When his image briefly appeared on screen at the Valorant World Championships' Final, held in Los Angeles, last weekend, Elon Musk was booed. Ever unpopular in person, Musk's millions-of-bots followers on Don't Call Me Twitter lept to his defense.
Musk should be getting used to public shaming. An appearance at a Dave Chappelle show similarly resulted in jeers. Musk, as is true to course, claimed that the Chappelle incident was cheering. Who knows what story he has concocted for himself here?
"Where is that from? That can't be from in here, surely," one of the event's commentators asked as the sound of jeers filled the arena. An oblivious Musk appeared on screen for just about four seconds, but the boos continued long after the camera cut back to footage of game play. After around thirty seconds, the mockery settled into a chorus as the audience chanted, "Bring back Twitter."
Almost four million viewers tuned-in to watch a stream of the event on Twitch, but the Musk incident got even more attention on the billionaire's own platform. E-sports reporter Jake Lucky posted a clip of the spectacle on X, formerly known as Twitter. It quickly went viral, prompting hazing from Musk's detractors and bitter defense from his legion of blue-checked supporters.
Are all the blue checks paid for now, except the few Musk forced on celebrities?
