St. Louis mayor Tishaura O. Jones quit Twitter over a tweet from the social media platform’s new owner, Elon Musk.
The tweet in question referenced the 2014 Ferguson protests, which Musk tweeted about after finding a closet of #StayWoke shirts in a closet at Twitter headquarters.
“This is the final straw for me,” Jones tweeted from her personal account. “I’m out.”
This is the final straw for me. I’m out.
Follow me on Instagram @tishaura.
Y’all can have this bird app.
Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate and Happy Holidays. #PeaceOut https://t.co/zjPwtS0uoD
— Tishaura O. Jones (she/her) (@tishaura) November 24, 2022
A screenshot of Musk’s now-deleted tweet accompanied her post.
“Y’all can have this bird app,” she continued. “Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate and Happy Holidays.”
Musk’s initial tweet was a 12-second video showing off the discovery of the shirts. In the now-deleted follow-up tweet, Musk explained the shirts were from the protests surrounding the officer-involved shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson.
“#StayWoke shirts stem from the Ferguson protests,” Musk wrote. “Obama’s own DOJ proved this & exonerated the cop. ‘Hands up don’t shoot’ was made up. The whole thing was a fiction.”
He included a link to a 2015 Department of Justice report claiming that, based on the evidence, Brown’s hands were not raised in the air.
While the officer involved in the shooting was exonerated, a separate DOJ report resulted in several key officials resigning in the waking of the shooting. Brown’s family settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the city in 2017.
Jones’ Twitter account remains active; however, she has not sent any further tweets since announcing her departure. The @saintlouismayor account is also active and wished everyone “a meaningful thanksgiving.”
Wishing everyone a meaningful #Thanksgiving! pic.twitter.com/Q9PfYsgL8h
— Mayor Tishaura O. Jones (@saintlouismayor) November 25, 2022