Elon Musk Is Personally Paying For The Twitter Check Marks Of Certain Celebrities Like Stephen King And LeBron James
Despite that poll that let Elon Musk know that he should step down as the head (and head butcherer) of Twitter, he has not stepped down as promised, even though Twatter is reportedly worth less than half of what he paid for it. Well, one thing Elon actually did manage to follow through with his plan to get rid of verified blue check marks unless you pay $8 a month. Yes, even famous people are falling victim to the Twitter blue check mark purge. But Doja Cat doesn’t care, as she recently said that having a blue check mark on Twitter nowadays makes you a “complete loser.” Sadly, some famous people are being relegated to Complete Loserville, as Elon claims that he himself is paying for the verification of several celebrities. That screams, “trying to buy the love of the popular kids so they like me!”
After spending an overblown $44 billion on Twitter, Elon Musk has pretty much run his new toy into the ground plummeting the value to $20 billion. Celebrities like Whoopi Goldberg and Jim Carrey have already quit that bitch. But some famous people won’t get to leave the inner circle of cool kids that Elon Musk decides are worthy. The Verge says that some famous people like Stephen King and LeBron James have refused to pay for a check mark but luckily for them, they still have a blue check mark thanks to Elon Musk.
The Verge has confirmed that an employee at Twitter recently emailed James, who has previously said he wouldn’t pay for verification, to “extend a complimentary subscription to Twitter Blue for your account, @kingjames, on behalf of Elon Musk.”
We contacted James’ longtime media advisor, Adam Mendelsohn, who confirmed that James hasn’t paid to be verified. However, after we first published this information, Musk said that he’s paying “a few” subscriptions “personally,” including for the accounts belonging to Stephen King and William Shatner.
James has perhaps been the most famous hater of paid verification on Twitter, insisting that, like Martin Lawrence’s TV show character, “I ain’t paying the $5.” But if you check his profile, he still has a verified badge. Once you hover over the badge, it says that “this account is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number.”
Here’s Elon Musk smugly letting Stephen King know that Stephen can thank him for that precious check mark:
You’re welcome namaste 🙏
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2023
Ice-T also said last month that he would never pay for Twitter, but he too is still verified. via EW:
However, the Law & Order stalwart perhaps hit the proverbial nail on its little unverified head when he tweeted, “The fact that we’re even discussing blue check marks is a sad moment in society. Smh lol.”
…Reps for King and Ice-T did not immediately respond to EW’s request for comment.
If Elon Musk keeps reaching into his own pockets (uh huh) to pay for the check marks of famous people so that they like him, his current $164 billion dollar fortune (which is dropping) will dwindle even faster as he continues to sit all by himself at Twitter’s “popular kids” table.
Pic: Britta Pedersen/DPA/Cover Images