Venice Film Festival Head Alberto Barbera Says He’s Quitting X Over Elon Musk Statements: “I Have Lost The Desire To Remain”
Venice Film Festival Artistic Director Alberto Barbera has announced via X that he is quitting the platform in response to recent statements by its owner Elon Musk.
“After the latest statements by the owner of Twitter (or rather, sorry, of X) , I have definitely lost the desire (already weakened) to remain on a platform, the objectives and purposes of which I no longer share,” Barbera wrote.
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Ringrazio tutti coloro che mi hanno seguito in questi 12 anni di frequentazioni, la maggior parte delle quali sono state di grande interesse e piacevolezza. Ci ritroveremo forse altrove, negli spazi della rete non ancora asserviti alle 'stranezze' di qualcuno.
— Alberto Barbera (@AlbertoBarbera2) August 8, 2024
The Venice artistic director did not detail which exact statements by Musk – who acquired X (formerly Twitter) in October 2022 – had driven him to make the move.
Musk has been courting controversy in recent days with a series of posts claiming the UK was on the verge of civil war, following anti-immigrant riots sparked by far-right agitators, but it is not clear if this is what drove Barbera away.
In other recent statements, Musk has also referred to the UK’s Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson as the “Woke Stasi” following his pledge to prosecute people who post or report material that incites racial hatred on social media.
In other posts, he has attacked U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidentail candidate Kamala Harris, calling her a communist, and also kicked off the week with a declaration of war on big corporations that are refusing to advertise on X.
In a follow-up post, Barbera thanked his some 8,600 followers as well as other people who had interacted with him on his X handle, saying most the exchanges had been sources of “interest and pleasure”.
“We will meet again perhaps elsewhere, in the spaces of the internet not yet enslaved to the ‘oddities’ of a single person,” he wrote.
Barbera had been on the platform for 12 years, having signed up for an account when it was still known as Twitter and in the hands of its creators led by Jack Dorsey.
Barbera is the latest in a raft of high profile figures to announce they are leaving X due to Musk’s outspoken and often provocative statements on the platform.
Deadline has contacted the Venice Film Festival for official confirmation of Barbera’s decision and an update on what the move could mean for the festival’s official X handles.
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