Martin Shkreli Has Been Suspended From Twitter After He Harrassed A Female Journalist

Martin Shkreli, who became famous for jacking up the price of an HIV drug by 5000%, regularly makes an ass out himself at every opportunity. Pharma Bro spends his days attempting to pick Twitter fights with the likes of Patton Oswalt and Chris Evans. Now, he’s gone too far, and Twitter has booted him from their platform following his stalker-like messages to writer Lauren Duca.

Duca recently went toe to toe with Tucker Carlson following her viral Teen Vogue piece called “Donald Trump Is Gaslighting America.” Shkreli, a Trump fanboy, took a liking to Duca and began to send her direct messages last week. When he asked her to be his “+1” to the Trump inauguration, Duca made it clear that she wasn’t interested by tweeting a screencap and adding, “I would rather eat my own organs.”

Shkreli wasn’t deterred. He turned his Twitter profile into a devotional shrine with a bio that read, “I have a small crush on @laurenduca (hope she doesn’t find out).” Duca subsequently tweeted a screencap of Shkreli’s collage-styled header (full of photos of herself), to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

Shkreli had even Photoshopped his face onto a photo of Duca’s husband, which she found unsettling, to say the least.

Twitter took swift action and suspended Shkreli’s account within hours. Buzzfeed’s David Mack first noticed the account’s apparent suspension and contacted Duca, who issued a response: “He’s an entitled creep and absolutely deserves to have his account suspended — perhaps indefinitely.”

Speaking with The Verge, the social media site confirmed that Shkreli’s suspension was “related to the harassment of Duca” but didn’t give specific details. Twitter also issued a statement to Business Insider: “The Twitter Rules prohibit targeted harassment, and we will take action on accounts violating those policies.”

(Via Buzzfeed, The Verge & Business Insider)