Why Jelly Roll Decided To Leave X

While X, formerly known as Twitter, can be a platform for organization and positive messaging, too often, it gets taken over by negativity and hate. This has especially been the case since Elon Musk bought the social media site in late 2022, causing toxicity to run even more rampant on the platform. All the vitriol has led to many celebrities wanting off the platform, including country music sensation Jelly Roll.

In an October 20, 2024 tweet, the singer seemingly declared his intention to leave X. "This is for sure the most toxic negative app to exist ever — PERIOD. lol," he wrote. "This place is different man, I always heard it was the Wild West on here but man it's insane . It's a safe place for everyone to say mean s**t to each other with no consequences. I'm out lol." He didn't explicitly state what was said or what messages he received but they clearly weren't positive words of encouragement.

His post came two days after he vowed to "expose" the music industry in a tweet. "Learned a lot about how slimy the music business is this week, don't worry yall know I'm going to expose it soon," he wrote. He walked back those comments later, writing, "Man yall made a mountain out of a molehill with this one. All these weirdly over dramatic comments about selling souls and satanic weird sh*t is just weird." Jelly Roll then said he would clear the air on his wife Bunnie Xo's podcast "soon," but as of this writing, it's still not clear what the Grammy-nominated artist was referring to and if his intent to expose the music industry was related to him quitting X.

Jelly Roll's acknowledgement of X's hostility drew the ire of rapper Azealia Banks. "Honey, your diet is toxic and negative," she tweeted in a profanity-laced, multiple-Tweet rant directed at Jelly Roll. Her tweets were full of the exact negativity Jelly Roll pointed out in his tweet announcing his departure from X, as she repeatedly insulted him.

Much of the controversy seems to stem from Jelly Roll and Charli XCX's battle for the top spot on the Billboard 200 chart. Jelly Roll's "Beautifully Broken" debuted to impressive sales and streams, landing it at No. 1, while Charli XCX reissued "brat" once again as a deluxe edition, which propelled it back to No. 3. "[S]is doesn't deserve to lose to some obese white man named 'jellyroll,'" Banks tweeted about the Billboard chart rankings.

Even though Jelly Roll vowed to leave X, possibly due to battles taking place on the platform and the Billboard charts, he has tweeted since his "I'm out" message. He announced a The Beautifully Broken Tour Nashville stop in a tweet the following day and a video on X shortly thereafter, proving that social media is a difficult thing to quit, even when people want to.