Kanye West was banned from Twitter after he posted a swastika resembling a Star of David and shared personal text messages with Twitter CEO Elon Musk. It’s unclear if West was banned for the swastika or for publicly publishing his texts with Musk, who bought Twitter for $44 billion in October. West’s ban, termed as a “permanent suspension” on twitter, occurred just after midnight on Friday, following an utterly insane appearance on the Alex Jones Show earlier in the day on Thursday. West, who brought along neo-Nazi broadcaster Nick Fuentes, lauded Nazis and clearly stated his admiration for Adolf Hitler.
Kanye took issue with Alex Jones labeling Nazis “evil” at one point during the weird three-hour broadcast. Mr West also claimed that Hitler invented the microphone and motorways, both of which are false. And, while he may be suffering from a mental breakdown, there is no explanation for the terrible anti-semitism on exhibit. Bipolar disease does not imply anti-Semitism, yet former West colleagues have lately come out to claim that West has always admired Hitler. Musk, who has previously stated that he is a “free speech absolutist,” tweeted at West prior to his suspension, claiming that it was acceptable for West to post unflattering photographs of Musk shirtless as a “final tweet,” but it was not right to tweet the swastika. Musk was supposedly irritated not just by the swastika, but also by West’s sharing of private texts between the two billionaires.
Jason Calacanis, a venture entrepreneur hired by Musk to make improvements at Twitter, tweeted that “rules are rules,” but it’s unclear which regulations West violated, given that Musk has vowed to allow any “legal” expression on the network. If the swastikas alone are taken as an invitation to violence a reasonable argument, but one that many modern-day conservatives are unlikely to agree with it stands to reason that West would be banned for that tweet. But, considering Musk’s recent choice to welcome back some real Nazis onto Twitter, it’s long past time for Musk to be explicit about what is and isn’t acceptable. Twitter’s rules are clearly being selectively enforced right now, but one act will surely get you banned: pissing off Elon Musk. – Steve Sijenyi
