James Woods was suspended by Twitter for a tweet where he paraphrased Ralph Waldo Emerson about striking a king. Here’s the initial email he got:
The initial quote by Emerson was “When you strike at a king, you must kill him.”
Woods paraphrased it by saying “If you try to kill the King, you better not miss. #HangThemAll”
He didn’t threaten anyone. He most certainly didn’t call anyone by name. How is he inciting people with this? How is he harassing anyone with this?? And how is he silencing anyone with this???
Ryan Saavedra got a statement from Woods explaining that he won’t be returning to Twitter until free speech is restored:
Statement from James Woods on Twitter suspending him: “Twitter demanded that I rescind my tweet paraphrasing Emerson. It now seems they have chosen to delete that tweet from my account without my permission. Until free speech is allowed on Twitter…” (1/2)
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) May 10, 2019
“…I will not be permitted to participate in our democracy with my voice. As long as Jack Dorsey remains the coward he seems to be, my Twitter days are in the past.” (2/2)
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) May 10, 2019
Ugh.