After Musk Suspends Her, Kathy Griffin Finds Workaround

Comedian begins tweeting from the account of her late mother
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 7, 2022 8:30 AM CST
Updated Nov 8, 2022 10:25 AM CST
Elon Musk Impersonators Having a Blast on Twitter
Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks in New York City on Friday.   (Baron Capital via AP)
UPDATE Nov 8, 2022 10:25 AM CST

Comedian Kathy Griffin seems to have found a way around her recent banishment from Twitter. After her own account was suspended—because she impersonated Elon Musk (as did other celebrities unhappy with new verification rules)—Griffin began tweeting from her late mother's account, reports Variety. From there, she called Musk a "hack" and worse, and she implored him to "please do a better job running this company."

Nov 7, 2022 8:30 AM CST

When he took over his new company, Elon Musk declared that "comedy is now legal on Twitter." But not all comedy, it seems, points out the Mary Sue website. Numerous celebs took advantage of the platform's new rules over the weekend to change their name to "Elon Musk" and send out bogus tweets in his name. Sarah Silverman, for example, wrote (as Musk): "I am a freedom of speech absolutist and I eat doody for breakfast every day." Fellow comedian Kathy Griffin channeled the CEO to write: “After much spirited discussion with the females in my life. I’ve decided that voting blue for their choice is only right (They’re also sexy females, btw.)" per the Guardian.

Musk apparently was not amused. On Sunday, he tweeted that the site would immediately suspend accounts that impersonate others without being marked as "parody," per the AP. As of Monday, Griffin's account had been suspended, as had actor Rich Sommer's, best known for playing Harry Crane on Mad Men. “I guess not ALL the content moderators were let go? Lol,” Griffin joked later on Mastodon, an alternative social media platform she joined last week. The celebs were making a point about Twitter's new verification rules, which they say make it too easy for anyone to impersonate them. Valerie Bertinelli, for example, temporarily changed her name to Musk and explained why.

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"The blue checkmark simply meant your identity was verified," she wrote. "Scammers would have a harder time impersonating you. That no longer applies. Good luck out there!" She did not get suspended, nor did Silverman, maybe because they changed their names back to their own after their initial "Musk" tweets. Meanwhile, journalist Matt Yglesias is poking fun at the new rules by adding "(parody)" to his real account. (Apparently, some of the Twitter layoffs on Friday were a little too hasty.)

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