Elon Musk's Attempt To Troll LeBron James And Stephen King Doesn't Go Well

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Twitter billionaire owner Elon Musk faced mockery after he boasted about paying from his own pocket for NBA superstar LeBron James, horror author Stephen King and “Star Trek” legend William Shatner to be verified on his social media platform.

James, King and Shatner had all publicly rejected the idea of signing up for the website’s new Twitter Blue verification service, which for $8 monthly (£6.45) gives a blue check mark next to subscribers’ names. It replaces the free tick system for public figures the platform finally axed on Thursday.

King realised something was afoot late Thursday as other users’ blue check marks began to vanish but his remained in place.

“My Twitter account says I’ve subscribed to Twitter Blue. I haven’t. My Twitter account says I’ve given a phone number. I haven’t,” he tweeted.

Musk copped to the move. “You’re welcome namaste,” he replied to King.

Musk later admitted to also covering the cost of Shatner and James’ subscriptions.

Critics interpreted the stunt as an attempted troll by Musk but many agreed it had gone awry.

this has all the flop-sweat energy of a kid bribing his classmates with candy so they’ll come to his birthday party pic.twitter.com/D6Uo1W6OrV
— andi zeisler (@andizeisler) April 20, 2023

elon's auto-subscribing celebs like stephen king, lebron james and taylor swift to twitter blue to make it seem like they're down with his dumb charade https://t.co/942CXHrspG
— Marlow Stern (@MarlowNYC) April 20, 2023

He literally is the pettiest man alive... It's so obvious, he kept the blue tick visible (still are verified) for a select few who were vocal in their opposition to paid verification & then sought them out for their responses.

Musk is such a dork & his fanboys are no better!!! pic.twitter.com/K5MUpLqZ9B
— Podge Quinn ᚚᚐᚇᚏᚐᚔᚌ 🇮🇪 (@podgequinn) April 21, 2023

It appears that Elon Musk has decided to personally intervene to provide blue checks to Stephen King and LeBron James, falsely saying they paid for Twitter Blue, because each made high profile tweets saying they definitely wouldn’t pay for it. Billionaire manchild. https://t.co/C6B5QdJvaT
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) April 20, 2023

There are only 3 people left who are verified against their will: William Shatner, Lebron James, and Stephen King.

I'd WATCH THE SHIT out of a movie in which our three heroes band together to storm twitter HQ to de-checkmark. Final boss battle with Elon would be epic.
— John Green (@sportswithjohn) April 21, 2023

the fact that Elon is forcing people like Lebron & Stephen King to have a blue checkmark they’re not paying for as a *punishment* tells you all you need to know about its value 😭
— LeGate🤠 (@williamlegate) April 21, 2023

William Shatner criticized Elon Musk over paid verification last month and then randomly thanked him for something vague and unspecified yesterday

now he’s got a Twitter Blue verification badge lol pic.twitter.com/VLGPXK8Sw1
— Matt Binder (@MattBinder) April 20, 2023

Elon Musk is now issuing Blue Checkmarks to celebrities for free, because he's embarassed they're not paying for it.

So far he's at Stephen King, Lebron James, and Grimes.

I'm struggling to see the "brilliance" of a man that seems to be commit one fuck-up after another. 🤷♀️
— Dennis, VerÌfied Ninja🥷 (@NinjaSwingSword) April 21, 2023

>stephen king won't buy your service
>try negotiating him down to $8
>he still won't buy it
>buy it for him

art of the deal pic.twitter.com/7oDRmR4aZE
— R🔅x (Sun Cult Member) 🍾🌸🏳️🌈 (@Staroxvia) April 20, 2023

Elon Musk will never beat Stephen King because Stephen King, at his core, is just a random old dad from Maine, and no demographic has ever given less of a crap than random old dads from Maine
— The 🇺🇦 Masked 🇺🇦 Maine 🇺🇦 Millennial 🇺🇦 (@MaineMillennial) April 21, 2023

Musk is pretending that celebrities like Stephen King and LeBron James, who said they would not pay for Twitter, are paying for Twitter, got called on it, and admitted he is paying their fees.
Feel like they should be labeled "Musk funded media" pic.twitter.com/2xFbEqWpLz
— Don Moynihan (@donmoyn) April 20, 2023