Kathy Griffin Banned From Twitter After Impersonating Elon Musk On Dead Mother’s Account
Kathy Griffin was banned from Twitter after impersonating Elon Musk, but she continued to quarrel with the billionaire using her dead mother's account.
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Kathy Griffin is using her deceased mother’s Twitter account to troll Elon Musk after being banned for impersonating the Tesla boss from her profile. The billionaire, who previously declared that “comedy is legal again,” following his acquisition of the micro-blogging site, was not amused when the actress changed her name to “Elon Musk” and began mocking him with her posts.
As a result, the actress was promptly thrown off the social media platform. Elon Musk followed up Kathy Griffin’s ban by announcing that any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying that they are a parody will be permanently suspended. He added that there would be no warning before suspensions are imposed and that any name change would result in people losing their verified status.
But Kathy Griffin took matters into her own hands, returning to the site via her mother, Maggie Griffin’s account. Maggie starred alongside her daughter on My Life on the D-List for six seasons before she died in March 2020. She also appeared opposite her comedic kid in projects like Kathy and Kathy Griffin: A Hell of a Story, Variety reports.
“I’m tweeting from my dead mother’s account. She would not mind,” Kathy Griffin said in a tweet from Maggie’s previously dormant profile. Several journalists and celebrities reacted to the comedian’s ban and her decision to reappear via her mom’s account. The responses were a mix of support and mild criticism for using a deceased person’s name.
“Look at the date on the tweet you are referencing. It is from 2019,” Kath Griffin wrote. “My wonderful mother had an account that I ran for her. She passed away, but I always kept the account. Trust me she would be with me on this. Relax.”
When Elon Musk later made a wisecrack that Kathy Griffin was suspended from Twitter for impersonating a comedian, she replied by accusing him of stealing the joke. “You stole that joke. People have been posting that joke for hours, you hack,” she wrote. She ended the verbal assault by telling the social media site’s CEO to do a better job running the company because it used to mean something.
As the war of words continued, Elon Musk said Kathy Griffin can have her Twitter account back if she really wants it. But she would have to pay $8, referring to the new subscription model for Twitter Blue. Users who pay the monthly fee will receive a blue tick and have the ability to post longer videos and they will also see a reduction in visible advertisements.
Along with Kathy Griffin, several accounts that changed their name to Elon Musk or approximations of it appeared to be suspended or placed behind a warning sign. The move came despite the CEO promising that users could parody famous accounts if they were clearly marked as such. But some received bans despite explicitly labeling their new accounts as mockeries of Twitter’s new.
One person, who changed his verified account’s name to “Elon Musk (Parody)”, was automatically locked out until he changed it back. He posted screenshots after being reinstated on the site. “I guess not all the content moderators were let go?” Kathy Griffin joked on alternative social media platform Mastodon (via The Guardian).
