On Monday (November 7), Twitter suspended the handle of ‘comedian’ Kathy Griffin after she impersonated Elon Musk on the social media platform. Griffin shot to fame in 2017 after posting a disturbing image with a replica of Donald Trump’s severed head.
Media personality Benny Johnson informed, “Kathy Griffin has been permanently suspended from Twitter for impersonating Elon Musk.” The development came hours after the new ‘Twit Chief’ announced that accounts resorting to ‘malicious impersonation’ would be permanently banned from Twitter.
Taking potshots at Griffin, who describes herself as a ‘comedian’, Musk said she was banned for impersonating a comedian. “Actually, she was suspended for impersonating a comedian,” Musk tweeted while taking a swipe at her.
The new ‘Twit chief’ also added that Kathy Griffin could return to the social media platform if she is willing to pay $8 per month. “But if she really wants her account back, she can have it for $8,” Musk wrote.
To add salt to the wound, he also responded with a laughing emoji to a tweet by a parody account of Kathy Griffin, which said, “This is the first time I have made anyone laugh.”
Media personality Benny Johnson shared posts, created by Kathy Griffin, on the open-source social media platform Mastodon.
The female ‘comedian’ was seen complaining about the moderation policies of Twitter after she impersonated Elon Musk on the micro-blogging platform. “Elon just locked my Twitter acct…” she wrote in one post.
She also claimed on Mastodon that Musk was suffering a meltdown and that Twitter users were demanding the reinstatement of her account.
The controversial photoshoot of Kathy Griffin
In 2017, ‘comedian’ Kathy Griffin courted controversy for posing with a replica of a severed head of then-US President Donald Trump. The photo was captured by Tyler Shields. During the shoot, the duo was seen joking about moving to Mexico out of the ‘fear’ of being thrown in jail.
As per reports, the disturbing photoshoot cost her multiple jobs. She re-posted the image on Twitter in January 2020 after Trump ‘prematurely’ claimed that he was winning the Presidential election against Joe Biden.
In 2017, Donald Trump lashed out at the ‘comedian’ after the gory image surfaced on social media. He tweeted, “Kathy Griffin should be ashamed of herself. My children, especially my 11-year-old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick!”
Elon Musk cracks down on ‘malicious impersonation’ by Twitter handles
On Monday (November 7), ‘Chief Twit’ Elon Musk announced that accounts resorting to ‘malicious impersonation’ would be permanently suspended if they failed to highlight their parodic nature.
In a tweet, he informed, “Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying “parody” will be permanently suspended.”
Elon Musk added that while such Twitter accounts earlier received warnings, prior to the suspension, the rule would change going forward, especially if they have a blue tick already.
“Previously, we issued a warning before suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning. This will be clearly identified as a condition for signing up to Twitter Blue,” he emphasised.
The new Twitter owner also pointed out that any change in the names of the verified handles will also lead to the temporary loss of the blue badge. The development comes days after several verified Twitter accounts impersonated Elon Musk and tried to pass off as the ‘real’ owner of the platform.