(Headline USA) Twitter suspended the Babylon Bee’s account this weekend for running a satirical article naming U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine its “Man of the Year.”
The article was a parody version of USA Today’s “Women of the Year” awards, in which it named Levine, a man who identifies as a transgender woman, as one of its celebrated women.
“The Babylon Bee has selected Rachel Levine as its first annual Man of the Year,” the Babylon Bee wrote.
“Levine is 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. He is also an admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. What a boss!”
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) March 16, 2022
Citing its rules against “hateful conduct,” Twitter suspended the Babylon Bee’s account, accusing the publication of harassing “other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease.”
To regain access to its account, the Babylon Bee must delete its tweets about Levine, a spokesperson for the company said.
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
Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon said he’s “not deleting anything.”
“Truth is not hate speech,” he said. “If the cost of telling the truth is the loss of our Twitter account, then so be it.”
“Never censor yourself,” Dillon wrote. “Insist that 2 and 2 make 4 even if Twitter tries to compel you to say otherwise. Make them ban tens of millions of us.”
