A social-media account for white male supporters of Kamala Harris was briefly suspended from X, formerly Twitter, sparking anger online.
Newsweek observed that the White Dudes for Harris X account had been temporarily suspended after the group held a star-studded virtual call on Monday night that raised more than $4 million.
It is not clear why the account was suspended, but it has been restored as of the early hours of Tuesday. The automated message when the account was suspended read: “X suspends accounts which violate the X rules.”
In response to the suspension, Ross Morales Rocketto, an organizer for the group, wrote: “Got @elonmusk [X owner] scared.”
Brett Meiselas, the co-founder of outlet MeidasTouch, shared on X a photo of the suspended account, along with the message: “This is the real election interference.”
Democratic commentator Mueller, She Wrote said: “The ‘free speech absolutist’ has now suspended White @dudes4harris. Presumably for raising $4M in a few hours. The fascists are terrified. Good.”
Elon Musk, who is openly critical of Democrats, regularly advocates for free speech on the platform. Several other X accounts expressed anger particularly at Musk, with Democratic activist Andrew Wortman calling for him to be fired.
Jim Vondruska/Getty Images
Another Democratic commentator said that the platform had also previously been glitchy for Democrats at critical moments, such as the day Joe Biden launched his 2024 presidential bid and when Harris’s campaign account launched.
Newsweek has reached out to X for comment via email outside of regular working hours.
White Dudes for Harris on Monday held a Zoom call fundraiser featuring celebrities including actors Jeff Bridges, Mark Ruffalo and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
It also included appearances from Democratic politicians, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. The group said that 190,000 people tuned in to the call. The West Wing actor Bradley Whitford joked on the call that it was like “a rainbow of beige.”
It was the latest fundraiser call for the Harris campaign among various identity groups, following the success of calls with groups including Black women, white women, and Black men.
The fundraising calls are not organized by Harris’ team, but they demonstrate the growing grassroots support for her since she became the likely nominee.
In recent years, Republicans have generally relied on the support of white working-class men, while Democrats have struggled to attract this demographic.
Morales Rocketto, White Dudes for Harris’s organizer, told The New York Times that he understood that some people might be uncomfortable with their name.
“I don’t blame them,” he told the paper. “Throughout American history, there’s a lot of evidence to suggest that, when white men organize, it’s often with pointy hats on, and it doesn’t end well.
“What we are really trying to do is engage a group of people that the left has largely ignored for the last few years,” Morales Rocketto said. “There’s a silent majority of white men who aren’t MAGA Republicans, and we haven’t done anything to try to capture those votes.”
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
