Elon Musk on Friday suspended Kanye West from Twitter for “incitement to violence,” after the rapper posted a photo that appeared to show a swastika interlaced with a Star of David.
The post came just hours after West declared his “love” for Nazis and admiration for Adolf Hitler in an interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
West also posted a photo of a shirtless Musk being sprayed with water with the caption: “Let’s always remember this as my final tweet.”
In response, Musk said: “Just clarifying that his account is being suspended for incitement to violence, not an unflattering pic of me.”
I tried my best. Despite that, he again violated our rule against incitement to violence. Account will be suspended.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 2, 2022
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
Musk, who previously described himself as a “free speech absolutist,” has repeatedly stated that he believes all legally permissible content should be allowed on Twitter and has sought to remake the social media organization since taking control in October.
West — now known as Ye — wore a black mask completely covering his face during an hour-long appearance on Infowars, the show hosted by Jones, as he ranted about sin, pornography, and the devil.
“I like Hitler,” West said several times.
West hid his entire face behind a mask with no eye or mouth slits.
However, Jones addressed him as West as they spoke, Infowars billed the interview as being with West, and at one point Jones took West’s cellphone and posted a real-time tweet on his account.
West, who has hinted that he may run for president of the United States in 2024, has spoken openly about his struggles with mental illness, but his erratic behavior has raised concerns.
Following a series of anti-Semitic comments, the businessman’s commercial relationships have crumbled, and the one-time fashion and music titan appears to have entered a disturbing spiral.
“I see good things about Hitler also,” he told Jones.
“This guy… invented highways, invented the very microphone that I used as a musician, you can’t say out loud that this person ever did anything good, and I’m done with that.”
Hitler did not invent either of those things.
“I’m done with the classification, every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler.
“I like Hitler.”
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