‘This was a mistake’: Elon Musk responds after Twitter throttles conservative documentary for ‘misgendering’

Daily Wire CEO Jeremy Boreing set Twitter on fire with a 16-part thread that accused Elon Musk and Twitter of pulling out of a deal to premiere Matt Walsh’s documentary “What Is A Woman?” on the social media platform for free on Thursday evening.

The sometimes humorous doc gained national attention as Walsh presented a “deeply disturbing” deep dive into “the logic behind a gender ideology movement that has taken aim at women and children.”

(Video: YouTube)

In celebration of the first anniversary of the film’s release, the Daily Wire planned “to give it away for free for 24 hours on Twitter.”

But, at the last minute, things apparently took a dark turn.

“Twitter canceled a deal with @realdailywire to premiere What is a Woman? for free on the platform because of two instances of ‘misgendering,'” Boreing tweeted. “I’m not kidding.”

**Update: Twitter chief Elon Musk responded to the story stating that many people at Twitter ‘made a mistake’:

Initially, Boreing explained, Twitter seemed like the ideal place to show the film.

“With Twitter’s recent commitments to free speech, we thought it would be the perfect place to distribute the film and drive the conversation forward on one of the most important topics of our day,” he wrote.

And Twitter seemed to like the idea.

“Twitter responded with enthusiasm and offered us the opportunity to buy a package to host the movie on a dedicated event page and to promote the event to every Twitter user over the first 10 hours,” Boreing recalled. “We accepted and signed an agreement.”

It wasn’t until after Twitter actually watched the documentary that things began to fall apart.

“After we signed, Twitter asked to see the film to better understand what parts may ‘trigger’ users, so they could better prepare their response,” Boreing wrote. “They said they were still all hands on deck for launch, so we sent them a screener.”


“After reviewing the film, though, Twitter let us know that not only could we no longer purchase the package they offered, they would no longer provide us any support and would actually limit the reach of the film and label it as ‘hateful conduct’ because of ‘misgendering,'” the CEO said, explaining that “a father refers to his 14-year-old daughter as ‘her,’ and a store owner uses the ‘wrong’ pronoun in a confrontation with a trans person” in the movie.

“We reminded Twitter they removed ‘misgendering’ from their policy, that the term ‘misgendering’ itself is misleading, and that enforcing such a policy places them on the side of the most radical elements in society – the side most opposed to their commitment to free speech,” Boreing revealed.

But Twitter allegedly walked back its stand on misgendering and told the Daily Wire to edit its film to avoid what it still considers to be “abuse and harassment.”

“We declined,” Boreing stated.

Under its “speech not reach” policy, Twitter told Boreing that not even the Daily Wire’s followers would be able to see the film, should it be posted without editing it to the platform’s liking.

“Of course, saying ‘you have the right to speak, but we’ll make sure no one hears you’ is a bit like saying ‘you have the right to cast a vote, but we’ll make sure it isn’t counted,'” Boreing noted. “That’s not a right at all!”


He also pointed out that it was a similar situation with The Babylon Bee that led Musk to buy Twitter in the first place.

The Bee’s CEO, Seth Dillon, was stunned.

“In the interview we just released, Musk reaffirmed his commitment to free speech, saying there will be no compromise, even if it means lost revenue,” Dillon tweeted. “He also said that Tucker Carlson’s main concern was the possibility of censorship. Elon assured Tucker that lawful speech would not be censored. Tucker only announced he’d be bringing his show to Twitter after getting that assurance.”

“Seems like someone over there hasn’t gotten the free speech memo,” he stated.


Others were quick to express their “disappointment.”

“So disappointing… This is terrible news for free speech on this platform,” said detransitioning activist Chloe Cole. “The ‘What Is A Woman?’ Documentary was a major inspiration to me to start speaking out on my detransition experience. How many other kids are out there waiting for that spark?!”

“.@elonmusk you should reverse this and find out why anti-free speech ‘hate’ policies are still being enforced at Twitter,” urged Fox News contributor Jenna Ellis.

And “Dilbert” creator Scott Adams suggested that Twitter stop trying to read minds.

“I don’t know anyone who ‘misgenders’ out of hate. I know lots people who believe they have a right to use ordinary language to describe what they observe,” Adams tweeted. “The ‘hate’ part is imaginary. It assumes guilt that is not in evidence. Twitter works best when not engaged in mind-reading.”


Meanwhile, Matt Walsh questioned if Twitter wasn’t actively suppressing the entire conversation.

“‘What Is A Woman’ was trending #4 a moment ago and has now disappeared from the trending list completely,” he tweeted. “The old regime blacklisted the trend and removed it every time it came up.”

“The other tech platforms have already decided where they stand in the trans debate and demonetize and deprioritize all those who disagree,” Boreing tweeted. “Now, Twitter has joined the ranks of the other tech superpowers in ensuring one side of the debate is suppressed.”

Elon Musk “is not beholden to conservatives. He has the right to run his business as he sees fit,” he continued. “But if Twitter is going to throttle one side of one of the most important debates facing society, it cannot claim to champion free speech.”

“I hope @elonmusk will reconsider this awful policy. If we can’t debate these issues on Twitter, where can we debate them?” Boreing asked. “If conservatives aren’t welcome on Twitter, where are they welcome? It’s unlikely another centibillionaire will come along to offer an alternative.

Despite Twitter’s threats to bury “What Is a Woman?” the Daily Wire intends to defiantly air the documentary in its original form on Twitter.

“We plan to post the movie anyway tonight at 8:00 pm eastern,” Boreing stated. “Will Twitter make good on their threat to throttle it and label it ‘hateful conduct,’ or will Twitter live up to its great promise?”

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