Explosive farce about Twitter boss Elon Musk and the NBA superstar

A momentous and controversial revolution in the short message service Twitter has also caused a lot of resonance in the sports world – and a stir about NBA superstar LeBron James and Twitter boss Elon Musk.

Heart of the matter: All celebrities lost the blue hook on Thursday if they got it before South African billionaire Musk bought the ailing company last October.

Originally, the blue tick (strictly speaking: a white tick in front of a blue background) was there to indicate that the account is really managed by the well-known public person or organization and that it is not a fake account that is being used for unfair purposes with strangers decorated with feathers.

But now, all users have to pay $8 a month and subscribe to the Twitter Blue plan to get their hook and get more exposure and other benefits – celebrity or not.

Musk’s hook reform is highly controversial because the orientation function that the system previously had is being lost – critics accuse Musk of promoting disinformation and other undesirable developments.

Various prominent Musk critics have publicly announced that they do not want the hook, including NBA star James: “I think my blue hook will be gone soon. Because everyone who knows me knows I won’t pay,” he announced on March 31.

The surprise was all the greater when countless accounts lost their hook on Thursday, but not James.

The Los Angeles Lakers forward, himself a billionaire, brought this to the attention of his 52.7 million followers himself, writing: “My Twitter tells me I’m Twitter Blue. I haven’t completed it. My twitter tells me that I have a number on file. I haven’t.”

A little later, it became clear what was going on: maintaining the hook was an uninvited gift from Elon Musk.

“I personally pay for some,” wrote the entrepreneur, who is also the head of automaker Tesla and space company SpaceX. When asked who for, Musk replied, “For three. LeBron, Stephen King and William Shatner.” Author King and acting legend Shatner are also known to be vocal critics of Musk.

The 51-year-old Musk, himself an intensive user of the news service long before the purchase, apparently enjoys using his power to “troll” unloved celebrities over the communications network – which only made the critical questions about his agenda louder .