Talib Kweli was permanently suspended from Twitter in late July after spending weeks using his platform to harass a Black woman, reports Jezebel.
For over two weeks, the rapper targeted 24-year-old student and activist Maya Moody after she partook in a conversation about seeming colorism among rappers.
In the beginning of July, one Twitter user asked which rappers have married Black women aside from Snoop Dogg.
What rapper married a black woman besides snoop? …. exactly
— missmamas ???? (@_xmissjacksonn) July 7, 2020
When someone added to the tweet by listing a number of male rappers who are married to Black women — including Ice Cube, Chance The Rapper, Ja Rule, Kweli, and LL Cool J — Moody pointed out that most of the men listed were married to light-skinned Black women.
“Literally almost all of them are married to light skinned women but that’s a conversation for another day,” she wrote.
Literally almost all of them are married to light skinned women but that’s a conversation for another day. https://t.co/vW9QcsD3xa
— Maya Angelique???? (@moneyymaya) July 9, 2020
The "Get By" rapper caught wind of the conversation.
“Nah let’s have this convo today. Are we talking all of my relationships? My children’s mother as well? Or are you only talking about who you think I’m currently in a relationship right now? I mean, is any of this really any of your business?” Kweli said.
For the following weeks, he and his followers harassed Moody constantly. Trolls leaked her address as well as personal information about her and her family. She said she was even sent threats of death and sexual assault.
“It’s definitely been draining and overwhelming,” Moody said. “Yesterday alone, I had to get 12 different accounts suspended for trying to make new profiles doxing my family and me using my stepmom’s name and pictures and where we live … basically pretending to be my stepmom on Twitter.”
On one day, Kweli spent over 12 hours tweeting at the young woman. He said he wouldn’t stop his attacks on Moody until she either deleted her Twitter account or apologized.
“I can go for 13 years if you come for my family. I’m just getting started,” he said.
Only got to 11 hours in this video. Here’s the rest lol. And he’s STILL going. Get y’all mans pic.twitter.com/NNDHY1JqQy
— Maya Angelique???? (@moneyymaya) July 11, 2020
The New York native said that what he was doing wasn’t harassment.
“Maya Moody is a liar,” he wrote in an email to Jezebel. “I’ve never cyber harassed anyone in my life. I responded, on Twitter, to the lies that Maya posted about me. When you respond to someone who posts lies about you, that is not harassment.”
The Mos Def collaborator even tried to discredit Moody by digging up some of her old tweets and posting them to his Instagram account.
He also hosted an hour-long Instagram Live addressing the claims that he’s attacking Black women.
“She’s saying that these women, who are Black women, not Black enough because they’re light-skinned. And she’s also implying that these rappers only marry these women for the color of their skin,” he said about Moody.
Moody posted a clip of the video and said he misread what she wrote.
And lied. The whole live. I can’t.
— Maya Angelique???? (@moneyymaya) July 23, 2020
“So many people pretend that they don’t know that [colorism] is a real thing, especially in the Black community,” Moody said. “This is something that impacts every aspect of our lives … It’s a part of us. And if we can’t acknowledge that and talk about that without getting defensive and gaslighting each other and saying, you know, ‘You just hate Black men, just hate Black people’ … No, that’s not the case. I love us. And because I love us, I want us to be able to have the conversation and talk about it.”
Moody said she had been in contact with officials from the platform but that they told her he hadn’t done anything that would warrant a suspension.
I’ve been constant contact with people in high positions at Twitter. They’ve basically said he hasn’t done anything to get suspended and is just barely keeping from crossing the line. They’ve done nothing. Smaller accounts have been suspended for FAR LESS.
— Maya Angelique???? (@moneyymaya) July 23, 2020
Officials from the app have not said what caused them to change their stance. But on the same day as Moody's tweet, Kweli's account was suspended.
Twitter officials said they suspended the account because of the rapper's repeated violations of the platform’s rules.
“Twitter’s purpose is to serve the public conversation. Violence, harassment and other similar types of behavior discourage people from expressing themselves, and ultimately diminish the value of global public conversation. Our rules are to ensure all people can participate in the public conversation freely and safely,” a spokesperson from Twitter said.
The 44-year-old also violated the platform's abusive behavior and sharing of private information rules, according to Pitchfork.
Kweli took to Instagram on July 23 to discuss his departure, saying he was leaving Twitter “for the greener pastures of @patreon” without mentioning the true reason for his forced exit from the platform.
