NBC News temporarily suspended senior reporter Ben Collins for his “editorially inappropriate” coverage of Twitter CEO Elon Musk, according to the new publication Semafor.
Collins is temporarily prohibited from going on the airwaves of NBC News and MSNBC for his outward dissaproval of Musk and the tech magnate’s actions, Semafor reported, citing anonymous sources. Collins covers disinformation, extremism and the internet for NBC News.
The scandal here is that Elon Musk discovered who his company’s deputy general counsel was six weeks after he purchased it. pic.twitter.com/vGgKrHcOHv
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) December 7, 2022
Musk took over Twitter on Oct. 27 after his $44 billion purchase of the company was officialized. Collins blamed Musk for the misinformation surrounding the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, after posting a now-deleted tweet suggesting that it was tied to rumors of Pelosi and his attacker, David DePape, having a romantic relationship. (RELATED: NBC’s Ben Collins Says Trump Supporters Didn’t Vote Because They ‘Want To Get Violent’)
The reporter also lamented Musk’s release of the “Twitter Files” through Rolling Stone contributing editor Matt Taibbi, which intended to disclose the social media company’s suppression of the New York Post’s report on Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Collins’ suspension is due to the reporter’s coverage of Musk earlier in December, according to Semafor.
“Imagine throwing it all away to do PR work for the richest person in the world,” NBC reporter Ben Collins tweeted. “Humiliating shit. Speak* truth** to*** power.”
When Musk suspended the journalists for allegedly doxxing him, Collins immediately suggested that the Twitter CEO suspended the journalists because of their critical reports on him.
“The Intercept journalist @micahflee has been suspended. He had been writing critically about Elon Musk,” he tweeted Thursday night. “Political pundit @keitholbermann has been suspended by Twitter. He had been tweeting critically of Elon Musk.”