Why would Elon Musk lash out at James Woods, of all people?

Even though James Woods was one of Elon Musk’s biggest celebrity supporters when the Tesla CEO took over the social media site formerly known as Twitter, Musk showed that he wasn’t so inclined to reciprocate the actor’s good will and gracefully accept his criticism of his pledge to remove the platform’s “block” option.

Musk, apparently being Musk, told Woods to “delete your account.” Musk then hit “block” on Woods — the very button the two men had been arguing about, the Daily Beast reported. Perhaps being thin-skinned, Musk didn’t take too kindly to Woods calling him a “greedy capitalist” and dismissing his claims of being a defender of free speech.

BEVERLY HILLS, CA - FEBRUARY 19: Actor James Woods attends the 2017 WritersGuild Awards L.A. Ceremony at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 19, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for WGAw)
Actor James Woods attends the 2017 WritersGuild Awards L.A. Ceremony at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 19, 2017in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Imagesfor WGAw) 

“Musk, whom I once championed, is only doing this to protect his advertisers anyway,” Woods said on X Saturday about the proposal to end the “block” feature. “Users of X are mere pawns to turn the site into an electronic shopping mall. The man I thought was a defender of free speech is just another greedy capitalist. Disappointing, but not surprising.”

After Musk blocked Woods, the actor wrote, “(Your) prerogative, sir, which is exactly my point. Have a nice day.”

It’s hard to gauge why Musk so cavalierly lashed out at a celebrity fan who has 3.4 million followers and who shares many of his conservative, anti-woke sensibilities. One X user called Musk’s move “bizarro,” but Musk also likes to play provocateur and is “ever a bundle of contradictions and inconsistencies,” as the New York Times once said.

As the New York Post and the Daily Beast reported, Musk and Woods began arguing on X Friday after Musk mused on the possibility of removing the block button and Woods disparaged this plan. Doing so, the double-Oscar nominee said, would make the site “untenable” for public figures such as himself.

“In the midst of a libel suit I was targeted by 30 trolls the defendant enlisted to harass me,” Woods wrote in an X post on Saturday. “X will be untenable for people like me, who are willing to share their identities. If he does this, I will have no choice but to retire from this site.”

When a supporter of Woods responded to the post, writing that “we got to make sure that doesn’t happen. You’re one of the most important people on here,” Woods responded, “If @elonmuskremoves the ability to block concerted harassment by trolls or organized political entities, how will ‘X’ be any different from Jack Dorsey’s horrid Twitter?”

After Woods confirmed that Musk blocked him, he expressed gratitude to his supporters and insisted that he didn’t really plan to go anywhere.

“The recurring theme in your many heartfelt DM’s was a fear that I would leave X,” Woods told his followers. “I’ve have now decided I will never leave, and will only ever be silent when they find an excuse to remove my account.”

Woods also said he had “battled the oppressive boot of censorship before, and will continue until the Stasi at X find an excuse to bury me for good.” Woods is no doubt referring to the times he was suspended or blocked from Twitter when he posted politically-themed messages that were said to be misleading or tinged with conspiracy theories and in violation of the platform’s terms of service, Newsweek reported. 

For this so-called battle against “the oppressive boot” of Musk’s censorship, Woods received support from people in divergent political circles. Some were Musk fans, the New York Post reported.

FOLLOW US ON GOOGLE NEWS

Read original article here

Denial of responsibility! Web Times is an automatic aggregator of the all world’s media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials, please contact us by email – webtimes.uk. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.

Leave a Comment