by Comedian Kathy Griffin’s Twitter account was suspended on Sunday after she changed her verified profile name and picture to Elon Musk.
Musk, 51, officially bought Twitter in October for $44 billion.
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In direct opposition to the new Twitter owner’s claims that any account impersonating someone else — without clear mention that the account is a parody — would be suspended, Griffin, 62, mocked Musk.
With Musk’s name and photo, he called on Americans to protect abortion rights and vote for the Democratic Party in the upcoming US midterm elections. (On Monday, Musk encouraged his followers vote republican.)
“Going forward, all Twitter handles that engage in impersonation without clear ‘parody’ will be permanently suspended,” Musk ordered on Sunday.
He claimed that before his takeover the accounts were “warned before they were suspended”, but this would no longer be the case.
After his tweets, Griffin, posing as Musk, wrote: “I have decided that voting blue for their choice is the right thing to do.”
It’s not clear if Griffin’s suspension was because he was impersonating Musk.
Griffin didn’t stop after his account was suspended either; instead, the comedian took to her late mother’s account and tweeted “#FreeKathy.”
Also on Sunday, Musk took to Twitter to respond to reports that Griffin’s account had been suspended. As a joke, Musk wrote that Griffin was “banned for performing as a comedian.”
He claimed he could get his account back for $8, soon to be the price of Twitter’s blue verified check mark.
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Using his late mother’s profile, Griffin responded to Musk’s tweets. He called Musk an “a-hole” and a “hacker.”
“Please do a better job running this company. It used to mean something,” he wrote, before signing off as “KG.”
On Monday, Griffin continued the joke. She claimed to be Maggie Griffin, who contacted Musk from the “spirit world.”
“This is not a parody. This is the real ghost of Kathy Griffin’s box wine loving mom saying I’m going to lie down and throw my bingo card at you,” Griffin wrote.
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Griffin isn’t the only person whose account has been suspended for impersonating Musk.
Comedian Sarah Silverman claimed her account was locked when she changed her name and photo to Musk and tweeted“I am an absolutist of freedom of speech and eat it for breakfast every day.”
YouTuber (and noted internet troll) Ethan Klein also claimed that his account had been suspended due to Musk’s appearance. In a TikTok video posted late Sunday, Klein playfully complained about being “permanently banned from Twitter by supposed free speech warrior Elon Musk.”
After his name and photo were changed to Musk, Klein tweeted: “Even though Jeffrey Epstein committed heinous crimes, I still miss him on nights like this for his warmth and companionship. [sic]. Rest in peace old friend.”
Two other accounts separately claimed to be American conservative journalist and right-wing influencer Andy Ngo and actor Keanu Reeves. off stream.
As of this writing, the back and forth continues.
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