Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon roasts pre-Musk Twitter: 'Completely anti-truth environment for free speech'

The founder of The Babylon Bee explained his reasoning for refusing to delete a satirical tweet about transgender admiral Rachel Levine in a new interview about "self-censorship" and Twitter. 

"We needed to delete this tweet and admit we engaged in ‘hateful conduct’ in order to get back on [Twitter]. We didn’t even consider doing that," Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon said in an interview with pro-life group Live Action that was released Thursday. 

The Babylon Bee’s official Twitter account was suspended in March after it shared a post jokingly naming Levine "The Babylon Bee’s Man of The Year." 

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It took multiple months and Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $44 billion buyout of Twitter to allow The Babylon Bee — a huge presence on the platform with over 2 million followers — to receive its full account privileges back. 

But Dillon said that it was more than just his business or his Twitter following that was at stake when the Bee’s account was suspended, arguing that he had a "purpose" behind giving up on the platform. 

"We’ll give up Twitter for this purpose because if nobody ever does that then they just maintain this control over you. They maintain control over discourse. They can force you to say that 2 and 2 make 5 instead of 4 or they can force you to be quiet if you insist that 2 and 2 make 4." 

He continued: "And that is not a healthy place to be in. It is a completely anti-truth environment for speech." 

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But it’s not just Twitter executives that threaten free speech, Dillon explained. He also called on other business leaders and free speech advocates to stop apologizing for telling the truth, even in the face of public pressure.

"Never apologize to the mob because if you apologize to the mob you’re feeding it [and] making it grow stronger. We have to start starving the mob," Dillon said. 

He added that "self-censorship" would only make discourse worse: "The more we silence ourselves or suppress our own voice, the more power we give to the people who want to censor us." 

But Dillon did say that he understood why many in America feel like they can’t speak freely about their pro-life or pro-freedom views at work. 

It is an attitude that he summarized as: "I’m safe if I’m silent." 

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Dillon also emphasized that satire and comedy was essential in combating dangerous ideas in American culture because "bad ideas are taken seriously" when "we haven’t sufficiently mocked them." 

"We affirmed and accepted what we should have ridiculed and rejected," Dillon added. 

But looking ahead to the future, Dillon said he was optimistic that "truth and reason will prevail." 

Twitter’s former safety czar Yoel Roth defended the platform’s controversial decision to suspend The Babylon Bee in an interview this month with podcaster and journalist Kara Swisher. 

"Twitter’s written policies prohibit misgendering, full stop," Roth said. 

"And the Babylon Bee, in the name of satire, misgendered Admiral Rachel Levine."

Fox News’ Alexander Hall contributed to this report. 

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