Elon Musk wanted to “punch Kanye” after the rapper tweeted a swastika.
Brad Barket/Britta Pedersen/Getty Images
Elon Musk said he “personally wanted to punch” Kanye West after he posted a swastika on Twitter.
Twitter’s new owner made the comments during a live Q&A about the “Twitter files.”
Musk suspended the rapper’s account on Friday just two weeks after he was allowed back on Twitter.
Elon Musk said he wanted to “punch” Kanye West after the rapper tweeted a swastika last week.
Musk made the comments during a live Q&A on Twitter Spaces about the “Twitter files” related to the way Twitter handled content on Hunter Biden.
One “blunt question” was about West following his recent antisemitic comments and tweets.
Musk was asked: “How are you going to balance the level to which we speak about the freedom of expression on Twitter?”
He responded: “I personally wanted to punch Kanye, so that was definitely inciting me to violence. That’s not cool.”
West’s Twitter account was suspended on Friday after he tweeted an image of a swastika inside a Star of David. “It is important people know, OK, that was my decision,” Musk said.
West also praised Adolf Hitler and the Nazis in an interview on Infowars, the podcast presented by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
Musk said he decided to suspend West again “because at some point you have to say what is incitement to violence because it is against the law in the US,” he said. “Posting swastikas in what obviously is not a good way is an incitement to violence.”
The billionaire’s comments come just a day after Twitter’s new trust and safety chief said that Musk’s top priority was ensuring safety on the platform.
West’s antisemitic comments in recent months has prompted brands including Adidas and Balenciaga to sever their ties with him.
Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.