James Woods, the outspoken star of such movies as Videodrome , Once Upon A Time in America, and Casino , found himself in the cross-hairs of Twitter after posting a hoax campaign meme in July. And, even though Woods commented on the post that the meme most likely wasn’t legit, Twitter decided it violated their rules and locked him out of his account, @RealJamesWoods, anyway.
According to The Wrap , a political meme Woods tweeted could be misleading and potentially sway the election, which is against Twitter’s rules. The social platform reached out to the Salvador star on Thursday through an email and explained the reason behind their decision to suspend his account. They additionally let him know that he could get his account reinstated if he deleted the tweet.
The actor’s Twitter account currently has 1.7 million followers, and Woods frequently takes to it to offer his conservative political views, rants and scathing commentary. However, there haven’t been any new tweets posted to his account since Sept. 20. After receiving the communication, James Woods unsurprisingly told reporters that he would not be deleting the tweet.
The Ghosts of Mississippi star expressed his outrage to the Associated Press on Sunday, and explained that what the communication meant to him was that he would only be allowed back on the social media platform if he decided to do what the company said and “accede” to Twitter’s concept of free speech. And, “not the right to free speech outlined in the Constitution,” either. He told AP he wasn’t going for that, and that he would not delete the tweet.
“Free speech is free speech – it’s not Jack Dorsey’s version of free speech,” Woods said, in reference to Twitter’s Chief Executive.
James Woods went on to defend his decision not to delete the tweet, saying that if he relented it “would force him to watch his step with everything he says in the future.” He went on to say that would mean “chilling free speech” in his case.
This is not the first time that James Woods received fallout for tweeting about his conservative causes and his support of President Trump. The Inquisitr previously reported in July that the two-time Oscar nominee was dropped by his longtime agent, Ken Kaplan, because Kaplan said he was feeling “patriotic” and didn’t want to represent Woods anymore.
James Woods shared the answer he gave to his agent on Twitter, writing,
“If you’re feeling patriotic, you would appreciate free speech and one’s right to think as an individual.”
The election meddling meme that got James Woods locked out of Twitter is shown below. The satiric meme, which was posted July 20, urged men not to vote in the November midterms. It also implies that the message came from the Democrats.
Conservative Twitter users criticized the action the company took in locking James Woods out of his account, commenting that the social platform was trying to silence the voices of “non-liberals.” They addded that the move was “liberal insanity,” a term he used in the hoax meme. Other users put a call out to start #FreeJamesWoods trending on Twitter to show their support in getting his account reinstated.
Twitter Nanny State silences @RealJamesWoods , one of the top conservatives on @Twitter with 1.7 million followers. Because he posted a funny meme … in July. This can’t be the kind of healthy conversation you want @jack . This is the kind the Soviets used. https://t.co/dPNhExfml7
— Brent Bozell (@BrentBozell) September 23, 2018
In 2016, Woods had said that he would cease using Twitter because of censorship, according to The Hill . Soon afterward, he relented, rejoined Twitter and continued to tweet prolifically.
James Woods also turned his anger against Twitter earlier this year, and he asked followers who had stock in the website to “divest their shares.”