Since Elon Musk acquired Twitter, several Black celebrities have decided to exit the social media platform.
Notable figures across various forms of sports, entertainment and otherwise are joining the exodus from Twitter in response to the many changes made by its new owner, including the decision to charge a fee for verification.
The latest entertainer to leave has been Whoopi Goldberg. The EGOT winner made a statement on ABC’s The View earlier today, saying: “It’s been a little over a week since Musk took over Twitter and this place is a mess. I’m getting off today because I just feel like it’s so messy, and I’m tired of now having certain kinds of attitudes blocked now getting back on.”
“So I’m gonna get out, and if it settles down enough and I feel more comfortable maybe I’ll come back,” she continued. “But as of tonight, I’m done with Twitter. “People keep saying it’s free speech, but all speech is not free speech. Some speech is not OK free speech. So everybody has to agree on that, but if people keep saying ‘You hurt my free speech’ it’s going to be a problem. You know what? This is our problem. But it ain’t my problem today because I’m out.”
In addition to Goldberg, people such as Toni Braxton and the creator of Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy, Shonda Rhimes, also expressed their disappointment with the new changes to Twitter. This past weekend, the Emmy Award-nominated producer tweeted “Not hanging around for whatever Elon has planned. Bye.”
“I’m shocked and appalled at some of the ‘free speech’ I’ve seen on this platform since its acquisition,” Braxton wrote. “Hate speech under the veil of ‘free speech’ is unacceptable. I am choosing to stay off Twitter as it is no longer a safe space for myself, my sons and other POC.”
Here’s a list of all the Black celebrities leaving Twitter since its $44 billion purchase by Musk.
