Twitter used to be a place where ideas would die at the hands of mysterious woke censorship overlords.
Elon Musk took over and promised to deliver an absolute free speech culture on the platform.
But now Twitter is under fire for censoring Matt Walsh’s documentary about woke gender ideology.
Jeremy Boreing calls on Musk to “reconsider” after his plan to celebrate “What is a Woman?” falls short
Elon Musk is under pressure by his biggest fans—free speech activists. They believe he’s not delivering on his promise to end online censorship after the Daily Wire film What is a Woman? was pulled from the platform for so-called “misgendering.”
Twitter canceled a deal with @realdailywire to premiere What is a Woman? for free on the platform because of two instances of “misgendering.”
I’m not kidding.
Here's what happened:🧵1/16
— Jeremy Boreing (@JeremyDBoreing) June 1, 2023
The co-founder of Daily Wire, Jeremy Boreing, laid it all out on Twitter and called on Musk to “reconsider this awful policy.” He said that his company was seeking to promote the one-year anniversary of the popular and controversial documentary—to which he said Twitter responded with “enthusiasm.”
2/16 One year ago today, we released What is a Woman?. To celebrate the occasion and expand the movie’s already enormous impact, we decided to give it away for free for 24 hours on Twitter.
— Jeremy Boreing (@JeremyDBoreing) June 1, 2023
Boreing’s plan was to provide the movie for “free for 24 hours,” and Twitter encouraged him to “host the movie on a dedicated event page and to promote the event to every Twitter user over the first 10 hours.” Daily Wire went ahead and signed the contract to promote the film.
4/16 Twitter responded with enthusiasm and offered us the opportunity to buy a package to host the movie on a dedicated event page and to promote the event to every Twitter user over the first 10 hours.
— Jeremy Boreing (@JeremyDBoreing) June 1, 2023
Then, once the company said they were “all hands-on deck for launch,” Twitter started acting differently.
Twitter cancels promotional partnership and threatens to reduce reach of the film on the platform
According to Boreing, Twitter’s team “asked to see the film to better understand what parts may trigger users, so they could better prepare their response.” Daily Wire obliged and sent them a copy of the film to view. Twitter assured them that everything would be good to go on their end.
5/16 We accepted and signed an agreement. After we signed, Twitter asked to see the film to better understand what parts may “trigger” users, so they could better prepare their response. They said they were still all hands on deck for launch, so we sent them a screener.
— Jeremy Boreing (@JeremyDBoreing) June 1, 2023
But then Twitter decided to change its tune. The company decided that they could no longer provide the promotional package that Boreing and his team purchased to promote the film. He said that Twitter decided it would “no longer provide…any support and would actually limit the reach of the film.”
6/16 After reviewing the film, though, Twitter let us know that not only could we no longer purchase the package they offered, they would no longer provide us any support and would actually limit the reach of the film and label it as “hateful conduct” because of “misgendering.”
— Jeremy Boreing (@JeremyDBoreing) June 1, 2023
Boreing said that Twitter told him that publishing the film would be considered “hateful conduct” due to the alleged “misgendering” that happens in the film. The self-described “god-king” of the Daily Wire decided to then call Musk out on his own platform.
Musk took the opportunity to respond to the viral post.
Musk said his team was wrong and explained his personal philosophy on misgendering
The Twitter owner said that his team made a “mistake” because misgendering on Twitter “is definitely allowed.” He said that Twitter operates within the boundaries of local laws, and “whether or not you agree with using someone’s preferred pronouns, not doing so…certainly breaks no laws.”
This was a mistake by many people at Twitter. It is definitely allowed.
Whether or not you agree with using someone’s preferred pronouns, not doing so is at most rude and certainly breaks no laws.
I should note that I do personally use someone’s preferred pronouns, just as I…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 1, 2023
Musk also seemed to take a side on the pronoun debate by implying that not choosing to use preferred pronouns is “rude.” He then said something that probably shocked people on the Right and the Left. “I should note that I do personally use someone’s preferred pronouns,” he wrote.
He said that he views it the same as using “someone’s preferred name” and added that it was simply “good manners” to do so. Musk did, however, say that he objects to “rude behavior, ostracism, or threats of violence if the wrong pronoun or name is used.”
Patriot Political will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
