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Bassem Youssef has reactivated his account on X, formerly known as Twitter, after easing concerns for his family's safety.
The Egyptian-American comedian has posted a statement across his social media channels, offering further insight into why he deactivated his X page.
“Two reasons: I received concerning messages that gave me and my team the impression that my account has been hacked with potential of being doxxed,” he wrote. “Also there were potential safety issues concerning people I know.”
Youssef said he then began looking into whether the threats were legitimate. “This was consuming all my time, plus I was dealing with personal and health issues,” he said. “My family members were under a lot of pressure so I had to deal with that. This caused a major burnout to all of us.”
Even after security concerns were alleviated, Youssef said he chose not to return to social media for some time, saying his priority was to be with his family. It was a decision that had financial repercussions he said, “but it was all just too much to handle”.
Youssef was surprised by the “level of chaos” spurred by his account’s deactivation. The comedian also said he would be releasing a new video soon, and that he is now “back and posting as usual on all platforms, including X”.
Youssef deactivated his X account hours after an August 19 post that criticised the use of the term anti-Semitism as a fear tactic to “shut down conversations” and “intimidate people”.
Initially, there was speculation that one of Youssef’s last X posts could have resulted in a suspension. The comedian was evidently referring to discussions surrounding Israel’s attack on Gaza when he posted: “anti-Semitism was an accusation that used to freeze the blood on people’s veins.”
However, as speculations began to circulate, Youssef made a subsequent post on his Instagram denying rumours that his account had been removed by X.
“I don't want to falsely victimise myself using this,” he wrote. “When safety issues concerning my loved ones are alleviated, I might consider coming back,” he wrote, adding in a separate post that he was not sure when that might be. “I wish to deal with this away from the media. I will still be posting my content on TikTok, Insta and FB.”
He told his followers to be wary of any users on X claiming to be him, saying “any other account posing as me on Twitter is fake”.
Youssef went viral last year after interviews with Piers Morgan in which he used dark humour to point out the brutality of Israel’s war on Palestinians.
“Those Palestinians, they’re very dramatic. ‘Ah, Israel is killing us,’ but they never die,” said Youssef in one widely shared clip from the interview.
“I mean, they always come back. They’re very difficult to kill, very difficult people to kill. I know, because I’m married to one. I tried many times. I try to get to her every time, but she uses our kids as human shields.”
In the October 2023 episode, Youssef made several references to his wife, who is half-Palestinian and still had family in Gaza.
“We haven't been able to communicate with them in the past three days. Communication has been lost, so we don't know how they are doing, but we are used to that,” he said.
Weeks later, Morgan interviewed Youssef again, this time in Los Angeles. The comedian brought up the differences between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism during the interview.
“I think there is a rise of anti-Semitism in the world,” Youssef said. “This is very dangerous. As a Muslim who has been through events where there were terrorist attacks somewhere and that [was] reflected back to us. I can completely feel that.”
He said that since the war began on October 7, he had had several messages from Jewish friends asking whether his wife’s family were safe.
“I think it is very important to agree on the language because the word anti-Semite has been used and abused, and most of the time not in the interest of the Jewish people,” Youssef said.
