On Sunday night, Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon shared over Twitter that the social media platform informed him that the account for the satirical news site "has been locked for violating the Twitter rules," when it comes to "hateful conduct." The problematic tweet in question is from March 15, and links to a post from that same day proclaiming "The Babylon Bee's Man Of The Year Is Rachel Levine."
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
Despite such a warning, the tweet in question is still available.
The Babylon Bee's Man Of The Year Is Rachel Levine https://t.co/mZdcXbUnmf
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) March 15, 2022
The post in part reads:
The Babylon Bee has selected Rachel Levine as its first annual Man of the Year.
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!
There's also an update in the post noting that "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!"
The Babylon's Bee post comes after, as Madeline covered, and our friends at Twitchy took note of, USA Today included Levine on their "Women of the Year" list, despite Levine not being a biological woman.
Levine was narrowly confirmed by the Senate last March as the assistant secretary to Health & Human Services, and was also promoted to four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, which The Washington Post predictably celebrated as the "organization’s first-ever female four-star admiral."
Not only did were there celebrations about a so-called accomplishment, but those who dared to take issue were censored. As I covered last October, which is when the promotion occurred, Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) had his official account censored and restored nearly two weeks later. Twitter censored Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-GA) account as well for how she labeled Levine.
Attorney General Ken Paxton (R-TX) also had his tweet last week referring to Levine as a man labeled as "hateful conduct."
When will The Babylon Bee have its account restored? It may be a matter of who blinks first. Dillon also tweeted though that they won't be deleting the tweet.
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
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