Kathy Griffin calls Elon Musk a ‘hack,’ trolls him from dead mom’s account after suspension

Kathy Griffin continued to troll Elon Musk on Twitter overnight Sunday after he banned her from his newly acquired social media company, resurrecting her dead mother’s Twitter account to call the billionaire a “hack,” and worse, helping to foment a backlash against his claim of making Twitter a bastion of free speech.

The Twitter accounts of Griffin, Sarah Silverman, “Mad Men” actor Rick Silver and others were suspended Sunday for changing their usernames and photos to match Musk’s, the Daily Beast reported. As a faux Musk, Griffin pushed her more than 2 million followers to vote for Democrats in Tuesday’s midterm elections. She tweeted, “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.)”

Musk responded to the fake accounts Sunday by saying that Twitter would permanently remove accounts that are  “engaging in impersonation,” without clearly specifying that they are “parody” accounts. The Tesla CEO also said that users would get no warning before suspension, as they would previously, as “we are rolling out widespread verification.”

The Daily Beast said that Griffin and other celebrities had impersonated Musk’s account in recent days to humorously protest his takeover of the social network.

Trumpeting the #FreeKathy hashtag, Griffin announced her return to Twitter late Sunday afternoon, by tweeting under the account of her late mother, Maggie Griffin, who died in 2020.

#FreeKathy

— Maggie Griffin (@TipItMaggieG) November 7, 2022

Under Maggie Griffin, the comedian replied to Musk’s suspension announcement to say, “I’m back from the grave to say… #FreeKathy #TipIt.”

Musk tried to crack a joke about Griffin’s suspension by tweeting, “Actually, she was suspended for impersonating a comedian.” He also quipped, “But if she really wants her account back, she can have it … for $8.”

Griffin, also under her mother’s handle, shot back at Musk’s “impersonating a comedian” joke.

“I mean … you stole that joke, you (expletive),” Griffin wrote. “People have been posting that joke for hours, you hack. Look, please do a better job running this company. It used to mean something. This is KG btw.”

Musk appeared to respond to the outrage over Griffin’s suspension by tweeting, “Twitter needs to become by far the most accurate source of information about the world. That’s our mission.” He also insisted that he remains committed to free speech by saying, “My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk.”

My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 7, 2022