‘It’s been fun Twitter – I’m out’: Eight celebrities who might quit site after Elon Musk’s takeover
Elon Musk pledged to make getting rid of spam accounts one of his main priorities after buying Twitter – but there’s another mounting exodus that he perhaps did not intend.
Fears over the SpaceX founder’s potentially loose stance on content moderation has plenty of genuine users considering their future on the platform, including some of its famous faces.
So while Twitter could before too long welcome back some of its most infamous banned accounts – chief among them Donald Trump – it may soon be saying goodbye to even more.
Here’s a running list of the celebrities who are fleeing the nest… or threatening to do so.
Stephen King
The horror author has been a consistent tweeter for almost nine years, but said he’d quit if Musk goes ahead with reported plans to move Twitter’s verification badges behind a paid subscription.
“$20 a month to keep my blue check? F*** that, they should pay me,” he tweeted to his 6.9 million followers.
“If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron.”
“We need to pay the bills somehow!” replied Musk, the world’s richest man.
“Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?”
Musk has since confirmed the company will charge $8 a month as part of a Twitter Blue membership.
Toni Braxton
Grammy-winning R&B artist Braxton has already headed out – telling her two million followers she was “shocked and appalled at some of the ‘free speech'” she had seen on Twitter since the Musk deal closed.
A commitment to free speech was at the heart of Musk’s pitch for the site, though he has insisted he will not let it become a so-called “free-for-all hellscape”.
Braxton said: “Hate speech under the veil of ‘free speech’ is unacceptable; therefore I am choosing to stay off Twitter as it is no longer a safe space for myself, my sons and other POC.”
Sarah Bareilles
Another Grammy winner, Bareilles has also gone through with her departure.
“Welp. It’s been fun Twitter. I’m out,” she wrote.
“See you on other platforms, peeps. Sorry, this one’s just not for me.”
Eric Idle
Monty Python favourite Idle echoed King’s concerns about Musk’s payment proposals.
“I’m sure Elon will want to start making his money back,” the 79-year-old said.
“But if he charges me to entertain you, and he lets the orange monster back, I think I may decline.”
The “orange monster” is believed to be a reference to Donald Trump.
LeBron James
The NBA legend has not closed his account, but shared his concerns about a reported surge in the use of racist language on Twitter following Musk’s takeover.
Tweeting to his more than 52 million followers on 29 October, the day of his most recent tweet, James said: “I dont know Elon Musk and, tbh, I could care less who owns twitter.
“But I will say that if this is true, I hope he and his people take this very seriously because this is scary.
“So many damn unfit people saying hate speech is free speech.”
Read more:
Super app or ‘Wild West’? The future of Twitter under Elon Musk
Alex Winter
The Bill & Ted star has already locked his Twitter account and indicated he will not return.
Heading to the actor’s @Winter account page now displays the message: “This account doesn’t exist.”
In a statement to NBC News, he explained his decision: “Elon Musk taking over Twitter and making it a private company with less oversight has immediately made the platform more prone to hate speech, targeted attacks, and the spread of disinformation.
“If Twitter returns to being a public company run by rational actors, many of us will return.”
Shonda Rhimes
The creator of hit series Grey’s Anatomy, who had almost two million followers, has also packed her bags.
“Not hanging around for whatever Elon has planned,” she said.
“Bye.”
Josh Gad
Disney and Broadway actor Gad said he was not “not sure” if he would stay on Twitter much longer.
Commenting on the “exodus”, he said: “Freedom of speech is great. Hate speech intended to harm (with no consequences) ain’t what I signed up for.”
Saoirse Ronan has become one of the Academy Awards’ anomalies after being nominated four times without taking home a statuette.
The American-born Irish star received her first Oscars nod at the age of just 13, when she featured in the best supporting actress category for her role in Atonement.
Since then, despite being shortlisted three times for best actress for Brooklyn, Lady Bird and Little Women, she has never won.
Now, the 30-year-old is set to compete in both the lead and supporting actress categories at the 2025 awards for her new films The Outrun and Steve McQueen’s Blitz.
Saoirse Ronan stars in The Outrun. Pic: StudioCanal UK
If she secures one or both nominations, she would become the youngest actor to receive five, or six, nods.
Directed by Nora Fingscheidt, The Outrun, which is inspired by the life of writer Amy Liptrot, follows a Scottish woman struggling with alcoholism while living in fast-paced London.
In a bid to maintain her sobriety, she returns home to Orkney and finds herself in the process.
“Nora really wanted us to have our input in terms of who these characters were and situations that we would find them in”, Ronan told Sky News.
“We had a script that was written and the structure of it was there, but we were sort of able to fill in the gaps a little bit.”
The Outrun. Pic: StudioCanal UK
The Scottish drama marks the first time Ronan has worked as a producer on a project and she says she took a lot from the experience.
She said: “There is a lot going on behind the scenes that actors are protected from, and sometimes I think it would be valuable for an actor to know the drama that exists when they’re not around.
“I think it might make people behave a little bit better and to know that it is sort of like a domino effect when there’s one thing that’s out of place, it really will affect everything else by you not getting on to a call at a certain time.”
The Outrun. Pic: StudioCanal UK
She said it gave her a new appreciation for the craft.
“It’s very difficult to get an independent movie made and to try and source the money needed to just even pay people is difficult sometimes.
“So, yes, it’s just having an awareness of and the graft involved and that has definitely made me appreciate the movies that I’m on so much more where I am just an actor and I don’t have to worry about any of that stuff at all.”
The film also stars The Lazarus Project’s Paapa Essiedu as her boyfriend Daynin.
Battling with the person she has become, her character Rona returns to the Orkney Islands to try to reconnect with nature.
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The Oscar nominee said sea swimming at a remote location was therapeutic for the cast and crew.
“We finished [shooting] on Papa Westray, where we had to have a micro crew. There’s 90 inhabitants on the whole island.
“We stayed in people’s homes because there’s no hotels or anything like that. We ate together every night. We walked to work like it was a very stripped back experience in terms of filmmaking.
“And I think that was sort of felt like art imitating life a little bit after all the chaos of the beginning of the shoot. To have that at the end was wonderful.”
The Outrun is in cinemas now.
Pop star Lana Del Rey has married her alligator tour guide partner in Louisiana, according to reports.
The singer, 39, and Jeremy Dufrene, 49, are said to have obtained a marriage licence in Lafourche parish on Monday and had their wedding three days later.
Footage obtained by the Daily Mail appears to show Del Rey, whose real name is Elizabeth Woodridge Grant, wearing a white dress where Mr Dufrene works as a tour guide in Des Allemandes, south of New Orleans.
Del Rey has not commented on the reported wedding.
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She met Mr Dufrene in 2019, posting pictures of her on one of his tours with the caption: “Jeremy lemme be captain at Arthur’s Air Boat Tours x.”
Arthur’s Air Boat Tours gives guided tours through the local swamps, where its website says visitors are likely to see “300 species of birds” and “alligators up close and personal”.
Mr Dufrene’s profile page says he previously worked seven days a week at a chemical plant – when he would “shrimp on vacation days”.
“After a little convincing by his family, he got his captain’s licence and started running tours,” it adds.
“Jeremy’s a great airboat captain and loves interacting with wildlife & customers.”
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The couple were pictured together at Reading and Leeds festival this summer where Del Rey headlined.
She previously dated Scottish singer Barrie-James O’Neill for three years and was last linked to a police officer called Sean Larkin.
Entertainment
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs: Woman accuses rapper of further sexual assault allegations in new lawsuit
Sean “Diddy” Combs was hit with further sexual assault allegations after a woman filed a lawsuit in New York.
In the fresh civil case, the woman – identified by the pseudonym Jane Doe – claims she was repeatedly raped and drugged at the music mogul’s homes and became pregnant after one of the encounters.
It follows a series of similar legal cases brought by women against Combs, 54, who was arrested at a hotel in New York last week on sex trafficking, drug possession and firearms offences.
The latest lawsuit was filed on Friday against Combs, his companies and several associates, and seeks undisclosed damages for physical injuries, severe emotional distress, humiliation, anxiety and other harm.
The woman claims she met Combs abroad in 2020 and that the assaults and harassment continued through to July this year.
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Rappers dodge Diddy question
She says she was often coerced and harassed into travelling to Combs’ homes in New York, Los Angeles and Miami and other cities, and during every visit the rapper would make her “perform a show” for him.
In one encounter alleged to have taken place in July 2022, the woman claims she blacked out after being forced to take drugs that included ketamine.
She later allegedly took a pregnancy test and told Combs it was positive. She said an associate of the music producer repeatedly demanded her to get an abortion. The lawsuit states she had a miscarriage.
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Diddy ‘didn’t do these things’ – lawyer
The woman, who is being represented by lawyers Marie Napoli and Joseph Ciaccio, also alleges Combs and his associates tracked her location and monitored her conversations.
She claims Combs discouraged her from working and gave her an “allowance” that he used to control her.
Read more:
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Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
“No one is above the law. Fame and wealth do not protect Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs from serious allegations of sex trafficking and abuse,” Ms Napoli said in a statement.
Combs has been facing civil allegations including rape, sexual assault, and forced drugging since November 2023.
He has pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking but remains jailed, having been denied bail. His attorney said he is innocent and will fight to clear his name.
A lawyer for Combs did not respond to the allegations made in Friday’s lawsuit when contacted by the Associated Press news agency.
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