‘We’re Not Deleting Anything’: Babylon Bee Defiant After Twitter Locks Their Account for Tweet Calling Rachel Levine ‘Man of the Year’

Sarah RumpfMar 20th, 2022, 10:12 pm
 
babylon bee tweet that caused twitter suspension

Image via The Babylon Bee on Facebook.

The Twitter account for satirical site The Babylon Bee has been suspended for a tweet regarding Dr. Rachel Levine, a transgender woman who is the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Health, and so far their CEO is defiant, refusing to delete the tweet even if it results in the account being permanently banned.

The tweet included the above image and linked to an article dated March 15 and titled “The Babylon Bee’s Man Of The Year Is Rachel Levine.”

“The Babylon Bee has selected Rachel Levine as its first annual Man of the Year,” the article begins, describing Levine as “the U.S. assistant secretary for health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he serves proudly as the first man in that position to dress like a western cultural stereotype of a woman.”

An “update” at the end of the article states as follows:

Since announcing this award, we’ve been told that Levine actually identifies as a woman. We have still chosen to give the award as his self-identification has no bearing on the truth. Congratulations, Rachel Levine!

Last November, Twitter imposed the same penalty against conservative site PJ Media for tweeting an op-ed about Levine with the headline “Rachel Levine is not the ‘First Female Four-star Admiral’ Because He’s a Male.”

PJ Media editor Paula Bolyard confirmed in a tweet the suspension of the PJ Media account and the account of the author of the op-ed, as well as posting that PJ Media would not be deleting the tweet.

Babylon Bee CEO took a similarly defiant stance, tweeting on Sunday that their site had been “locked out of our account for ‘hateful conduct,'” and that the 12-hour suspension would not begin to run until they deleted the tweet.

“We’re not deleting anything,” Dillon declared. “Truth is not hate speech. If the cost of telling the truth is the loss of our Twitter account, then so be it.”

Later Sunday evening, The Babylon Bee posted about the Twitter suspension on their Facebook page, writing, “We are now in a world where calling a man a man, even through satire and humor, is hate speech.”

Babylon Bee was previously subject to a brief Twitter suspension in Aug. 2020, when, according to Twitter, the account was mistakenly flagged as spam. The site made headlines again last June when a demand letter from their attorneys successfully got The New York Times to retract comments calling the site “misinformation” instead of “satire.”

Mediaite reached out to Dillon for comment, but did not receive a reply.

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Sarah Rumpf - Contributing Editor

Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law&Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe. Follow Sarah on Threads, Twitter, and Bluesky.