Twitter suspended Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) reelection campaign on Wednesday after the “Team Mitch” account posted a video of a protester cursing the senator’s “raggedy, wrinkled-ass neck.”
A Twitter spokesperson told TPM that the account was “temporarily locked out of their account for a Tweet that violated our violent threats policy, specifically threats involving physical safety.”
“This morning, Twitter locked our account for posting the video of real-world, violent threats made against Mitch McConnell,” Kevin Golden, McConnell’s campaign manager, told the Courier Journal. “This is a problem with the speech police in America today.”
It was a video of a protest outside McConnell’s home on Monday night, during which local Black Lives Matter leader Chanelle Helm said that the GOP leader “should have broken his little raggedy, wrinkled-ass neck” instead of fracturing his shoulder.
Also in the video, Helm responded “just stab the motherfucker in the heart” when a fellow protester mentioned a McConnell voodoo doll.
The campaign’s tweet appears to have been deleted, but its account is still currently suspended.
For her part, Helm stands by remarks.
“McConnell doesn’t care about people who actually do break their necks, who need insulin, who need any type of medication, because they want to stop and prevent health care for all,” she told the Courier Journal on Tuesday.
This story has been updated with a comment from Twitter.
Gosh, I’ll bet Mitch just feels terrible.
@lizzymom was there?
Helm obviously meant stab the voodoo doll in the heart.
“This is a problem with the speech police in America today.”
Mitch seems to be having some trouble with his PR team. Second day in a row that he puts out something questionable. Could Mitch be having a moment of extreme anxiety? What a shame. It is fun watching a once consummate dirty politician stumble so badly.