Twitter suspends Kathy Griffin and Ethan Klein for parody accounts

Elon Musk suspended a bunch of comedians from Twitter, including Kathy Griffin and Ethan Klein. The billionaire and now Twitter owner specified that users who impersonate other accounts would be suspended from using the platform.

While it’s still free for celebrities, influencers, and huge personalities to have a blue checkmark before it costs $8 per month, Griffin and Klein changed their display names. Both of them updated their names to match Musk’s to have fun. 

On Sunday night, Musk revealed the policy through a tweet. The free-speech advocate tweeted, “Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying “parody” will be permanently suspended.”

BREAKING: @KathyGriffin has been permanently suspended from Twitter for impersonating @ElonMusk pic.twitter.com/ust86DZHKj

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 6, 2022

In the following follow-up tweet, Musk said, “Previously, we issued a warning before the suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning. This will be identified as a condition for signing up for Twitter Blue. Any name change at all will cause temporary loss of verified checkmark.”

On Sunday night, Twitter permanently suspended Kathy Griffin after her profile update to Elon Musk’s name. She also tweeted about the upcoming midterm elections. Griffin 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.”

Impersonating has been against the Twitter TOS from day one, not sure what the issue is here

— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) November 7, 2022

However, she came back to Twitter using her late mother’s account. She threw more bouts of insults at the new Twitter owner. 

Twitter Free Speech

Twitter users slammed Elon Musk after the suspension. They’re accusing Musk of holding up free speech. In addition, Musk tweeted about Griffin’s tweets, “Actually, she was suspended for impersonating a comedian. But if she really wants her account back, she can have it. For $8.”

Twitter suspends Ethan Klein despite him following Elon Musk’s stated guideline for parody accounts. pic.twitter.com/2YYjWSZHOb

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) November 7, 2022

Furthermore, the YouTuber and co-host of the famous show H3H3, Ethan Klein, also had his account suspended by the social media platform. He impersonated Musk after trying out the new policy. Same as Griffin he also changed his name to Elon Musk. He also tweeted a joke about Musk’s relation to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

Although Ethan Klein also noted in multiple tweets that his posts intend to be just a parody, his account didn’t escape the suspension. After his account ban, the H3H3 Podcast tweeted, “Comedy is dead on Twitter, and Elon Musk killed it.”

1) 9 days ago, 2) yesterday 3) today. We have fun pic.twitter.com/eTKAp8PBuK

— Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) November 7, 2022

Moreover, it wasn’t only Griffin and Klein who had their first taste of the new Twitter policies.  Comedian Sarah Silverman, journalist Christopher Hooks, and former pro football player Chris Kluwe were also on the list of suspended accounts. Together with the suspension of these accounts for their bannable “offenses,” Musk also noted some new policy key points.

While it’s unclear who will follow the subsequent suspension, it’s certain how Musk will strictly impose the new policies. With Elon Musk’s extensive free-speech absolutism, Twitter users are now wondering where that outlook is. These account cancellations genuinely add a whole different dimension to the billionaire’s free-speech preferences.