Chaos on Twitter as Elon Musk Returns Blue Checks to Lil Nas X, Charlie Sheen and More: ‘It’s Like Xmas and My Birthday All at Once!’
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Just days after Twitter removed all blue check verification marks from accounts that are not subscribed to Twitter Blue, CEO Elon Musk and the site’s overlords have, for whatever reason, gifted certain users a free blue check — whether they asked for it or not.
And chaos ensued.
“On my soul I didn’t pay for twitter blue,” tweeted rapper Lil Nas X. “u will feel my wrath tesla man!”
on my soul i didn’t pay for twitter blue, u will feel my wrath tesla man!
— pussy (@LilNasX) April 22, 2023
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It’s becoming comical. Some users like model Chrissy Teigen and meme lord @dril have fought back against their forced blue checks. When a user changes their name on Twitter, the blue check goes away. The two have both changed their names and lost the check, but Twitter again re-assigned them. And then Teigen’s mysteriously vanished again (at least it had when this story posted).
so they gave dril the checkmark, but the checkmark goes away if you change your name, so dril just changed his name, but they gave him the checkmark again, so he changed his name again… this is the most looney tunes ass fight ive ever seen between a billionaire and a shitposter
— zach silberberg (@zachsilberberg) April 22, 2023
It’s hard to imagine some of these gifts are not actually intended to be curses laid down by the Twitter powers that be, considering who some of the recipients are. @dril, for example, has been leading the “Block the Blue” campaign, pushing users to block anyone who is paying for Twitter Blue.
Other users, like actor Charlie Sheen, appear to be unironically grateful for the check.
oh my! it’s like Xmas and my birthday all at once!@elonmusk i’m flushed
with gratitude.
Rock Star move, good sir.
© pic.twitter.com/EnEMByuG8J— Charlie Sheen (@charliesheen) April 22, 2023
Others were less appreciative of the forced verification. Here are just a sprinkling:
He restored the check marks of legacy accounts with >1mm followers. It's fascinating to watch.
— Jonathan Franks
(@jonfranks) April 22, 2023
BREAKING: every legacy verified account with 1M+ followers has their blue check back…
except for @jack— Best of Dying Twiter (@bestofdyingtwit) April 22, 2023
Good lord, I’ve been LeBroned, Shatnered, Kinged without my consent. No means no, boys. pic.twitter.com/XnbMVydOqW
— Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) April 22, 2023
i have no clue how this happened, i absolutely did not buy twitter blue pic.twitter.com/rYzE2ATfla
— hasanabi (@hasanthehun) April 22, 2023
Whew! Did the “change your name then change it back” trick and the blue check went away. Good to know.
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 22, 2023
The real blue check was inside of you this whole time and whatnot.
— George Wallace (@MrGeorgeWallace) April 23, 2023
like?! How are you lying to these people like this?!? That has to be fraud somehow right? You think I’d pull out my wallet after talking all that shit? This is embarrassing
— Lauren Jauregui (@LaurenJauregui) April 22, 2023
To add to the confusion, accounts of people who have passed away now appear to be paying for Twitter Blue.
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 22, 2023
So fuckin disrespectful to blue check #KobeBryant
RIP pic.twitter.com/AXA3DLRG3p— 𝖠𝗇𝖽𝗋𝖺𝖾 𝖲𝗍𝖾𝗋𝗅𝗂𝗇𝗀 (@TweetsByDrae) April 23, 2023
For all we know, we could all wake up tomorrow with red checks, burgundy ampersands or (most likely, given Musk’s propensity and history) the Dogecoin logo next to our usernames.