NBC reportedly suspends Ben Collins for mocking Elon Musk on Twitter
NBC News has indefinitely barred tech reporter Ben Collins from covering Elon Musk and Twitter for repeatedly mocking the mogul on the social media app, it was reported on Friday.
Collins was told earlier this month by higher-ups at 30 Rock that his tweets blasting Musk were not editorially appropriate, according to the news site Semafor.
Collins has been yanked off the air from NBC and MSNBC but remains on staff. He has been actively tweeting and retweeting the latest developments related to Musk’s controversial decision to ban the accounts of several left-leaning journalists who were critical of his management of the social media app.
When reached by The Post, an NBC News spokesperson said: “We don’t comment on personnel matters.”
A source close to the situation told The Post that Collins, who has more than 380,000 Twitter followers, was repeatedly warned by management at NBC News over opinionated tweets about Musk.
The source said Collins was reminded of the company’s journalistic guidelines that bar reporters from expressing their personal views on topics they are assigned to cover.
While Collins is sidelined, he will not be permitted to report on Twitter or Musk across NBC platforms including the over-the-air network, cable news outlet MSNBC, and NBC News’ online site and social media handles, the source told The Post.
There is no timeline for the suspension to end, the insider explained.
Collins’ benching comes as Musk suspended a half-dozen journalists for violating Twitter safety rules by linking to a handle that tracked the mogul’s private jet flights.
Jack Sweeney, the Florida-based college sophomore who operated the Twitter handle, slammed Musk for suspending him as well as his flight-tracking accounts that monitored the private jets of Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and others.
Musk threatened to sue Sweeney after implying that his @Elonjet handle helped a stalker locate his personal vehicle and tail it on a Los Angeles highway.
The mogul posted a video to his Twitter account showing the alleged stalker behind the wheel of a white Hyundai. Musk claimed that the man jumped on the hood of his car, which was carrying his young son at the time.