According to John, Twitter is no longer music to his ears. Photo: AP
He’s in the wind.
Rock star Elton John, who played the last US show of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour last month in Los Angeles, says he is also done with Twitter.
“All my life I’ve tried to use music to bring people together,” the 75-year-old singer tweeted Friday morning. “Yet it saddens me to see how misinformation is now being used to divide our world.”
The Candle In The Wind performer was awarded the National Humanities Medal following a September performance at the White House the president and first lady called an event to “celebrate the unifying and healing power of music”.
What could be his last concert ever is scheduled for July 8 in Stockholm, Sweden, when his current tour ends.
According to John, Twitter – which under new owner Elon Musk is restoring accounts of users banned for disseminating hate speech and disinformation – is no longer music to his ears.
“I‘ve decided to no longer use Twitter, given their recent change in policy which will allow misinformation to flourish unchecked,” he concluded.
John joins a long list of cultural idols who have said they no longer want to communicate through Twitter including comedians Jim Carrey and Whoopi Goldberg, model Gigi Hadid and fellow musicians Moby, Jack White, Liz Phair and Toni Braxton.
Twitter under new owner Elon Musk is restoring accounts of users banned for disseminating hate speech and disinformation. Photo: Reuters
In recent weeks, far-right figures including political trickster Roger Stone, anti-Muslim pundit Laura Loomer and the anti-semitic rapper formerly known as Kanye West saw their accounts reinstated, though West’s has since been suspended again as a result of promoting Nazism.
Musk responded to John’s tweet on Dec 9, asking him to stay on board.
“I love your music. Hope you come back,” Musk tweeted. “Is there any misinformation in particular that you’re concerned about?”
John left the conversation there, but chatter about his departure continued on Musk’s busy social media platform.
Several commenters accused John of opposing free speech. Others said they were fans who would miss seeing the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road singer on Twitter.
One user joked it was a feud between two "Rocket Men" – John had a 1972 hit song called Rocket Man and Musk’s Space X company builds rocket ships. – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
