Well, we know at least two people are happy Elon Musk owns Twitter: co-founder Jack Dorsey and Azealia Banks. A pairing that speaks volumes, really.
Banks, who has been suspended and banned from Twitter multiple times from multiple accounts, posted a long, text-based Instagram Story Monday night thanking Musk for purchasing the social media site:
“I actually *have* to thank Elon for buying twitter [sic], I actually got back on… The amount of money I lost by being banned from twitter [sic] and not having access to the fan/consumer base I worked SO HARD TO BUILD SERIOUSLY MADE EVERYTHING SO MUCH MORE DIFFICULT.”
Banks went on to claim Dorsey was “racist AF” for banning her from the platform in the first place. Banks and Dorsey have a storied history themselves; the artist claims Dorsey once sent her his beard hair so she could make an amulet that would protect him from ISIS — for which she never received promised album promotion as compensation.
She’s back, baby —
Azealia’s original Twitter account has not been reinstated. Instead, she’s opened a new account under the handle @Azealiaishere. Right now she’s following just one account: the official Bloomberg Twitter.
Banks’s Twitter presence was polarizing, to say the least. She used the platform to promote her music, yes — her seminal mixtape Fantasea was released via Twitter — but also to conduct feuds with just about every celebrity and public figure that crossed her path. This combative streak (and her general lack of a filter) is what landed Banks in Twitter jail on more than one occasion.
Banks has already said she plans to use her renewed platform to promote her next album. It’s also very likely she’ll use it to continue antagonizing public figures — a practice Musk may just consider the use of “free speech.” Already Banks has posted on Instagram asking that Donald Trump’s Twitter account be reinstated.
Trapped in Elon’s mansion —
The fact that Banks is outright thanking Musk for anything at all is somewhat surprising. Musk and Banks have history, too. Of course they do.
Back in 2018, Banks and Grimes (Musk’s then-partner) were meant to collaborate on a track together. Banks showed up at Musk’s mansion (this is all as reported by Banks, by the way) and sat there waiting “for days” for Grimes to work with her.
Banks began posting screenshots (preserved here) of text conversations she’d had with Grimes, wherein Grimes appeared to call Banks a “narc” and “fat.” Banks, in response, claimed Grimes smells like “a roll of nickels.”
Jack, too —
At least one other notable figure has voiced his full support of Musk’s purchase: Jack Dorsey, co-founder and former CEO of the very website Musk just bought. Dorsey’s influence on the Twitter we know today is incalculable; his support carries significant weight.
Dorsey tweeted a link to Radiohead’s song “Everything in Its Right Place” along with a thread explaining his support. He says that, while he doesn’t really think anyone should “own” Twitter, Musk is the “singular solution” he trusts. More specifically, he believes Musk can “extend the light of consciousness.”
Though Dorsey has not earned a salary from Twitter for a while now, he did own 2.4 percent of the company until this week. Musk’s purchase will provide him with about $978 million in cash. That could explain the extremes of his praise.
