On Friday, January 8, The American Civil Liberties Union, a staunch free speech advocate, issued a statement expressing concern over President Trump's recent removal from Twitter.
Actress Kirstie Alley shared the ACLU's statement in a now-deleted tweet in which she went further, comparing Trump's removal to "slavery."
In the deleted tweet, Alley wrote:
"ALL people should be concerned is the KEY here. It's true, the average person will no longer have a platform to speak their views. This is called SLAVERY. This censorship proves BIG TECH now holds the keys to the chains."
On Twitter, the backlash against Alley's tweet was immediate and intense.
Alley wrote another post seeming to defend her initial insensitivity.
Apparently, Alley doesn't take freedom of speech quite as seriously as she claims.
Alley has continued to tweet, comparing the violence storming and breach at the Capitol with law enforcement arresting and dispersing protesters outside a federal building in July while insisting no one should be removed from social media platforms.
Many on Twitter couldn't wait to point out what was wrong with Alley's point of view.
Obviously, being removed from Twitter is absolutely nothing like slavery. Kirstie Alley, who has never experienced either of these things, would probably do well to remember that.