Twitter removes Kanye West tweet suggesting followers harass journalist

Twitter took down a post by rapper Kanye West where he listed the phone number of an editor of Forbes magazine. 

“If any of my fans want to call a white supremacist … this is the editor of Forbes,” West tweeted to his 30.9 million followers. 

The post included a screenshot of a contact with the name “Randall Forbes,” which appears to be referring to the magazine’s chief content officer, Randall Lane.

The post was taken down 30 minutes later just before 2 p.m. but not before it garnered 17,000 retweets, according to Business Insider. 

West has bipolar disorder, a mental disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy and activity levels. He and his wife, Kim Kardashian, have spoken out about his mental illness.

The post violated Twitter’s private information policy, which carries a first-time penalty of having to remove the tweet and having the user temporarily unable to tweet from their account. Until the tweet is taken down, Twitter is hiding it from public view. 

The post comes as West embarks on a long-shot presidential campaign where he has used at least $6 million in his own funds, according to the most recent Federal Election Commission filings. 

Still, West has failed to make the ballot in several key states and has polled in the low single digits when included in surveys.