Twitter vs. The Daily Wire: the full story

On Thursday, the Daily Wire, a media company founded by Ben Shapiro and Jeremy Boreing, reported that Twitter canceled a previous deal to screen the documentary film “What is a Woman?” accusing it of encouraging “hateful conduct.” Boreing expressed himself on social networks, where he openly told the story that soon went so viral that it provoked a response from Elon Musk.

The Wire was founded in 2015 by Shapiro and Boreing. Openly conservative, the media outlet climbed the social media ladder thanks to its commentaries and podcasts. In 2020 they left California, criticizing Gavin Newsom’s management, to move to Nashville (Tennessee), where they have expanded into the entertainment world, producing films and documentaries. They even began producing their own products, such as razors and chocolates, in direct competition with ex-sponsor Harry’s Razors and Hershey’s after the latter hired a trans woman to be a spokesperson for International Women’s Day.

One of the last documentaries was “What is a Woman?” which showed Matt Walsh asking this question to politicians, psychiatrists, gender reassignment surgeons and other personalities. As revealed by Boreing in a lengthy thread posted on Twitter, the company offered distribution of the film to the social networking site.

Twitter canceled a deal with @realdailywire to premiere What is a Woman? for free on the platform because of two instances of “misgendering.”

I’m not kidding.

Here's what happened:🧵1/16

— Jeremy Boreing (@JeremyDBoreing) June 1, 2023

“Twitter responded with enthusiasm and offered us the opportunity to buy a package to host the movie on a dedicated event page and to promote the event to every Twitter user over the first 10 hours,” said Boreing.

“We accepted and signed an agreement. After we signed, Twitter asked to see the film to better understand what parts may “trigger” users, so they could better prepare their response. They said they were still all hands on deck for launch, so we sent them a screener,” he continued.

Although everything seemed to be on track, the social network then canceled the agreement, informing them that they would also limit the film's scope and label it as “hateful conduct” due to “misgendering.”

Boreing revealed that “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 trans person.” While Twitter allowed them to remove that part, The Daily Wire refused.

Musk “is not beholden to conservatives. He has the right to run his business as he sees fit. But if Twitter is going to throttle one side of one of the most important debates facing society, it cannot claim to champion free speech,” Boreing said on the social network.

Elon Musk’s response

This was a mistake by many people at Twitter. 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…

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 1, 2023

The entrepreneur’s thread surpassed 16 million views, prompting a response from the Tesla founder , who is on a business trip out of the United States. The reply came by the same means and assured that what happened “was a mistake by many people at Twitter.”

“It’s definitely allowed,” he said about not using people’s preferred pronouns, “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-However, for the same reason, I object to rude behavior, ostracism or threats of violence if the wrong pronoun or name is used,” he closed.