Weekslong Dispute Ends With Rapper Banned From Twitter

It started with a post about Black rappers with lighter-skinned wives
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 5, 2020 2:19 PM CDT
Twitter Bans Rapper for Alleged Harassment
Talib Kweli performs on the Miles Davis Hall stage at the 43nd Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland.   (AP Photo/Keystone/Jean-Christophe Bott)

Rapper Talib Kweli has been kicked off Twitter for allegedly harassing a woman over a period of weeks. The Guardian reports that the rapper's dispute with Maya Moody started July 9, when she responded to a tweet containing a list of Black rappers, including Kweli, who are married to Black women. "Literally almost all of them are married to lightskinned women but that’s a conversation for another day," she said. Moody said Kweli responded, "Nah let’s have this convo today … I mean, is any of this really any of your business?" She says he then tweeted at her constantly for two weeks, sometimes "for 12 hours straight," reports Pitchfork. She said she received death threats from Kweli's followers and had personal information, including photos of her parents, leaked online.

Kweli, who says he has now moved to "the greener pastures of Patreon," says he wasn't harassing Moody but was reacting to her tweets, including some that raised sexual harassment allegations. "I've never cyber harassed anyone in my life. I responded, on Twitter, to the lies that Maya posted about me," the rapper said in a statement to Jezebel. "When you respond to someone who posts lies about you, that is not harassment." Twitter said Kweli's account was "permanently suspended" for repeated rules violations. "Violence, harassment and other similar types of behavior discourage people from expressing themselves," the company said. (More Twitter stories.)

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