Fact Check: Did Elon Musk ban Stephen King from X over his 'first lady' remark?

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: In the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, "king of horror" Stephen King questioned Billionaire Elon Musk’s defense of Donald Trump and after the GOP nominee's win, mocked the Tesla Magnate for his staunch support of the president-elect.

Amid this, several rumors circulating on the internet claimed that Musk, who also owns social media platform X, banned King from the platform after the author referred to the tech mogul as Donald Trump’s "first lady". Is there any truth to this? Let's find out below.

Claim: Elon Musk bans Stephen King from X over 'first lady' remark

In November 2024, several viral posts claimed Elon Musk had banned Stephen King from X. A user wrote, "So the First Lady Elon Musky banned Stephen King because he called him the First Lady. I guess Musky's big play about free speech on Twitter or X-rated bizarre land doesn't apply if hurts your wittle feewings."

Another person supposedly praised King and wrote, "Apparently this happened today Stephen King got kicked off X this morning for calling Elon Musk the first lady. Once again, I realize just how much I love Stephen King."

Another user said, "Stephen King got kicked of X because he called Elon Musk the first lady. On election night, Melania was not at Mar A Lago for the family photo. But Elon was in the "family" photo. Wouldn't you think the same thing? BTW, where is the freedom of speech that Elon talks about?"

False: Stephen King's profile is still active on X

The claims made by people on the internet are false as Stephen King is still active on X and has not been removed from the platform till now despite being critical of both Musk and Trump. The author also debunked the rumor on his own official X account. 

Moreover, fact-checking site Snopes found no "first lady" post about Musk on King's X account, but he has frequently criticized Musk and Trump on the platform.

King wrote on X on November 3, "The Musk-man has posted 3,000 times on Twitter in the last month. Most are pro-Trump disinformation and outright lies. Remember, he has skin in the game. Consider his posts accordingly."

On November 4, he posted, "Last tweet from me (probably not from the Musk-Man) before Election Day: IF YOU LOVE DEMOCRACY, PLEASE VOTE FOR KAMALA HARRIS."

Proof: Stephen King debunks claim of being thrown off X

Stephen King debunked the false claim in a post on November 13 where he wrote, "I see there's a rumor going around that I called the Musk-man Trump's new first lady. I didn't, but only because I didn't think of it. There's also a rumor going around that Muskie kicked me off Twitter. Yet here I am."

Interestingly, this is not the first time there has been a false rumor about Musk banning King off X. A satirical Facebook post in July 2024 also claimed King had been banned permanently from the platform for trolling Musk.