Elon Musk Calls Twitter’s Threat to ‘Throttle’ Daily Wire Doc Over Misgendering ‘A Mistake’: ‘It Is Definitely Allowed’

Twitter owner Elon Musk reacted to the social media platform’s reneging on a deal with the Daily Wire to platform and promote its documentary What Is a Woman? by calling it “a mistake.”

On Thursday morning, Daily Wire CEO Jeremy Boreing said that Twitter had originally agreed to promote the documentary, which the publication intended to release on Twitter for free to celebrate the anniversary of its premiere, but later threatened to prevent even the publication’s own followers from seeing it in their feeds after it discovered instances of misgendering in the film.

“I hope @elonmusk will reconsider this awful policy. If we can’t debate these issues on Twitter, where can we debate them? If conservatives aren’t welcome on Twitter, where are they welcome? It’s unlikely another centibillionaire will come along to offer an alternative,” said Boreing.

“We plan to post the movie anyway tonight at 8:00 pm eastern. Will Twitter make good on their threat to throttle it and label it ‘hateful conduct,’ or will Twitter live up to its great promise?” he asked.

In the aftermath of the announcement, Musk was blasted online a wide array of voices on the right for what they deemed hypocrisy on the issue of free speech. “Unlike the Turkey censorship issue—which was forced on Elon Musk by an authoritarian government—this does seem like a straightforward, willfully chosen violation of new Twitter’s stated free speech commitment,” observed Reason‘s Robby Soave.

But by Thursday afternoon, Musk appeared to have decided to overrule executives at his company.

“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,” commented Musk on Boreing’s 16-tweet thread about the imbroglio.

“I should note that I do personally use someone’s preferred pronouns, just as I use someone’s preferred name, simply from the standpoint of good manners,” added Musk. “However, for the same reason, I object to rude behavior, ostracism or threats of violence if the wrong pronoun or name is used.”

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

Boreing responded to Musk by thanking him and noting that Daily Wire content was being suppressed by Twitter:

I appreciate the reply. We posted the two clips flagged by Twitter and they were indeed labeled “hateful conduct” and the share functions were disabled on the posts.

We are trying to reach your team to determine what this means for those posts, whether or not our event tonight will be allowed to proceed unencumbered, and whether or not we will be allowed to purchase the live event page and reach block as originally agreed.

I appreciate your view of polite behavior, but our business is to debate public policy and philosophy. As such, we have an obligation to speak in ways consistent with our position.

Our hope is that Twitter remains a place where we are free to do so.

Musk, who has argued that “If free speech is lost even in America, tyranny is all that lies ahead,” expressed some exhaustion with the controversies that have plagued his tenure at Twitter.

“Imagine being Elon. You go to sleep thinking everything is in good hands, and when you wake up everything is on fire,” offered commentator Ian Miles Cheong.

“Happens a lot 🤣🤣,” replied Musk.

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