Dropping the Twitter mic: Best tweeted exits —
Rapper/fashion mogul Kanye West has quit Twitter multiple times since he first joined in 2010. He returned in April 2018 with tweets he wrote were "my book that I'm writing in real time." In October he once again deleted his official Twitter and Instagram accounts in the wake of controversy following his visit with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, only to return to Twitter in a week.
Actress and comedian Leslie Jones tweeted in July 2016 that she would be leaving Twitter because of racist and hateful comments. "I leave Twitter tonight with tears and a very sad heart," the "Ghostbusters" star said. "All this cause I did a movie. You can hate the movie but the s*** got today...wrong." Jones ended up just taking a break, and not totally quitting.
Singer Sam Smith announced in March 2016 that he would be taking a break from social media after the dust-up over his Oscars acceptance speech. He posted a tweet in June after the Orlando nightclub attack.
Director Joss Whedon thanked users on Twitter in May 2015 before unceremoniously shutting down his feed. This led to speculation that abusive complaints about Black Widow's role in the movie "Avengers: Age of Ultron" caused him to quit. But Whedon told Buzzfeed he left Twitter because he didn't want it to distract from his next project. "I just had a little moment of clarity where I'm like, You know what? If I want to get stuff done, I need to not constantly hit this thing for a news item or a joke or some praise, and then be suddenly sad when there's hate and then hate and then hate."
Chrissy Teigen is one of Twitter's more popular users, but vicious threats in response to one of Teigen's tweets about gun control once chased the model and TV personality away from the platform. She has since returned.
Alec Baldwin and Twitter have been involved in an on-again, off-again relationship. The actor has left Twitter twice -- in 2011 and 2013 -- but has always returned. His most recent exit, inspired by a profane fallout with a journalist that landed Baldwin in some severely hot water, included this tweeted farewell: "Now f**k this twitter + good luck to all of you who know the truth." He has since returned.
Chris Brown, too, has a love-hate relationship with Twitter. After getting into a feud with comedian Jenny Johnson in 2012, Brown posted a message to his fans, "teambreezy," instructing them to "catch me in traffic" rather than on Twitter. He deleted his account at the time -- as he did in 2009 -- but is currently active.
Megan Fox tried Twitter for a while in 2013, but she just didn't get it. "5 days on Twitter and I have yet to discern it's purpose. #WhatIsThePoint ???" she said. The next day, Fox went on Facebook to make her Twitter exit official. "My Twitter account has been shut down," she said. "I thought that 2013 might be the year that I finally blossomed into a social networking butterfly... but as it turns out I still hate it. Love you guys but I will just never be that girl."
In 2010, John Mayer realized that his love of Twitter was getting in the way of his day job. After updating his followers on absolutely everything, the musician gave up Twitter to head back into the studio. "I was a tweetaholic," Mayer later said. "I was always writing on it ... and it started to make my mind smaller and smaller and smaller. And I couldn't write a song."
The worst Twitter quitter is the one who leaves without warning, like James Franco did in 2011. After joining the site in February, just before hosting (and live-tweeting during) that year's Oscars, the actor abruptly dropped off with little explanation. Although he said in an interview at the time that "social media is over. Still up there. Going down. You heard it here first," he eventually made his way back to the platform.
There was a time when Miley Cyrus actually wanted to keep her private life (and private parts) to herself. In 2009, Cyrus was inspired to quit Twitter and did so with a rap video announcing her decision. By 2011, Charlie Sheen's epic posts on the social site had persuaded her to return.
After providing plenty of entertainment, "Lost" writer/producer Damon Lindelof gave up Twitter in October 2013. His final tweet was cryptic -- "After much thought and deliberation, I've decided t" the unfinished post read -- but he later explained that his exit had a dual purpose. It was a nod to his show about the Rapture, "The Leftovers," but it was mostly just time to go. "I was in a place of feeling like Twitter was really consuming me in an unhealthy way," he told TV critics.
Ashton Kutcher decided to hand his Twitter account over to more capable hands after his own got him in trouble. When Penn State fired football coach Joe Paterno in 2011 in the wake of its child abuse scandal, an uninformed Kutcher fired off an indignant tweet that seemed to ignore the allegations. Kutcher later apologized and said he would stop tweeting "until I find a way to properly manage this feed." For a time he let his PR team handle his account, although he seems to be tweeting on his own more lately.
In April 2012, Nicki Minaj was so annoyed by a supposed fan site leaking some of her new music that the rapper made a grand exit from Twitter altogether. "Like seriously, it's but so much a person can take. Good f******g bye," she tweeted before taking down her profile. Within nine days, Minaj was back at it.
Negativity on Twitter also got to Jennifer Love Hewitt, who tried to quit in July 2013. "I'm sad to say twitter is no longer for me," the actress posted. "I have enjoyed all the kindness and love that came my way, as well as support. But this break is needed. Life should be filled with positivity and holding each other up, not making threats and sending bad vibes." Hewitt's break was extremely short-lived; she was back on Twitter by August.
At least when Kanye West quit Twitter in October 2012, he promised he'd come back eventually. After growing his Twitter account into a gold mine of Kanye-isms -- who else would inform us that "fur pillows are hard to sleep on"? -- West deleted all those incredible missives and left just one tweet up on his dormant account: "BE BACK SOON." And he is, in a big way.
In 2012, Charlie Sheen also briefly decided that Twitter was no longer the winning way to go. The man who introduced us to #tigerblood temporarily ended his tweet spree with the farewell, "reach for the stars everyone. dogspeed cadre. c out." Like those before him, Twitter's siren call eventually lured Sheen back to its 140 characters.
Actress Amanda Bynes has quit acting only to "unretire," and she has been similarly wishy-washy about Twitter. Her account has been deleted and relaunched more than once.
In April 2014, Minnie Driver became fed up with rude tweets about her looks after the actress was photographed in a bikini while on vacation. "God some people are horrible: you try being photographed when you don't know it's happening, when you're on holiday with your kids," she said. "I'm out of this Twittersphere for a while. It's too mean sometimes, about your body, about your soul. Not worth it."
