Elon Musk Announces Kanye West's Suspension From Twitter Few Weeks After Reinstating Him On The Platform
By Favour Adegoke on December 2, 2022 at 9:15 AM EST
Kanye West has once again been sent to the "no-tweet-zone."
The controversial rapper was suspended from the social media platform after uploading a controversial image that was deemed anti-Semitic. In a separate post, Twitter CEO Elon Musk confirmed that the "Jesus Walks" crooner was suspended for inciting violence with his post.
The tech mogul later clarified why West was suspended barely a few weeks after he was reinstated on the platform. West's account was previously locked in October after he made a series of anti-Semitic posts that have since cost him several endorsement deals.
Read below for more details.
Kanye West Suspended From Twitter For Inciting Violence
A few weeks after being brought back from suspension, West's Twitter account was suspended after making a series of controversial posts on the platform.
One of the posts included a picture of a swastika graphically merged with the star of David. The latter has been widely recognized for its use by the Nazi Party and neo-Nazis, while the former is an important Jewish symbol.
"YE24 Love Everyone," the rapper captioned the since-deleted post, suggesting that he loved both the Adolf Hitler-led Nazis and the Jews.
However, the image sparked massive outrage, as many saw it as an insult to the Jewish culture, considering that the race had almost suffered extinction at the hands of the former German dictator.
Shortly after the post went viral, many online users once again called for more strict measures against the rapper, of which one user asked Twitter CEO Musk to "fix" the "Donda" crooner.
Musk responded, per The Hollywood Reporter, "I tried my best. Despite that, he again violated our rule against incitement to violence. Account will be suspended."
Elon Musk Clarifies Why The Rapper Got Suspended
Prior to Musk's confirmation that West had been sent to the no-tweet-zone, the tech mogul had also commented on another post of an unflattering picture of himself with Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel on a yacht, which West had uploaded on the same day he made the swastika tweet.
Although it is unclear how West got the picture, the post seemed to suggest that Musk was in cahoots with Emannuel, who had previously called for Hollywood to boycott the rapper after he penned a series of antisemitic comments in October.
At the time, Musk first replied, "This is fine" to the yacht picture, but "this is not" to the controversial swastika tweet.
Just clarifying that his account is being suspended for incitement to violence, not an unflattering pic of me being hosed by Ari.
Frankly, I found those pics to be helpful motivation to lose weight!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 2, 2022
The tech mogul continued, "Just clarifying that his account is being suspended for incitement to violence, not an unflattering pic of me being hosed by Ari. Frankly, I found those pics to be helpful motivation to lose weight!"
He later tweeted "FAFO," an acronym for "f**k around and find out, " implying that actions have consequences.
Kanye West Was Previously Suspended In October
While it seems West's ban is for a short while, there is no telling whether Twitter might once again shut him out completely like before.
Per The Blast, his initial suspension came in October after he wrote on the platform about going "death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE."
"I'm a bit sleepy tonight, but when I wake up I'm going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE," he wrote at the time in a since-deleted post. "The funny thing is I actually can't be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda."
In the wake of the outrage from the post, West was canceled by several of his collaborators, including Balenciaga and Adidas.
Kanye West Called Out Elon Musk Over Alex Jones
The father of four, who recently finalized his divorce from his ex Kim Kardashian has continued to remain controversial regardless of the backlash he has gotten from the public.
He had earlier praised Hitler during an interview with U.S. conspiracy theorist Alex Jones that occurred hours before the ban, fueling the outrage from online users after he made the swastika tweet.
The rapper had also previously called out Musk for not reinstating the interview host after his takeover of Twitter. The tech mogul had earlier brought back several controversial accounts, including former U.S. president Donald Trump.
Last month, Musk clarified why he wouldn't consider reinstating the right-wing conspiracy theorist, who is widely recognized for denying the Sandy Hook shootings that led to the deaths of several schoolchildren.
"My firstborn child died in my arms. I felt his last heartbeat," Musk penned in a tweet at the time. "I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics, or fame."