Twitter canceled a deal with The Daily Wire to stream its documentary "What is a Woman?" for free due to concerns about "misgendering," the conservative media company's co-CEO Jeremy Boreing said Thursday.
Following tech billionaire Elon Musk's acquisition of the social media platform last year and his professed commitment to free speech, The Daily Wire sought to mark the one-year anniversary of Matt Walsh's "What is a Woman?" with a deal to stream the documentary on Twitter.
According to Boreing, Twitter initially was enthusiastic about the idea and offered the media company a package to purchase a whole page for Twitter users to watch the movie. Everything changed after the platform screened the film, however.
"After reviewing the film, though, Twitter let us know that not only could we no longer purchase the package they offered, they would no longer provide us any support and would actually limit the reach of the film and label it as 'hateful conduct' because of 'misgendering,'" Boreing said in a tweet thread.
"Specifically: In the film, a father refers to his 14-year-old daughter as 'her,' and a store owner uses the 'wrong' pronoun in a confrontation with a transgender woman," he continued.
Released last summer, the documentary was viewed by people in more than 70 countries, though it was largely shunned by mainstream media outlets. According to Rotten Tomatoes, "What is a Woman?" became the most-watched movie at home soon after its release and scored 97% among audiences.
In the wake of the film's release and Walsh's speaking events on the harmful effects of gender-transition care, at least a dozen states have banned gender-transition surgeries for minors.
The Daily Wire is set to stream "What is a Woman?" at 8 p.m. ET Thursday on its Twitter page and a Daily Wire Twitter space will begin 30 minutes beforehand.
Musk, who is reportedly out of the United States on a business trip, responded to Boreing Thursday afternoon.
"This was a mistake by many people at Twitter," he said. "It is definitely allowed. Whether or not you agree with using someone's preferred pronouns, not doing so is at most rude and certainly breaks no laws.
"I should note that I do personally use someone's preferred pronouns, just as I use someone's preferred name, simply from the standpoint of good manners," he continued. "However, for the same reason, I object to rude behavior, ostracism or threats of violence if the wrong pronoun or name is used."
"I appreciate the reply," Boreing said in response to Musk. "We posted the two clips flagged by Twitter and they were indeed labeled 'hateful conduct' and the share functions were disabled on the posts.
"We are trying to reach your team to determine what this means for those posts, whether or not our event tonight will be allowed to proceed unencumbered, and whether or not we will be allowed to purchase the live event page and reach block as originally agreed," he continued.
"I appreciate your view of polite behavior, but our business is to debate public policy and philosophy. As such, we have an obligation to speak in ways consistent with our position."
He added, "Our hope is that Twitter remains a place where we are free to do so."
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