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Kelly Rissman
US News Reporter
Matt King has announced he is leaving X/Twitter, calling out Elon Musk in his farewell message to the social media site.
The Peep Show actor, 56, joined a long line of celebrities who have decided to quit the platform after he stumbled across a disturbing video shared to the website.
In his final X/Twitter post, King recalled that he had clicked on a user’s profile in order to limit their access to his account when he came across a video that left him “shaking”.
“Someone who follows me said something f****d up so I checked on their profile before potentially blocking them,” he wrote.
“First thing I see is an uncensored compilation video of people getting shot dead in America. I’m shaking. If this is what @elonmusk thinks is free speech then he’s a lunatic.”
Bidding farewell to his followers, the actor directed them instead to his accounts on Instagram, Threads, and the relatively new social media network Bluesky.
“I’m gone. You know how and where to follow me if you’re a decent human. It’s in my bio,” he wrote. “Laters. Peace and Love as always. MK.”
Fans flooded to King’s reply section to share similar experiences of stumbling across violent videos on the platform.
“I’ve seen some disturbing s*** too. Just don’t know where to go,” one person said.
“I often get videos of violent s*** on my thread, I HATE fighting so why do I get them?” another user questioned. “I thought X was meant to learn what I like, I stay for the comedy and footy chat but why should I?”
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The Independent has contacted Elon Musk’s representatives for comment.
Elton John, Stephen Fry, Whoopi Goldberg, Gigi Hadid, and the Wire creator David Simon are among the celebrities to have abandoned ship since Musk’s takeover of X, formerly Twitter, in late 2022.
The Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) told The Washington Post that use of the N-word on the platform had increased by nearly 500 per cent in 12 hours immediately after the businessman’s deal was finalised.
Anti-Semitic tweets also doubled from June 2022 to February 2023, according to research from the Institute of Strategic Dialogue (ISD). The same study found that takedowns of such content had also increased, but not sufficiently to keep up with the surge.
When asked about the rise of hate speech on the platform by the BBC in 2023, Musk responded: “Do you see a rise of hate speech? I don’t.”
King’s decision to leave the platform comes shortly after the Peep Show actor and DJ revealed he’d be willing to reprise his much-loved role of drug dealer Super Hans in the David Mitchell and Robert Webb-led sitcom – for the right price.
“I reckon Dave, Rob and myself would consider doing it if we got to split £80m quid,” he said in the wake of the Oasis reunion.
“But then again, I wouldn’t stitch up my own fans like that. Swings and roundabouts.”
