Former U.S. athletes are slamming Twitter’s hypocrisy for censoring tweets reporting on the “Trans Day Of Vengeance” and not protecting them against the onslaught of Twitter harassment and death threats they faced when they spoke out against biological males in women’s sports.
In an exclusive interview with MRC Free Speech America, Riley Gaines, a 12x All-American swimmer and Stand with Women spokeswoman at the Independent Women’s Forum, and Taylor Silverman, an accomplished competitive skateboarder, pushed back against Twitter’s assault against free speech.
Both called out the platform’s hypocrisy for not protecting them against an onslaught of threats.
“Vengeance is a scary word. This feels like a purge,” decried Gaines of Twitter’s muzzling efforts in support of the leftist-led “Trans Day of Vengeance.” Gaines also called out Twitter’s double standard for allowing tweets promoting the event while banning those who highlighted it [emphasis added]:
The MRC and other members of Congress reporting on the protest were highlighting what this is calling for. Obviously, these posters that were going around from people who were actually encouraging it were inciting violence. The MRC was highlighting why this is wrong, yet they were shut down, and I guarantee there are other profiles that were encouraging vengeance but were not shut down.
Similarly, Silverman, a professional skateboarder who became the target of leftist threats after speaking out against allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports, torched Twitter’s “massive double standard” for allowing death threats against her to run freely [emphasis added]:
This is a massive double standard because it seems members of the transgender community can say whatever they want while any criticism gets silenced. When I spoke out about competing in a skateboarding contest where a male entered the women’s division and I placed second because of it, I was sent death threats. I was told to harm myself. My friends and family were harassed, and nothing was done about it whatsoever.
Both Silverman and Gaines were robbed of their first-place prizes because biological males were allowed to compete against them.
Elon Musk’s Twitter banned 11 pro-free speech outlets, journalists and leaders of their accounts for reporting on the infamous event. The censorship assault targeted the Media Research Center and its video division MRCTV, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Federalist CEO Sean Davis and RedState’s editor-at-large Ben Kew, among others.
Twitter’s Vice President of Trust and Safety Ella Irwin defended the sweeping censorship related to tweets promoting the Trans Day of Vengeance, claiming the platform “had to automatically sweep our platform and remove >5000 tweets /retweets of this poster,” she wrote. “We do not support tweets that incite violence irrespective of who posts them. ‘Vengeance’ does not imply peaceful protest. Organizing or support for peaceful protests is ok.”
Media Research Center President Brent Bozell slammed Twitter for blatantly muzzling the MRC for reporting on a major news story: “Hey @elonmusk, do you know what your team is up to? We should not be censored for reporting the news. Please get this fixed!”
Hey @elonmusk, do you know what your team is up to? We should not be censored for reporting the news. Please get this fixed! https://t.co/zxGrW4LlJC
— Brent Bozell (@BrentBozell) March 29, 2023
MRC Free Speech America & MRC Business Vice President Dan Schneider ripped apart Twitter’s excuse: “Twitter’s blatant hypocrisy is breathtaking. Just last week, liberals were on Twitter attacking Donald Trump for calling for protests in New York if he got indicted, but Twitter is now freezing accounts of conservatives who are simply reporting on planned protests by the left in Washington.”
The "Trans Day of Vengeance" protest was canceled after facing scrutiny in the wake of the Nashville school shooting, the event's organizer announced on March 30 via Twitter.
A new MRC Free Speech America study showed that censorship on Twitter has shockingly risen after Elon Musk took over.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact Twitter at 415-222-9670 and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment and provide clarity on “hate speech” and an equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
