Kathy Griffin was suspended from Twitter on Sunday for impersonating the site’s new owner Elon Musk.
The comedian was banned from Twitter after she changed her display name to “Elon Musk” and therefore violated the rules surrounding impersonation.
BREAKING: @KathyGriffin has been permanently suspended from Twitter for impersonating @ElonMusk pic.twitter.com/ust86DZHKj
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 6, 2022
Earlier that evening, the tech billionaire – who officially became the owner of Twitter last month – issued a warning about impersonation.
“Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying ‘parody’ will be permanently suspended,” he wrote. “Previously, we issued a warning before suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning… Any name change at all will cause temporary loss of verified checkmark.”
However, the 62-year-old swiftly evaded the ban by using her late mother Maggie’s Twitter account instead.
“I’m back from the grave to say… #FreeKathy,” she wrote, before clarifying to a user: “Oh by the way this is KG. I’m tweeting from my dead mother’s account. She would not mind. #FreeKathy.”
She added, “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. #FreeKathy.”
Musk later responded to a tweet about Griffin’s suspension by joking, “Actually, she was suspended for impersonating a comedian… But if she really wants her account back, she can have it… For $8.”
Griffin then accused him of stealing a joke with his first tweet and added, “Look, please do a better job running this company. It used to mean something. This is KG btw.”
Last week, Musk introduced Twitter Blue, which costs $8 per month and allows anyone to buy a verified blue checkmark.