time on the live broadcast.
‘I see good things about Hilter… every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler,’ said West in the interview on Thursday
West sat next to Jones, with a Bible placed in front of him. At times, he held a small net and bottle of chocolate drink Yoohoo, which he addressed as ‘Net-and-Yahoo’ in a play on the name of former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Later, he said the Germans ‘had a really good leader at one point’, and denied that Hitler had ordered the deaths of six million Jews in the Holocaust.
‘He didn’t kill six million Jews. That’s just factually incorrect,’ West said in what was by some measure, his most anti-Semitic remarks to date.
‘I’m not trying to be shocking. I like Hitler. The Holocaust is not what happened… Hitler has a lot of redeeming qualities,’ he said.
Even Jones, who is no stranger to controversy, seemed visibly uncomfortable at times during the broadcast, and sought to distance himself from West’s remarks.
Jones insisted he was no fan of Hitler, and at one point interjected that ‘the Nazis were thugs and did really bad things.’
West did not back down, responding: ‘But they did good things too. We gotta stop dissing the Nazis all the time… I love Nazis.’
West also took credit for ‘popularising’ antisemitism. ‘No one in high school knew what anti-Semitic meant until Ye made it popular,’ he said.
During the InfoWars appearance, West also mocked Israel’s Prime Minister-elect Benjamin Netanyahu, who this week criticised Trump for meeting with West and Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago.
West used a bottle of Yoohoo chocolate milk and a fishing net, and put on a high-pitched voice, to mock the Israeli politician. Jones asked West why he disliked Netanyahu, to which Musk responded by admitting he had only heard of him two weeks earlier and though he had a ‘funny name’.
West’s appearance prompted a swift backlash.
Frozen actor Josh Gad, who his Jewish, blasted the rapper. ‘It’s not what Kanye West says that scares me,’ he said.
‘It’s that he has 30 million followers who listen to his insanity on top of a cheerleader in the form of the current owner of this platform. No one who says ‘I love Hitler’ should be allowed any oxygen on any social platform (period).’
The Republican Jewish Coalition said in a statement: ‘Given his praise of Hitler, it cannot be overstated that Kanye West is a vile, repellent bigot.
‘Conservatives who have mistakenly indulged Kanye West must make it clear that he is a pariah. Enough is enough.’
In a joint statement, Rabbi Marvin Hier and the Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a global Jewish human rights organization, said: ‘History teaches us that words and ideas can have profound consequences. Kanye West’s serial anti-Semitism is now accompanied with the deconstruction of evil.
‘Louis Farrakhan, America’s godfather of hate called Hitler ‘a great man.’
‘Following in his footsteps, Kanye West—influencer of millions—now touts Hitler as ‘bringing something of value to the table.’
‘Yes Kanye, what Hitler brought to the table was genocide, racism, and a world war that killed tens of millions and almost destroyed our civilization.
‘Before he had the power to act, back in 1919, Hitler already outlined his vision of ‘the final removal of Jews.”‘
Actor Michael Rappaport fumed in a social media video: ‘You’re bringing up the most despicable person ever and saying there’s good in him? In a gimp mask? You think Adolf Hitler wouldn’t have thrown you in an oven or shot your a** in the street and not even thought twice about it? ‘You dumb f**k. There’s no good in him.
‘And at this point I believe what was good in you has gone. Your mother, God rest her soul, would be ashamed of you. Your mother would have been ashamed of you and what you’ve become.’
DailyMail.com columnist Meghan McCain tweeted: ‘F**k Kanye and everyone who keeps giving him a platform.’
Former President Trump, who welcomed Kanye to Mar-a-Lago for lunch with Fuentes recently, did not respond immediately to inquiries about the podcast.
Alex Jones and Kanye West are seen together on Infowars on Thursday
Jones encouraged Kanye to take off his mask and repeatedly asked him what time his flight was, insisting that he does not like Hitler.
He also however tried to minimize the live, escalating backlash, saying critics were trying to ‘censor’ the rapper, and celebrated the fact that it was his most-watched broadcast of 2022.
During the show, the House Judiciary Committee deleted an old tweet praising West, saying ‘enough is enough’. The account had previously Tweeted ‘Kanye. Elon. Trump’.
West also talked about his divorce from Kim Kardashian and turning to alcohol and ‘threesomes’ afterwards, and referred to a 2024 presidential campaign as a ‘walk to the [White] House.’
He also made repeated reference to Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel who is also Jewish, claiming he tried to ‘ruin his life’ and goading him with anti-Semitic remarks.
‘If they go and 5150 me and try to lobotomize me, or they put me in prison, it just proves what I’m saying and it’s going to spark the high schools, grammar schools, colleges that say enough is enough.
‘I have the right to speak out loud.
‘That is our first amendment and it’s a shame that you have to be considered to be on the spectrum to have enough courage to speak out loud.
‘You guys have beaten me to a pulp but I’m not afraid. You can call me crazy, you can take the money…but Jesus is king and I love everyone. This is love speech.’
‘I love Jewish people, I love supermodels,’ he said.
Agreeing with Fuentes, West said he was ‘pro Putin’ and ‘pro-Russia’, and he defended Balenciaga against claims of exploiting children, saying: ‘Everyone in the sex business is as bad as the pedophiles.’
West, who is banned from Twitter, allowed Jones to use his phone and account to tweet on Thursday
During the three-hour broadcast, Jones’ assistants printed out his tweet on Kanye’s account. The rapper signed it
He addressed his divorce from Kim Kardashian, saying: ‘Since I lost my wife, since I lost my family and was no longer the priest in my home and have the say so, I was frustrated and I let the devil come and get me.
‘I let the devil pull me in. Next thing you know I’m at New Year’s Eve parties having threesomes.’
‘Hulu doesn’t love you Kim,’ West said of his ex-wife who now stars in a show on the streaming platform
West sat next to Jones, with a bible placed in front of him.
Speaking of his ex-wife Kim Kardashian, he said: ‘She was pushed into the sex tape, she was pushed into saying she had sex with Pete Davidson in front of a fireplace.
‘Hulu doesn’t love you, Kim. Disney does not love you, Kim. Come home, Kim. Come home to Christ.
‘Go to God. Go to Jesus. Go marry Tom Brady, but get married and use your platform as an influence to keep families together.’
Later in the show, he said: ‘I do love Hitler, I do love the Zionists, I love everyone.’
He then said he felt his mother Donda – who died in 2007 from complications after plastic surgery – died as a ‘Zionist sacrifice.’
In one particularly worrying outburst, he said: ‘The only celebrity that I rock with is Ray Jay. Come see me.
‘Come see God’s child right now. I want it. I wanna see my mama. You can’t touch ‘in Jesus name’ baby.’
West also urged Elon Musk to allow Jones back on Twitter – something he vowed never to do.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11493895/Elon-Musk-sanctions-Kanye-West-tweeting-picture-swastika-inside-Star-David.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490 Why Elon Musk has banned Kanye West from Twitter