Another day, another big name leaving X. This time it’s Stephen King, with the “Pet Sematary” author saying he is abandoning the Elon Musk-owned platform because it has become “too toxic” following the election.
“I’m leaving Twitter,” King said on Thursday night, while referring to X by its old name. “Tried to stay, but the atmosphere has just become too toxic. Follow me on Threads, if you like.”
King’s X account, which has 7 million followers, was still active on Friday morning; others who have announced their departure recently, like MSNBC’s Joy Reid, have deactivated their accounts.
The writer’s exit from X adds to a growing number of disgruntled celebrities and media members who have fled the app in the past week. Besides the aforementioned Reid, Former CNN host Don Lemon bid farewell to X on Wednesday, and MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace and actress Jamie Lee Curtis have also ditched the app.
King has been an outspoken critic of president-elect Donald Trump on X for years, so his departure likely has something to do with Musk being Trump’s most vocal supporter in the lead-up to the 2024 election. Musk helped Trump court voters in Pennsylvania and spent more than $100 million via his America PAC to help the Republican get back in the White House. The Tesla and X boss was also named the co-head of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) by Trump on Tuesday.
Earlier this month, King responded to a post from Musk saying Vice President Kamala Harris “wants to break the Constitution,” with the author saying, “That’s ridiculous. As usual.”
King joining Threads comes as the Meta-owned platform has enjoyed healthy growth since the election, as left-leaning X users seek alternatives to Musk’s platform. Threads has seen a 6.8% jump in daily users since the election; it now has 11 million daily active users, according to data shared with TheWrap by Sensor Tower. Bluesky, another social posting rival to X, has also enjoyed a post-election user surge — one that pushed it to the top of Apple’s App Store on Thursday.
And even with the big names leaving the app, X has still seen its daily user base increase 5% after the election, according to Sensor Tower’s data.