Kanye West and Elon Musk's 10-year friendship explained as rapper is banned from Twitter weeks after he is reinstated

Elon Musk has suspended Kanye West from Twitter weeks after reinstating the rapper to the platform, as well as Donald Trump. West was banned for making anti-Semitic remarks on the platform and claiming he would go "death-CON 3" on Jewish people.

On Thursday December 1, Kanye West said he would allow conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and white supremacist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes to post from his account, both of who have been banned from Twitter.

This has led to yet another suspension from the site. Musk addressed the suspension in a tweet saying that West had “violated our rule against incitement to violence.” and went on to confirm that the “account will be suspended.”

West’s final tweet seemingly took aim at Musk with an image of the billionaire being sprayed in the head with the caption “Let’s always remember this as my final tweet #ye24”.

Musk and West are controversial characters in their own right, however, they have crossed paths on many occasions and built a relationship since first meeting over a decade ago. One of the earlier pictures of the two together was revealed in 2011, with one Twitter account showing a picture of the two in 2020 beside it. Solidifying their partnership.

In the years after their first meeting the pair spoke about each other publicly on multiple occasions. Musk told Time Magazine that West was "a member of the cultural pantheon" when he was included in the "100 Most Influential People" list.

Musk went on to say in the bio that: "Kanye’s belief in himself and his incredible tenacity — he performed his first single with his jaw wired shut — got him to where he is today. And he fought for his place in the cultural pantheon with a purpose."

Musk also praised Mr West for being “unafraid of judgement” and for “pushing the boundaries” of his field writing: "He’s not afraid of being judged or ridiculed in the process. Kanye’s been playing the long game all along, and we’re only just beginning to see why." Additionally, during South by Southwest in Austin in 2018, Elon Musk told an audience that he was "obviously" inspired by Kanye West.

The feelings were very much mutual from Kanye West’s side too, with West praising Musk in 2018 in a tweet that read:"really love[s] my Tesla. I’m in the future. Thank you Elon."

In that same year, West made a surprise and bizarre visit to a small art college in Detroit and told students there not to criticise Elon Musk. In a video he was seen shouting on a table to students: "I don’t give a f*** who’s at his house. Leave that man the f*** alone."

In 2019, West and Musk were pictured together at the annual Kardashian-Jenner family Christmas Eve party with their significant others at the time. When West announced his intention to run for president in 2020, despite missing numerous state deadlines to be added to the ballot, Musk tweeted that Kanye had: "my full support!"

This is not the first time Kanye has been removed from the social media type for his behaviour. West was initially locked out of his Twitter and Instagram accounts after posting antisemitic messages in October 2022 with both platforms removing his posts. Meta confirmed to NBC News that the rapper had in fact been barred from the platform, and that content had been removed by a moderator after rules and guidelines were violated.

One of the posts accused the rapper Diddy of being controlled by Jewish people. Kanye also made headlines for his Paris Fashion Week show which show featured models including Selah Marley and guest Candace Owens, who appeared in tops that said ‘White Lives Matter’ mirroring a picture of Pope John Paul II, in response to the 2013 Black Lives Matter movement.

However, West later returned to the platform.  In his first Tweet since November 4 2020, West shared a photo of a black cap emblazoned with “2024” - a nod to his plans to run for President again.