The Kathy Griffin-Elon Musk brouhaha on Twitter has elevated to a new level of intrigue.
On Monday, just one day after Musk permanently suspended Griffin's account on Twitter — after she purposely mimicked Musk's verified account, without establishing it as a parody move — reports surfaced of Griffin communicating again on Twitter ... via her deceased mother's still-active account.
In a tweet from Maggie Griffin's account, Kathy Griffin apparently wrote: "Apologize in advance for all the comments you’re gonna have to read about how ugly I am and they’re probably gonna throw you in there too. Oh by the way this is KG. I’m tweeting from my dead mother's account. She would not mind."
Shortly after "Maggie" Griffin's post, a number of journalists, actors, and celebrities began touting the #FreeKathy hashtag, via Twitter.
In other subsequent tweets, "Maggie" Griffin reportedly referred to Musk as an "a******" and a "hack."
"Maggie" or Kathy Griffin also wrote, "Look, please do a better job running this company. It used to mean something. This is KG btw."
Later on, "Maggie" Griffin then switched the primary name of her account to "Elon Musk," although the Twitter handle remained @TipItMaggieG.
The #FreeKathy movement also has its share of detractors.
Actor Corrin Nemec, who's likely best remembered for starring in TV's "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" from 1990-93, reportedly tweeted out that Kathy Griffin's apparent usage of her deceased mother's account was "like a digital Weekend at Bernie's" — a reference to the popular comedy from the late 1980s.
According to Twitter's Terms of Service agreement (which predates Musk's $44 billion purchase of the social platform), bluecheck-verified accounts are prohibited from mimicking other verified accounts — using the same name and avatar photo, without clarifying it's a parody.
Such actions could put the offending party into suspension territory, similar to Kathy Griffin.
On Sunday, the real Musk tweeted: "Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying 'parody' will be permanently suspended."
About an hour later, Musk offered two follow-up tweets on the matter:
Tweet #1: "Previously, we issued a warning before suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning.
"This will be clearly identified as a condition for signing up to Twitter Blue."
Tweet #2: "Any name change at all will cause temporary loss of verified checkmark."
Griffin's ordeal could evolve into an interesting test case for left-leaning celebrities who claim they don't want to be part of a Musk-led Twitter universe ... but ultimately realize it's still the best way to potentially reach millions of people.
For example, actor Ron Perlman recently announced a permanent break from Twitter last week ... only to return to the platform six days later.
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