Kathy Griffin suspended from Twitter after impersonating Elon Musk

Comedian Kathy Griffin was suspended from Twitter on Nov. 6, the same day she altered her account to impersonate Elon Musk, the new owner and CEO of the social media company.

It was unclear if Griffin's suspension was temporary or permanent. Twitter also did not say if her account's suspension was directly related to her impersonating Musk.

"Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying 'parody' will be permanently suspended," Musk wrote in a tweet on Sunday evening.

The world's richest man said that, previously, Twitter would issue a warning before suspending an account for impersonation. But now with the rollout of Twitter Blue, there won't be a warning and any name change at all will cause a temporary loss of the social network's blue verified check mark, Musk said.

Twitter Blue is Musk's plan to charge $8 a month to get a verified account, which was once reserved for the accounts of public officials, celebrities or others who wanted their followers to know their accounts were authentic.

Representatives for Griffin and Twitter’s press team, which was largely laid off, did not respond to requests for comment from NBC News.

Griffin appeared to return to the platform by using her late mother's account hours after her's was suspended. "#FreeKathy," the account for Maggie Griffin said in a tweet on Nov. 6. That account had not been used since 2019, and Maggie Griffin died at 99 in 2020.

Griffin clarified in another tweet that she was using her mother's account, adding her mother "would not mind."

Musk later cracked a joke about Griffin, tweeting, "Actually, she was suspended for impersonating a comedian."

"I mean… you stole that joke, you a---," Griffin responded on her mother's account. "People have been posting that joke for hours, you hack. Look, please do a better job running this company. It used to mean something. This is KG btw."

The billionaire then tweeted that Griffin could have her account back, but she would need to pay $8.

Comedian Sarah Silverman said she also used her account to briefly impersonate Musk, and that it had been locked multiple times.

"I'm a freedom of speech absolutist and I eat doody for breakfast every day," Silverman tweeted under Musk's name and profile picture.

Musk has made sweeping changes to the company since his $44 billion purchase went through. He fired about half of Twitter’s workforce on Nov. 4, saying in a tweet he had “no choice” because the company was losing more than $4 million per day.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com