Outspoken liberal actor Tom Arnold tweeted out what he claimed was Hope Hicks’ “personal cell” phone number after news broke she was positive with Covid-19, and Twitter has taken no action against the account.
In a since-deleted tweet, Arnold reportedly wrote, “Silent thoughts & prayers aren’t enough for national treasure Hope Hicks. She needs to hear them.” He then shared what he said was her “personal cell.”
Sharing someone’s cell phone number is in violation of Twitter’s conduct rules – it’s the reason Kanye West recently got locked out of his account – but Arnold’s account has been active since the posting, enough that he even responded to reports he’d shared the phone number and appeared to defend himself.
“I was being nice!!” he wrote in one posting about it.
I was being nice!! Tom Arnold shares Hope Hicks’ cell phone number after she tests positive for coronavirus https://t.co/iQggZ1wItb#FoxNews
Tom Arnold shares Hope Hicks’ cell phone number after she tests positive for coronavirus https://t.co/iQggZ1wItb#FoxNews
According to a Twitter spokesperson, the company did not take any action against Arnold’s account.
In another tweet hashtagging Hicks’ name, Arnold responded to a MSNBC-produced list of White House officials who have traveled with the adviser to the president by saying, “I think Rudy Giuliani and Trump Sr are the only 2 old enough to die. It is what it is.”
I think Rudy Giuliani and Trump Sr are the only 2 old enough to die. It is what it is. COVID-19 won’t affect the others what so ever. #HopeHickshttps://t.co/AEzopp2orH
Though he deleted his original tweet, reports of sharing Hicks’ phone number have earned Arnold plenty of criticism.
Actor James Woods slammed Arnold as a “particularly nasty piece of work.”
Democrats believe they’re going to win the election, so they aren’t bothering to hide who and what they are now. This one is a particularly nasty piece of work. https://t.co/JHQd5SrwC9
“@tomarnold is a sick man – and, at the same time, just a typical Democrat,” filmmaker Nick Searcy added.
.@tomarnold is a sick man — and, at the same time, just a typical Democrat. https://t.co/5Xqbxk2QC9
.@TomArnold is one very mean guy. So #HopeHicks gets the Coronavirus, and Arnold wants people to harass her? Won’t everyone agree that this doxing of an ill person is way, way over the top? Why isn’t Arnold so embarrassed that he must apologize? https://t.co/rzHuzPX5uj
This sucks. Targeted harassment is brutal. Don’t care if you don’t like someone or their politics, aiming your audience at someone personally is incredibly dangerous. @Twitter should suspend his account. https://t.co/usIwjkSVUl
This is far from the first time a ‘political’ take has landed Arnold in hot water. The devoted Trump critic tweeted in June that “white liberal men” should borrow rifles and “go nose to nose with Trump’s gang of misfit tools.”
Arnold has also claimed to have audio of Trump using racist language since 2017, but the tapes have never materialized. The actor was even visited in 2018 by the Secret Service after saying he wanted to “bodyslam” the president.
Hicks tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday, and the president and first lady also received positive results later that day.
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