Babylon Bee restored on Twitter after 8-month ban

The Babylon Bee, the satirical Christian- and conservative-themed publication banned from Twitter earlier this year over a transgender joke, has been restored to its account privileges, the outlet said on Friday. 

"We're back. Let that sink in," the Bee tweeted on Friday afternoon, the first tweet from the account since late March of this year. 

The Bee was hit with its Twitter ban in March after it tweeted a joke headline claiming that U.S. Secretary of Health Rachel Levine was the outlet's "Man of the Year." Levine was born a male but now identifies as a woman.

Bee CEO Seth Dillon refused to delete the tweet; Twitter subsequently turned down an appeal from the outlet. 

The suspension appears to have played a part in global magnate Elon Musk's much-publicized decision to purchase Twitter. Dillon told the Washington Times in early April of this year that Musk had reached out to the Bee shortly after the suspension. 

During that call, Dillon said, Musk mused that "he might need to buy Twitter."