Alt-right leader and House of Representatives hopeful Paul Nehlen was permanently banned by Twitter for a racist tweet he posted about Meghan Markle, Newsweek reports.

Nehlen, posted a picture of Markle and fiance Prince Harry with Cheddar Man superimposed on Markle’s face along with the caption “Honey, does this tie make my face look pale?” on Twitter last week.

Cheddar Man is an ancient skeleton that was discovered in Great Britain whose face was recently reconstructed by scientists. According to DNA study, the ancient Briton was found to have dark skin and curly hair during his life.

Before his suspension, Nehlen defended the picture saying he was using humor to shed light on what he thought was a serious issue.

Source: Paul Nehlen, Facebook

“Publishing an article *disappearing whites* or *dispossessing whites* of their homelands is wrong; made worse when claiming 'science' to 'prove' whites never existed. I made a joke of it. It's not a laughing matter, so I chose to laugh about it,” he tweeted.

Twitter confirmed the suspension in an uncharacteristic statement.

“While we normally do not comment on individual accounts, I can confirm that we have permanently suspended this account for repeated violations of our terms of service," a spokesperson for the service told Newsweek.

Another spokesperson gave a more detailed explanation to NPR.

“And as we explained in our blog about world leaders on Twitter: We review tweets by leaders within the political context that defines them, and enforce our rules accordingly," they said. "No one person's account drives Twitter's growth, or influences these decisions. We work hard to remain unbiased with the public interest in mind."

Nehlen retreated to his Facebook page to express his displeasure with a statement.

“We will be filing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission in the coming days," he wrote. “These are unprecedented, brazen acts of censorship."

Nehlen is challenging Paul Ryan for his seat in Congress. Although he describes himself as a Republican, he has been disowned by Republican party in his home state.

“It looks to me like he's a racist bigot," said Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. "I don't want him as part of my party."

According to WKOW, Wisconsin Republican Party spokesman Alec Zimmerman says any dues Nehlen paid have been refunded and that he “is not a member of the Republican Party of Wisconsin."

Nehlen has a history of making racist and inflammatory statements. He has admitted to being “pro-white” and said “Jews control the media” on a KKK-affiliated podcast last month.

paul nehlen

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