Stephen King refuses to name Twitter by the brand new identify Elon Musk picked for the social community, X. In a reply to the legendary horror author, Musk tried to make an anti-trans joke — accusing King of “deadnaming” the platform.
King on Wednesday wrote, “In accordance with the New York Instances, terrorists could also be paying for blue examine marks on Twitter (I refuse to name it X).”
Musk — as an alternative of addressing the allegation that his firm is taking cash from identified terrorist organizations — took the chance to mock deadnaming, by which somebody makes use of a former identify of a transgender individual with out their consent.
“Cease deadnaming … Respect our transition 😂,” Musk wrote in response to King. The precise-wing Libs of TikTok account chimed in, asking facetiously, “Is Stephen King transphobic?” Musk has beforehand ridiculed individuals who point out their most popular pronouns and mentioned that X/Twitter has deemed “cis” and “cisgender” to be anti-heterosexual “slurs.” Musk is estranged from his daughter Vivian Wilson, who in 2022 modified her identify and gender; in an October 2022 interview with the Monetary Instances, Musk blamed his daughter’s resolution to distance herself from him on the “takeover of elite colleges and universities by neo-Marxists.”
King was referring to the Instances’ Feb. 14 story a few report from the Tech Transparency Undertaking that discovered X was “probably violating U.S. sanctions” by accepting funds “from accounts that embrace Hezbollah leaders, Houthi teams, and state-run media retailers in Iran and Russia” for the X Premium service, which supplies subscribers verified check-mark standing.
Musk has not commented on the TTP report. In a statement, X mentioned, “Our groups have reviewed the report and can take motion if needed. We’re all the time dedicated to making sure that we preserve a secure, safe and compliant platform.”
In the meantime, King has beforehand expressed his displeasure over Musk’s altering the identify of the social community. In a July 2023 post, he wrote, “Twitter Twitter Twitter Twitter Twitter Twitter Twitter Twitter Twitter Twitter Twitter Twitter Twitter Twitter. And in case you didn’t get that: Twitter.”
And King and Musk have beforehand sparred on X/Twitter. In October 2022, King, responding to a report that Twitter going to cost for blue check-marks, wrote, “Fuck that, they need to pay me. If that will get instituted, I’m gone like Enron.” He added, “It ain’t the cash, it’s the precept of the factor.” Musk on the time replied to King, “We have to pay the payments by some means! Twitter can’t rely solely on advertisers. How about $8 [per month]?”
In April 2023, Musk purged most of Twitter’s legacy verified accounts — after disparaging the earlier verification coverage as “corrupt and nonsensical” — eradicating blue examine marks of a number of high-profile accounts. Supposedly, anybody who needed a blue examine mark would wish to subscribe to Twitter Blue (now referred to as X Premium), which prices $8/month and up. Within the wake of that transfer, King expressed confusion in regards to the scenario, tweeting, “My Twitter account says I’ve subscribed to Twitter Blue. I haven’t. My Twitter account says I’ve given a telephone quantity. I haven’t.” Musk later claimed he was “personally” paying of King’s premium account and replied to the author, “You’re welcome namaste 🙏.” A couple of days later, Twitter had restored examine marks for tons of of celebrities, together with for individuals who mentioned they weren’t paying the charge (in addition to for a number of who’re useless).
