Celebs Who Swore To Quit Twitter But Couldn't Resist Coming Back
Twitter: If you love it, you probably hate how much you love it. While it is arguably the best social media platform for breaking news and fast mobilization to address most issues (depending on how well you navigate through potential disinformation, that is), it also has a dark side filled with reactionaries and vile abuse. A few celebrities figured this out early on, including actor Megan Fox, who joined Twitter in 2013 ... and then promptly deactivated her account after only one week. "I thought that 2013 might be the year that I finally blossomed into a social networking butterfly," she wrote on Facebook at the time (via Us Weekly). "But as it turns out, I still hate it." Hey, to each their own.
But the online harassment can get so bad within the Twittersphere, that the company's CEO, Jack Dorsey, took to his personal account to actually reprimand his own user base in 2018. "We have witnessed abuse, harassment, troll armies, manipulation through bots and human-coordination, misinformation campaigns, and increasingly divisive echo chambers," he tweeted. "We aren't proud of how people have taken advantage of our service, or our inability to address it fast enough."
However, there are some famous faces who can't seem to get enough. Here are a few stars who swore to quit Twitter, but just couldn't resist coming back.
Sarah Hyland quit Twitter over a GoFundMe campaign
Sometimes on Twitter, no good deed goes unpunished. "Modern Family" star Sarah Hyland found that out the hard way in late 2018, when she shared a GoFundme campaign and asked her fans to donate to help out her cousin's immediate family after he was allegedly killed by a drunk driver (via Us Weekly). Unfortunately, some of her fans assumed that since she was television, she could afford to do all the helping herself.
"First, it's certainly a tragedy when senseless events like this occur. Our hearts and prayers go out to the family. But...@Sarah_Hyland is worth more than I'll ever dream of and she is requesting donations to cover a $10k GoFundMe??? You just lost a fan, Sarah," one user wrote, per Us Weekly. Another added, "Sorry for the tragic loss of your cousin but aren't YOU rich enough to pay for his funeral? Why are you asking other people to give when you won't?" Good times in the Twitterverse.
The online onslaught eventually became too much for Hyland. "You guys finally did it. Your horrible negative ignorant words have broken me. Happy? Staying offline for a while. I have a special announcement and video releasing on Wednesday I believe. So. There's that," she tweeted. However, the actor eventually came back to Twitter, and at the time of this writing, is still very active on the social media platform.
A tweet to Lily Allen resulted in an investigation by the U.K.'s Ministry of Defence
According to MTV News, there were rumors circulating in 2012 that Lily Allen had plans to adopt a child. One man felt the need to let the "Smile" singer know how he felt about that, tweeting: "All the best with your new family just seen you bought s**t I mean adopted a child from Africa." The man's bio stated that he was an active soldier in Britain, so Allen reported the tweet to the Ministry of Defence, writing, "Do you condone (these) racist comments? He needs disciplining."
The British Army released a statement condemning the man's remarks and touted their "zero-tolerance approach" to online harassment. "We are aware of the alleged offensive comments and are investigating the matter. It would be inappropriate to comment further while this is ongoing," the statement continued.
But since we're talking about Twitter here, Allen unfortunately faced further online harassment from people who were mad at her for ... reporting the tweet. The singer-songwriter had enough at that point. "So let me get this straight it's 'he was just harassing you, not racially harassing you'. Ah, ok then," she tweeted, adding (via MTV News), "Ok I'm leaving twitter for a few days, hmmmm maybe hours, we'll see. The stupidity of some people on here is astounding." The man in question issued an apology, which Allen accepted. These days, she's a prolific tweeter who seems to just be there for jokes and good vibes. We can't blame her.
Ariel Winter needed to 'enjoy herself without judgement'
Ariel Winter marks our second "Modern Family" cast member to temporality quit Twitter, but this time it was for a much-needed mental health break, according to her people. "Ariel has taken a break from Twitter and engaging with commenters on her other platforms because of the constant negativity she experiences," her rep told People in 2018. "She needs a moment to breathe and enjoy herself without judgement."
Earlier that week, Winter had faced a consistent problem that all young starlets seem to face — the paparazzi. "If a paparazzi attempts to take another f**king picture in front of my house one more time I swear to god I will find ANY SORT of legal action," she wrote on the platform (via Yahoo! Entertainment). "Sad when you literally enjoy your job but hate every part of the fame aspect. Also sad when you desperately want to move somewhere remote so you can just live a normal life in peace. I can't speak for anyone else, but I hate being followed and I hate my s**t out in the news," the star continued, before adding the goodbye emoji.
At the time of this writing, Winter is back on Twitter, but doesn't spend a lot of time there. She's more of an Instagram girl.
Leslie Jones quit Twitter due to the Ghostbusters remake hate
If you're measuring Twitter discourse by levels of trash heaps, the 2016 "Ghostbusters" remake was a hall of fame entry. Almost everyone involved in the movie became the targets of vicious online trolls, including Leslie Jones, who uniquely found herself on the receiving end of vile racist attacks, as well.
In July 2016, however, the former "Saturday Night Live" star decided to push back. "Some people on here are f**king disgusting. I'm blocking your filthy a** if retweet that perverted s**t. Just know that now b**ches!!" she tweeted. Shortly after, Jones described the level of abuse she was receiving on the social media platform, writing, "Ok I have been called Apes, sent pics of their a**es, even got a pic with semen on my face. I'm tryin to figure out what human means. I'm out."
However, as the day progressed, Jones' anger turned into pain. "I feel like I'm in a personal hell. I didn't do anything to deserve this. It's just too much. It shouldn't be like this. So hurt right now," she shared. The stand-up comedian then announced her decision to leave the platform: "I leave Twitter tonight with tears and a very sad heart. All this cause I did a movie. You can hate the movie but the s**t I got today...wrong." At the time of this writing, Jones is back in the Twittersphere and tends to post multiple times a day.
Chrissy Teigen deleted her Twitter account after sharing a wine story
When Twitter was in its infancy, Chrissy Teigen became one of the platform's darlings. She was the cool, relatable celebrity that everyone just seemed to love, amassing a large following as time went on and keeping that reputation. But sometimes, the star will tweet controversial things during the middle of a global pandemic and rampant unemployment, like sharing how she once "accidentally" ordered a $13,000 bottle of wine at a restaurant.
Teigen then found herself in the middle of a class war on Twitter, and the replies were so much that she actually deleted her account. "The platform no longer serves me as positively as it does negatively, so with that I bid you adieu. But I want to say that this is absolutely NOT twitter's fault – I believe they do all they can to combat relentless bullying, any honestly, it's not the bullying!!" Teigen captioned an Instagram screenshot of her deleted Twitter account in March 2021. "I have to come to terms with the fact some people aren't gonna like me. I hate letting people down or upsetting people and I feel like I just did it over and over and over."
Fear not — Teigen was back in the Twitter game just three weeks later. "Turns out it feels TERRIBLE to silence yourself and also no longer enjoy belly chuckles randomly throughout the day and also lose like 2000 friends at once lol," she tweeted after her return. "I choose to take the bad with the good!!" You do you, Chrissy.
Demi Lovato deactivated her account because of memes
Demi Lovato found herself in the middle of the reactionary wasteland that is Twitter while watching Super Bowl LIII in 2019. During the game, memes of rapper 21 Savage were making the rounds after he was arrested by U.S. immigration officials for having an outdated visa. Lovato made the mistake of commenting on those. "So far 21 savage memes have been my favorite part of the Super Bowl," she wrote in a since-deleted tweet (via Us Weekly).
Lovato received backlash from users, as well as from rapper Wale, who referenced her 2018 near-fatal drug overdose when he tweeted: "A lot of people were sending you love, light, prayers etc. When people were making jokes about u at a rough time. A lot of people. Bless up." On her Instagram Stories, Lovato responded (via Rolling Stone), "Wasn't laughing at anyone getting deported. I know that's not a joke.. not have I EVER laughed at that. The meme I posted/was talking about was of him being writing with a feather pen. Sorry if I offended anyone. But it's no excuse to laugh at someone's addiction let alone their OD."
After a while, the "Sober" singer had enough, writing (via Us Weekly): "If you're gonna come at me for making a joke, try coming at me with something original not involving drugs. F**k Twitter. This is why I don't tweet anymore." Lovato then deactivated her Twitter account — but at the time of this writing, Lovato is very much active on the platform.
Lewis Capaldi left twitter... for a good reason
We feel that congratulations are in order here for Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi, who chose to leave Twitter not to protect himself from backlash or online trolls, but to focus on a new album.
"See you all later in the year with a new album to shove down your throats," he tweeted in January 2021. Capaldi's announcement included a photo of a longer message that read, "Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year and I'll see you, big lovely b******s, later in the year with some new music that imagine will be universally panned by critics and will fail to be as commercially successful as my last outing." He added, "Thus spelling the beginning of the end of the 15 minutes of fame that quite frankly, I never deserved in the first place. It's all very exciting. Love you, stay safe and bye for now."
Capaldi was true to his word ... until he tweeted out an update to all his fans two months later, regretting the fact that due to COVID-19 that he would be postponing and rescheduling his tour dates. We hope the album is fire, Lewis.
Kanye West reportedly 'realized his rants were becoming unhealthy'
Ah, Kanye West. Where do we begin? The Twitter rant king decided to delete his account in 2018, apparently because the "Flashing Lights" rapper was simply spending too much time online. "Kanye got to the point where he realized his rants were becoming unhealthy. This is why he deleted his account," a source cited by People claimed at the time. "When he gets into these Twitter rants, it's very difficult for him to stop. It's like an obsession and it actually affects his life. He knows it's not healthy, so he wants to take things down a notch."
During a 2019 interview with Vogue, Kim Kardashian discussed her then-husband's bipolar disorder, and his penchant to be terminally on the Internet. "I think some of the hurtful things that I read online ... 'What is she doing? She's not stopping him.' ... Like, it's my fault if he does or says something that they don't agree with?" she said. "That's my husband. I share every opinion that I have and let him know when I think something's wrong. Or if it comes to him being in the middle of a bipolar episode, I'll do everything to be supportive and help to calm the situation."
Of course, West eventually returned to Twitter. However, at the time of this writing, the rapper hasn't tweeted since Nov. 4, 2020, and he and Kardashian are facing the end of their marriage.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.
Lena Dunham had to get away from the 'verbal violence' on Twitter
All you really have to do to understand Lena Dunham's relationship with the Internet is to type "Lena Dunham faces backlash" into Google, and then cancel the rest of your plans for the day. You'll be reading for a while. The "Girls" creator took one of the first of her many breaks from Twitter back in 2015 and later explained her decision to host Kara Swisher during an appearance on the "Re/code" podcast. The simple answer? "Verbal violence," Dunham said (via USA Today).
"I really appreciate that anybody follows me at all, and so I didn't want to cut off my relationship to it completely, but it really, truly wasn't a safe space for me," Dunham explained, revealing that she had hired someone to tweet on behalf of her to avoid the drama. "Even if you think, like, 'Oh I can read, like, ten mentions that say I should be stoned to death' and kind of, like, laugh and move on, that's verbal abuse." She continued, "Those aren't words that should be directed at you ever. And so, for me personally, it was safer to stop."
As you might have guessed, Dunham's Twitter break didn't last long. At the time of this writing, the "American Horror Story: Cult" star has an active presence on the social media platform, and continues to speak her mind freely with varying results.
Alec Baldwin has already quit Twitter twice in 2021
In the first few months of 2021, Alec Baldwin quit Twitter twice. His first self-deactivation happened in January after his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, faced accusations of lying about her heritage. "Twitter is like a party where everyone is screaming. Not much of a party. Goodbye for now," the actor wrote (via Entertainment Weekly).
However, Alec was back on shortly thereafter — until that March, when he tweeted an article where fellow actor and "The Crown" star Gillian Anderson admitted to switching between her natural British accent and an American one. We assume the "30 Rock" star was coming to the defense of his wife again when he added the caption: "Switching accents? That sounds...fascinating" (via Entertainment Weekly). Naturally, this caused backlash that led to Alec quitting Twitter again. He announced his decision to leave the platform with a nearly 10-minute long video on Instagram, in which he stated, "You can't do irony in the United States anymore because the United States is such an uptight, stressed-out place and such an unpleasant place right now." He added that Twitter is full of "a**holes" and "haters."
According to CNN, Alec Baldwin previously quit Twitter in 2017 after some unfortunate comments he made about the #MeToo Movement in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal. Considering Baldwin's an old pro at quitting Twitter, then coming back, we feel it's safe to assume he'll be back shortly to do it all over again.
A BuzzFeed article temporarily ran Armie Hammer off Twitter
In November 2017, BuzzFeed published a takedown of Armie Hammer's career with an articled titled, "Ten Long Years Of Trying To Make Armie Hammer Happen." The article suggested that due Hammer's fortune heir status and the fact that he was a white man, that the actor has been given "many second chances" that actors of color would not. Hammer's response to the article? "Your chronology is spot on but your perspective is bitter AF. Maybe I'm just a guy who loves his job and refuses to do anything but what he loves to do...?" he tweeted.
Hammer then decided to leave Twitter. "I just have no impulse control," he explained to The Wrap. "So if somebody says something stupid, I couldn't help but say something back, and then it just exploded. This is a toxic environment, and my life is way better off. It's so funny — People are so addicted and into Twitter, it seems crazy that someone could walk away from it! They're like, wait, he deleted it? It was actually really easy."
Of course, Hammer's decision to quit Twitter didn't last, and at the time of this writing, he hasn't deleted his account. However, the "Call Me By Your Name" star also hasn't posted since January 2021, after he faced allegations of sexual abuse and claims that he was into cannibal BDSM stuff. Never tweet, folks.
Sylvester Stallone: Twitter just opens 'yourself up to a bunch of criticism from strangers'
Rocky could take a lot of punches and not go down, but the actor who portrayed that iconic character didn't want to deal with the vicious body blows from Twitter users. Speaking to the now-defunct British magazine, Nuts, in 2013 (via the Toronto Sun), Sylvester Stallone explained why he decided to leave the social media platform.
"I used to tweet but it's an act of futility. You're not really making any impact. It might be a great promotional tool but just to make small talk, it's crazy," the man behind Rambo himself said. "If you find yourself in a mood when you wanna be a bit controversial and you post something, you suddenly realize, 'Oh my God!' because you've opened yourself up to a bunch of criticism from strangers." We can't really argue with that.
But at the time of this writing — and reader, you can probably guess where we're going with this — the three-time Oscar nominee once again has a regular Twitter presence, but mainly sticks to posting Instagram links and promoting his upcoming projects. Phew! Not controversial at all.