Trump Jr. Comes To James Woods’ Defense Over Twitter Lockout Controversy
Donald Trump Jr. came to the defense of actor James Woods after he was locked out of his account. Woods’ social media crime? Sharing a meme that Twitter perceived as having the potential to influence the upcoming midterm elections.
The president’s son tweeted in defense of Woods, continuing the narrative that Twitter is biased against conservatives.
“There’s literally nothing wrong with this @RealJamesWoods meme other than @Twitter using it as an excuse to silence a strong conservative voice,” Trump Jr. tweeted. “The bias continues!”
Woods lashed out against Twitter after his reported lockout, telling the Associated Press that he received an email from Twitter last week explaining that he’d been banned because the meme “has the potential to be misleading in a way that could impact an election.” The email also warned that Wood’s account — which has 1.7 million followers for his particular brand of right-wing commentary — would be deleted permanently if Twitter found another tweet that violated their policies.
Woods told the Associated Press in an exclusive interview that he had no plans to delete the tweet.
“Free speech is free speech — it’s not Jack Dorsey’s version of free speech,” Woods told the AP, referring to Twitter’s CEO.
A spokesman for Twitter, when asked if Dorsey would respond directly to Woods, declined to comment to the AP.
“The irony is, Twitter accused me of affecting the political process, when in fact, their banning of me is the truly egregious interference,” Woods said. “Because now, having your voice smothered is much more disturbing than having your vocal chords slit. If you want to kill my free speech, man up and slit my throat with a knife, don’t smother me with a pillow.”
Woods told the Associated Press that the meme was reposted by his girlfriend on Friday and had thousands of retweets. His girlfriend’s account wasn’t locked, which Woods claimed was proof that he had been singled out by Twitter due to his large following.
There’s literally nothing wrong with this @RealJamesWoods meme other than @Twitter using it as an excuse to silence a strong conservative voice. The bias continues! https://t.co/7tnZtaN4dr
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) September 24, 2018
The tweet that got Woods suspended was a satirical meme — posted in July — designed to look like it came from a Democratic organization, encouraging men not to vote in the upcoming midterm elections in order to give women’s votes more influence.
Trump Jr. is just the latest right-wing figure to take to Twitter in support of Woods. Figures such as Kaya Jones, author Andrew Klavan, and InfoWars editor Paul Joseph Watson all tweeted about Wood’s social media ouster.
From Mr. woods himself. With his permission I asked him if I could share with you all as I know how much you all adore him. #FreeJamesWoods @RealJamesWoods @Twitter pic.twitter.com/WxtpDESWKq
— Kaya Jones (@KayaJones) September 23, 2018
Hey @jack, unlock @RealJamesWoods account. Stop silencing conservative voices over nothing. It's unAmerican. What does it profit you to win the midterms, if you lose the first principles of the country? #FreeJamesWoods
— Andrew Klavan (@andrewklavan) September 23, 2018
Twitter suspended James Woods for trying to "impact an election" because he posted a satirical meme.
Literally anything could be said to "impact an election".
This is just another excuse to censor conservatives.
This is real election meddling.https://t.co/eXvVIhwSAO
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) September 23, 2018
Woods said that a major source of his frustration was what he interprets as a lack of a discourse and free speech.
“I wish this were about an unknown Twitter user so that I could be even more passionate about it,” Woods said. “This is not about a celebrity being muzzled. This is about an American being silenced — one tweet at a time.”
