Comedian and actress Kathy Griffin was suspended from Twitter after using her account to impersonate Elon Musk.
After Griffin and other Twitter users changed their display names to “Elon Musk,” the new Twitter chief posted that those accounts that engage in impersonation will be permanently suspended.
In a series of tweets on Sunday, Musk said that unless the impersonation is clearly a parody, the person behind it will be suspended. Musk also stated there would be no warning before the suspension, which was customary before Musk’s takeover.
Musk also announced last week that those who want the verified blue check mark on their account signifying that the user is legit will now have to pay $7.99 a month in a subscription plan he is calling “Twitter Blue.”
Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying “parody” will be permanently suspended
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2022
The leading lady of comedy and often controversy, Kathy Griffin, had her display name changed to say Elon Musk as well as her profile picture to a photo of Musk, she told Bloomberg. Those who didn’t look closely would assume it was Musk’s account.
After her suspension from Twitter, Griffin posted on Mastodon, an alternative social media platform saying, “I guess not ALL the content moderators were let go? Lol,” she joked.
Musk, quick with his retorts, commented on Griffin’s suspension with a dig at the comedian. When someone tweeted that Griffin was suspended for impersonating Musk, he replied: “Actually, she was suspended for impersonating a comedian.”
Griffin continued to post on Mastodon about how she was “wreaking havoc” on Twitter. She continued posting calling Musk a “drama queen.” Griffin, not letting things go also started to post from her deceased mother, Maggie Griffin’s Twitter account. Maggie Griffin died in 2020, and her account had not posted any updates since 2019.
Griffin posted a tweet with #FreeKathy from her mother’s account and retweeted people who also posted the hashtag, including “Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill. Griffin soon started trending on Twitter.
As stated earlier, Griffin is no stranger to controversy. In 2017, Griffin tweeted an offensive image of her holding a severed head resembling former President Donald Trump. The comedian posted an apology video, however, she faced severe backlash over the incident including the fact that her comedy tour was canceled, and she lost endorsements. Griffin went as far as to say she was under investigation for conspiracy to assassinate the president.
