Actor Kangana Ranaut’s Twitter account has been ‘permanently suspended for repeated violation of Twitter rules’, a company spokesperson has said. The move came after the actor’s vitriolic comments on the post-poll violence in West Bengal, which sounded like a call to violence. Kangana’s tweets had sparked outrage, with many demanding action against her.
Commenting on the development, a Twitter spokesperson said Kangana’s account has been suspended for repeated violations, “We’ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm. The referenced account has been permanently suspended for repeated violations of Twitter Rules specifically our Hateful Conduct policy and Abusive Behaviour policy.”
The actor has claimed that Twitter’s move shows an alleged race bias. “Twitter has only proved my point they’re Americans and by birth, a white person feels entitled to enslave a brown person, they want to tell you what to think, speak or do. I have many platforms I can use to raise my voice, including my own art in the form of cinema,” Kangana said in a statement to ANI. She added that “my heart goes out to the people of this nation who have been tortured, enslaved, and censored for thousands of years, and still, there is no end to the suffering.”
Kangana also responded with a video on Instagram titled, “Distressed, beyond words, death of democracy. important message for our government.” She asked for President’s rule in the state in the video. Kangana Ranaut is notorious for her outrageous, no-filter posts on social media.
Earlier, Kangana’s sister Rangoli Chandel’s Twitter account was also suspended for violating the regulations of the platform. Kangana’s account was also restricted for a few hours earlier this year after the actor’s incendiary tweets against the web series Tandav. The tweet was deleted later.
Responding to the move, Bollywood actor Kubbra Sait said the suspension of the account was a permanent relief. She wrote, “Amen! I was in a mental state of tripping her with my left foot if I ever met her. But, this is way better. I hope a permanent relief. Social media can be better without her.” Actors such as Richa Chaddha and Swara Bhasker have also welcomed the move.
Fashion designers Anand Bhushan and Rimzim Dadu also announced that given Kangana’s hate speech, they are banning all future projects with the actor. The two designers also said that they will remove images of all their past collaboration with the actor. “In view of certain events today, we have taken a decision to remove all collaboration images with Kangana Ranaut from our social media channels. We also pledge never to be associated with her in any capacity in the future. We as a brand do not support hate speech,” Anand’s statement read.