After a day filled with his most offensive outbursts to date, including praise for Nazis and Adolph Hitler, Kanye West has finally found the limit of new Twitter owner Elon Musk.
Musk, who reinstated West’s banned Twitter account just last month after taking control of the company, on Thursday night suspended the rapper’s account once again.
The self-proclaimed ‘chief twit’ was responding to a tweet in which West shared an image of a Nazi swastika inside a Star of David, a religious symbol in Judaism, indicating it would the logo for his proposed 2024 presidential campaign.
West’s account was initially locked for 12 hours, and later suspended. It’s unclear whether the suspension is temporary or permanent.
‘Sorry, but you have gone too far. This is not love,’ Musk wrote in a text message to West citing the tweet, according to screenshots the rapper posted before the suspension took effect.
West, who has legally changed his name to Ye, responded: ‘Who made you the judge.’
Kanye West has been temporarily suspended from Twitter after Elon Musk told him he had ‘gone too far’ by tweeting a swastika within a Star of David
Initially, Twitter locked West’s account for 12 hours, according to a screenshot he posted on Truth Social, the rival platform founded by Donald Trump
West’s account was later suspended. It’s unclear whether the suspension is temporary or permanent
‘I tried my best,’ Musk wrote in a tweet after Twitter deleted West’s offending tweet and temporarily locked his account.
‘Despite that, he again violated our rule against incitement to violence. Account will be suspended.’
Shortly afterward, Musk tweeted ‘FAFO’ which are initials for the term ‘f*** around, and find out.’
West’s account then disappeared from Twitter, appearing with the label ‘Account suspended.’
It was unclear whether West’s Twitter ban is temporary or permanent. Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com.
Musk, who purchased Twitter for $44 billion last month, has previously styled himself as a ‘free speech absolutist’ and vowed to reduce moderation on the platform to the minimum.
After the takeover, Musk swiftly reinstated West’s account, which had been banned for the rapper’s anti-Semitic threats and insults, including his vow to go ‘death con 3 on Jewish people.’
After West mocked Musk by tweeting a photo of the billionaire shirtless, Musk responded ‘That is fine’
‘This is not,’ said Musk in response to the image of the swastika and Star of David
Shortly afterward, Musk tweeted ‘FAFO’ which are initials for ‘f*** around, and find out’
But despite his free speech ideals, Musk has his own limits, and last week vowed to maintain a Twitter ban on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his Infowars website.
‘I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame,’ Musk said of Jones, who has previously claimed the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting was a hoax.
West’s temporary Twitter suspension came just hours after he appeared on Infowars with Jones and noted white supremacist Nick Fuentes.
In a rambling, hours-long interview with Jones, West praised Hitler, professed his ‘love’ for Nazis, and denied that the Holocaust occurred, in remarks that drew widespread outrage.
Initially, Musk appeared eager to insert himself in the controversy by responding to a tweet from West’s account commemorating the bizarre interview.
West had originally tweeted ‘Jesus is King’ along with a photo of a tweet that Jones, who is banned from Twitter, sent from West’s own account during the podcast.
Musk responded: ‘Jesus taught love, kindness and forgiveness. I used to think that turning the other cheek was weak & foolish, but I was the fool for not appreciating its profound wisdom.’
It’s unclear whether Musk’s musing on ‘turning the other cheek’ was in reference to West, or to Jones, who signed the printed tweet in the photo to which Musk responded, or to a general philosophy of life.
Musk earlier waded into Kanye West’s latest controversy by responding to a photo of a tweet that Alex Jones, who is banned from Twitter, sent from West’s own account and then signed
Kanye West (left) appears on Alex Jones’ podcast Infowars on Thursday with white supremacist Nick Fuentes. Kanye – who now goes by ‘Ye’ – said he ‘likes Hitler’ and that he ‘brought value’
Regardless, West’s vile, protracted outburst praising Hitler and Nazis has raised fresh controversy over how Musk handles content moderation on Twitter, with some calling for the ban on West to be reinstated.
Jonathan Greenblatt, the director of the Anti-Defamation League, wrote in a tweet directed at Musk: ‘is this someone you still want to warmly welcome back to the platform? Jews right now need allies, not enablers.’
‘Saying you ‘like Hitler,’ ‘love the Nazis,’ and spending all your time with a white supremacist makes one thing clear: Ye is a vicious antisemite,’ wrote Greenblatt. ‘His comments today on InfoWars are not just vile and offensive: they put Jews in danger.’
During the Infowars podcast on Thursday, West addressed Greenblatt’s organization, saying, ‘Nobody cares about the ADL. They’re played out.’
‘We don’t care anymore, ADL, obviously. No one cares. Shut up, no one cares, Jesus is king!’ added West.
West allowed Jones, who is banned from Twitter, to use his phone and account to tweet on Thursday
During the three-hour broadcast, Jones’ assistants printed out his tweet he sent on Kanye’s account. The rapper added a note ‘Jesus is king’ and Jones also signed the paper
Musk faced fresh calls to ban West, including from ADL director Johnathan Greenblatt
West appeared on Infowars alongside Nick Fuentes, the young white supremacist whom the rapper recently brought along on a social visit with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
Wearing a fabric mask to cover his entire face, West ranted: ‘I see good things about Hitler… every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler.’
‘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.
‘I’m done with the classification, every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler. I like Hitler,’ said West.
Though West wore a mask for the entire appearance, there was no doubt that it was the rapper himself speaking, as cameras showed him allowing Jones to use his Twitter account to post in real-time on the live broadcast.
‘I see good things about Hilter… every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler,’ said West in the interview on Thursday
West sat next to Jones, with a Bible placed in front of him. At times, he held a small net and bottle of chocolate drink Yoohoo, which he addressed as ‘Net-and-Yahoo’ in a play on the name of former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Later, he said the Germans ‘had a really good leader at one point’, and denied that Hitler had ordered the deaths of six million Jews in the Holocaust.
‘He didn’t kill six million Jews. That’s just factually incorrect,’ West said in what was by some measure, his most anti-Semitic remarks to date.
‘I’m not trying to be shocking. I like Hitler. The Holocaust is not what happened… Hitler has a lot of redeeming qualities,’ he said.
Even Jones, who is no stranger to controversy, seemed visibly uncomfortable at times during the broadcast, and sought to distance himself from West’s remarks.
Jones insisted he was no fan of Hitler, and at one point interjected that ‘the Nazis were thugs and did really bad things.’
West did not back down, responding: ‘But they did good things too. We gotta stop dissing the Nazis all the time… I love Nazis.’
Developing story, more to follow.