Twitter (or X) Restores Kanye West’s (or Ye’s) Account After 8-Month Ban
Elon Musk quietly reactivates rapper’s account following December 2022 rant where West tweeted antisemitic images and mocked Musk’s physique
Eight months after Kanye West was banished from Twitter, the rapper’s now-X account was quietly reactivated this weekend.
“Something special coming soon,” Musk tweeted (xeeted?) Saturday, without elaboration. In what may be a coincidence or indeed that special something, Ye’s account was reactivated hours later.
Most of the offending Dec. 1, 2022 Twitter rant that exiled West from the app — which began with his usual barrage of antisemitic tweets that included an image of a swastika intertwined with a Star of David, and concluded with West publicly posting direct messages between him and Musk and mocking the Chief Twit’s physique — have been scrubbed from the reactivated account; West’s second-to-last tweet from that rant, which alleged he caught his now-ex-wife having an affair with a star basketball player, remains on his timeline.
(West’s rant also came hours after the rapper praised Adolf Hitler in an interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.)
When asked by a fanboy to fix Kanye, Musk replied that night, “I tried my best. Despite that, he again violated our rule against incitement to violence. Account will be suspended.” Soon after, West was banned from the social media platform as Musk tweeted, “FAFO.” [Short for “Fuck around, found out.”]
At press time, West has not yet tweeted from his newly restored X account. In March, the rapper briefly popped up on Instagram to proclaim that “Watching Jonah Hill in 21 Jump street made me like Jewish people again.” However, his IG account has since been deleted, and West himself has thankfully remained out of the spotlight in the months that followed.
Neither X nor Musk have yet commented on the reactivation.