The Twitter account for satirical site The Babylon Bee has been suspended for a tweet regarding Dr. Rachel Levine, a transgender woman who is the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Health, and so far their CEO is defiant, refusing to delete the tweet even if it results in the account being permanently banned.
The tweet included the above image and linked to an article dated March 15 and titled “The Babylon Bee’s Man Of The Year Is Rachel Levine.”
“The Babylon Bee has selected Rachel Levine as its first annual Man of the Year,” the article begins, describing Levine as “the U.S. assistant secretary for health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he serves proudly as the first man in that position to dress like a western cultural stereotype of a woman.”
An “update” at the end of the article states as follows:
Since announcing this award, we’ve been told that Levine actually identifies as a woman. We have still chosen to give the award as his self-identification has no bearing on the truth. Congratulations, Rachel Levine!
Last November, Twitter imposed the same penalty against conservative site PJ Media for tweeting an op-ed about Levine with the headline “Rachel Levine is not the ‘First Female Four-star Admiral’ Because He’s a Male.”
PJ Media editor Paula Bolyard confirmed in a tweet the suspension of the PJ Media account and the account of the author of the op-ed, as well as posting that PJ Media would not be deleting the tweet.
Babylon Bee CEO took a similarly defiant stance, tweeting on Sunday that their site had been “locked out of our account for ‘hateful conduct,’” and that the 12-hour suspension would not begin to run until they deleted the tweet.
“We’re not deleting anything,” Dillon declared. “Truth is not hate speech. If the cost of telling the truth is the loss of our Twitter account, then so be it.”
I just received this notice that we’ve been locked out of our account for “hateful conduct.” pic.twitter.com/udMriKcDr6
— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) March 20, 2022
We’re told our account will be restored in 12 hours, but the countdown won’t begin until we delete the tweet that violates the Twitter Rules. pic.twitter.com/85tdmrqJpU
— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) March 20, 2022
We’re not deleting anything. Truth is not hate speech. If the cost of telling the truth is the loss of our Twitter account, then so be it.
— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) March 20, 2022
Later Sunday evening, The Babylon Bee posted about the Twitter suspension on their Facebook page, writing, “We are now in a world where calling a man a man, even through satire and humor, is hate speech.”
Babylon Bee was previously subject to a brief Twitter suspension in Aug. 2020, when, according to Twitter, the account was mistakenly flagged as spam. The site made headlines again last June when a demand letter from their attorneys successfully got The New York Times to retract comments calling the site “misinformation” instead of “satire.”
Mediaite reached out to Dillon for comment, but did not receive a reply.
*story by mediaite.com