Jack White Condemns Elon Musk for Twitter Decisions

Jack White, co-founder and co-owner of Third Man Records and frontman of The White Stripes, is among the latest musicians and celebrities to tell off Elon Musk. Surprised? Yeah, not really. In an Instagram post Sunday evening, White called out Musk for his latest decision in running Twitter (into the ground): reinstating ex-President Donald Trump.

As White called attention to with a tweet from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and words of his own, the last time Trump used the platform was during the Capital riots on Jan. 6, 2021. People died and were injured, and democracy was at stake. Musk decided whether to allow Trump back on the platform through a Twitter poll. In White’s post, he also included a significant chunk of text that he wrote himself condemning Musk’s actions. It seemed letting Trump back on Twitter was the breaking point for White, who wrote that that was “officially an asshole move.” He continued, “You come into a ton of money, see the tax bill, despise paying your fair share, and then think moving to Texas and supporting whatever republican you can is going to help you keep more of your money. (How else could trump possibly interest you?) You intend to give platforms to known liars and wash your hands like pontius pilate and claim no responsibility?”

While giving Musk credit for his work with electric vehicles at Tesla, the musician pointed out the line between freedom of speech and where one chooses to give hate a platform, saying that he wouldn’t “let the KKK hold a rally at our record label’s performance stage. That’s one of the platforms we control and have a say in, it’s not [a] town square operated by the government.” Included in the post was the announcement that Third Man Records would be deactivating their Twitter account. White apologized to their artists for this lack of social media representation, but maintained that he didn’t want to even “tangentially support” Musk in this instance, adding, “We’ll also be taking a look at other platforms as well and decide about them accordingly, but this first. it’s not easy when wanting the best for other artists.” The artist finished the post damningly, warning Musk, “remember that the violence and division that occurs based on those tweeting lies is directly related to you giving them a platform.”

See White’s post below.