Egyptian-American comedian Bassem Youssef recently quit X, formerly Twitter, by deactivating his account with over 11 million followers on the social media platform, citing safety concerns related to his posts about Gaza.
Youssef's X account, @byoussef, became inaccessible around 5:00 p.m. ET on Aug. 19. The next evening, the account's web page displayed the message, "This account doesn't exist."
The disappearance prompted speculation on the social media site that Youssef had been suspended. The TV host has been a vocal critic of Israel, highlighting the plight of the Palestinians during the Gaza war and has recently been accused of antisemitism.
In his post on Instagram, Youssef alluded to "safety issues" related to his family as to why his X account is gone without elaborating further.
"No, my X account wasn't taken down by X and I don't wish to falsely victimize myself using this," said Youssef on another social media platform, Instagram. "When safety issues concerning my loved ones are alleviated I might consider coming back."
He further said that he will continue to post on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, where he has a combined following of more than 15 million users.
"I wish to deal with this away from media," he said.
Youssef, 50, was originally a heart surgeon before rising to prominence following his participation in the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, part of the Arab Spring protest movements.
During that time, Youssef hosted the news satirical comedy show "Al Bernameg." He used his prominent platform to mock a variety of Egyptian political figures on the show, including former President Mohammed Morsi.
Due to this, Morsi issued an arrest warrant for Youssef in March 2013. But the ex-president was ousted in July of the same year following a coup d'etat. Meanwhile, censorship of Youssef continued after the ouster of Morsi. His show was canceled by the Egyptian broadcasting network CBC in November 2013.
He left Egypt in November 2014 after a court ruled that he had to pay a $10 million penalty related to his content. He then moved to the United States with his wife and daughter.
In the U.S., his comments on Jews after the start of the Gaza war have drawn accusations of antisemitism. In a late July interview with Youssef, YouTube host Theo Von claimed that Jewish friends of his said "The media is mostly run by Jewish folks."
"It is. All of the corporates, all the CEOs," said Youssef in response.
In the same interview, Youssef slammed the Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023, which passed in the U.S. House of Representatives in May, saying the legislation holds that "any criticism to Israel will be counted as antisemitic."
In a Monday post on X shortly before his account disappeared, Youssef called accusations of antisemitism a "fear tactic."
"Are you still scared to be called an antisemite by those Zionists? Vote and tell me in the comments," he said.
Youssef also shared a screenshot of Israel's official account celebrating his departure from the social media platform, reacting with: "How fragile can you be when the official account of your country acts like a little b----?"
Youssef initially criticized the militant group Hamas
Youssef, at the start of the Gaza war, said that his wife Hala Diab, has family in Gaza trapped in the conflict.
"I mean, we get all our news secondhand because my wife's family lives in Gaza. They have cousins and uncles there and their house also was bombed," he said at the time.
He initially criticized Hamas when the war broke out, telling Middle East Eye in February, "I am absolutely no fan of Hamas." He has also expressed doubt about accusations regarding the group's conduct on Oct. 7. In an April interview with podcaster Lex Fridman, Youssef dismissed what he described as reports of "rape" and "decapitated babies."
"Then I started kind of looking at the news a little bit, and then I started seeing people coming on the shows and saying things that I know, as an Arab, as a Muslim, as someone from that region, that it's not true," he said.
More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. More than 1,110 people were killed in Israel during the Oct. 7 attack, as per authorities there. For Youssef, the higher number of Palestinians dying from Israeli bombardment demonstrated that their lives are seen as worthless. (Related: Western media stays silent about IDF admitting it activated Hannibal Protocol that killed many Israeli soldiers and civilians on Oct. 7.)
SpeechPolice.news contains stories related to suppressed free speech.
Watch the video below where Youssef says in an interview that antisemitism accusations against him have become 'empty accusations.'
This video is from the Prisoner channel on Brighteon.com.
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