A slew of celebrities as well as other assorted left-wing activists have issued calls to “free” comedian Kathy Griffin after she was banned from Twitter for impersonating billionaire Elon Musk.
On Sunday, Griffin earned herself a Twitter suspension on Sunday when she impersonated billionaire Elon Musk by changing her profile name while employing his exact profile picture, as Breitbart News reported.
“Hey complainers and activists. Want to see real activism? Watch this. RT w #VoteBlue,” Griffin tweeted.
Twitter suspended Griffin’s account within an hour.
Though Elon Musk did not address the Griffin situation directly, he issued a clarification that Twitter will immediately suspend impersonating accounts that do not specifically label themselves parody.
“Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying “parody” will be permanently suspended,” he tweeted. “Previously, we issued a warning before suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning.”
Griffin later returned to the platform by reportedly using her dead mother’s Twitter account, Maggie Griffin.
Comedian Kathy Griffin speaks at “Mea Culpa Live with Michael Cohen” at El Rey Theatre on November 01, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Michael Tullberg/Getty)
“Apologize in advance for all the comments you’re gonna have to read about how ugly I am and they’re probably gonna throw you in there too. Oh by the way this is KG. I’m tweeting from my dead mother’s account. She would not mind,” the tweet from Maggie Griffin’s account read.
Musk’s explanation did not sit well with celebrities and other progressives, who believed that Elon Musk unfairly discriminated against Griffin and sought to silence one of his critics.
“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,” tweeted Rosanna Arquette.