‘It’s a Difficult Question’: Matt Taibbi Unsure Kanye West’s Antisemitic Tweets Should Have Been Taken Down

Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) asked “Twitter files” author Matt Taibbi on Thursday to detail a bit his thoughts toward online censorship and asked Taibbi if he believed widely panned antisemitic tweets from rapper Kanye West should have been removed by Twitter.

“Let’s take a look at a couple of tweets from Kanye West, who now goes by ‘Ye.’ At the time of these tweets at 32 million followers. Mr. Taibbi, can you read the tweet on the left, do you see the text there?” Allred asked.

“I actually can’t. My eyesight is not so great,” Taibbi replied.

“I’ll read it to you. It says, ‘I’m a bit sleepy tonight. When I wake up, I’m going death con three on Jewish people in all caps. The funny thing is, I actually can’t be anti-Semitic because black people are actually Jew. Also, you guys have toyed with me and tried to blackball anyone who ever opposes your agenda.’ And can you see the tweet next to it?” Allred asked.

“I can. Yes,” Taibbi replied.

“It’s a, would you describe it? As a Star of David with the swastika in the middle of it? Should those tweets have been taken down by Twitter?” Allred asked.

“I think it’s a difficult question. Hate speech is protected in the United States,” Taibbi responded, adding:

One of my heroes growing up was the Ukraine-born author Isaac Babel. He gave a speech at the first Soviet Writers Congress and he was asked if any important rights had been taken away. And he sarcastically answered, ‘No. The only rights that have been taken away are the right to be wrong.’ The crowd laughed. But he was making an important point, which is that in a free country, you can’t have freedom without the freedom to be wrong.

Watch the clip above.