‘Real Election Interference!’ Elon Musk Accused of Suspending ‘White Dudes for Harris’ Account After Organizers Host Fundraising Call
AP Photo/Kayla Wolf
The organizers behind “White Dudes for Harris” have accused Elon Musk of suspending its official Twitter account following a fundraising video call.
The call, which took place Monday evening, drew nearly 200,000 attendees. More than $4 million was raised, which will be donated to the Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.
Thank you all for an awesome evening.
– 150,000 people have joined the cause
– 190,000 people tuned in tonight
– $4M+ raised to the @KamalaHarris campaignThis is the start of something special and we couldn’t be more proud to be in this fight with you.
More to come. ✌️
— White Dudes for Harris (@dudes4harris) July 30, 2024
Not long after the call, however, organizer Mike Nellis took to his personal account to reveal that @dudes4harris had been suspended. In a tweet, he called out Musk and Donald Trump Jr. and said they were “running scared” due to the success of the fundraiser.
We scared @elonmusk and @DonaldJTrumpJr so much tonight they suspended our account and won’t let us back in
These guys are running scared of the success we’ve had tonight, but we’re not going to quit.
More coming tomorrow (unless they shut down my account too!)… pic.twitter.com/fU2OrqFFRv
— Mike Nellis (@MikeNellis) July 30, 2024
According to the screenshot Nellis posted, the account was suspended for attempting to evade suspension. Some theorized that a similar account — with the handle @dudesforharris — triggered the suspension; but Nellis clarified that only @dudes4harris was associated with the call.
This is false. @dudes4harris is the only account associated with our call. It had over 15000+ followers. Please delete this, Dave. #whitedudesforharris https://t.co/N0m0U4OmDY
— Mike Nellis (@MikeNellis) July 30, 2024
Once word of the incident got around online, others accused Musk of election interference and claimed the account was only suspended because it supported a democratic presidential candidate.
BREAKING: X has SUSPENDED the White Dudes for Harris account (@dudes4harris) after it raised more than $4M for Kamala Harris.
This is the real election interference! pic.twitter.com/An8WKu1cnv
— Brett Meiselas (@BMeiselas) July 30, 2024
So it’s only free speech so long as you agree with it @elonmusk https://t.co/JYkGfjAQAV
— David Hogg 🟧 (@davidhogg111) July 30, 2024
Election interference https://t.co/EBuz5rL0zP
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) July 30, 2024
On Tuesday morning, Nellis discovered that the account had been brought back — but is now “permanently in read-only mode.” Because of this, the account can longer post new tweets.
UPDATE –
Our tweets are back (@dudes4harris) but our account remains suspended and according to Twitter our account is “permanently in read-only mode.”
We’re asking people to keep donating to @KamalaHarris and to keep sharing our tweets on this and other platforms. Don’t let… pic.twitter.com/IEzlCJX30E
— Mike Nellis (@MikeNellis) July 30, 2024
Musk has not commented on the suspension.
