Elon Musk suspends Kanye West from Twitter for inciting violence
What's the story
It has happened again. Famous rapper/producer Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) has been suspended from Twitter again. Ye's account was earlier suspended for an anti-Semitic tweet. However, he made a comeback after Elon Musk, the platform's free speech absolutist owner, revoked his suspension in October. Now, Musk himself took the initiative to suspend the American rapper for inciting violence.
Context
Why does this story matter?
It seems that Ye is not going to change his ways anytime soon. The I am a God singer was recently dropped from his endorsement deals with Adidas and GAP, among others for his anti-Semitic tweets and was at the receiving end of a backlash. None of that seemed to have affected him, as he continued his tirade on Twitter and in other interviews.
Reason
Ye tweeted a Nazi symbol inside the Star of David
Ye's latest suspension from Twitter is due to a now-deleted picture featuring a Nazi symbol inside the Star of David (a generally recognized symbol of Judaism and Jewish identity). The musician has been at it with a streak of controversial tweets recently, which included his tweet in support of Balenciaga after the fashion house was slammed for its BDSM ad campaign featuring children.
Live stream
He declared his love for Nazis on a live stream
The tweet from Ye involving the Nazi symbol received severe backlash. The platform restricted the tweet. Ye's tweet came after he appeared on a live stream with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and declared his love for Adolf Hitler and Nazism. In Jones' InfoWars, Ye said that he likes Hitler. "We gotta stop dissing the Nazis all the time... I love Nazis," he added.
Suspension
Ye was suspended for inciting violence
Twitter didn't react kindly to Ye's controversial tweet. Later, under a user who wrote, "Elon fix Kanye please," Musk replied that Ye violated Twitter's rule against "incitement to violence" and that he will be suspended. An hour later, he was suspended. In retaliation, just before he was suspended, Ye trolled Musk by tweeting an "unflattering" shirtless image.
Twitter Post
Musk apparently tried his 'best' to dissuade Ye
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