Elon Musk likes to make jokes on Twitter, however I’m beginning to wonder if he’s ever made an unique joke in his life. As a result of anytime you see a joke or a meme from the billionaire proprietor of the social media platform, it’s nearly at all times stolen from his followers with out credit score.
When Musk purchased Twitter again in October for $44 billion, many individuals appeared to imagine wild conspiracy theories concerning the precise causes for his buy. Some folks insisted he wished to swing the 2022 midterm elections to the Republicans. Others insisted he purchased the platform to do away with embarrassing photographs that had been taken of the billionaire entrepreneur over time. However after observing Musk’s possession of the location for over three months, I believe we will definitively say it’s none of these issues.
Musk simply loves all of the jokes folks make and needs to say possession of the laughter. In case you’ll recall, Musk beforehand tried to purchase humor web site The Onion, however that deal fell via. And Musk’s look on SNL exhibits all he actually desires in life is to get amusing. I simply want somebody would present Musk the place the retweet button is.
For instance, Musk stole at the very least 4 jokes on Saturday, and whereas it’s not likely an enormous deal, it’s bizarre and nearly anti-social habits while you personal a social media web site. The Twitter platform has two retweet choices, a local retweet, the place one other particular person’s whole tweet is shared in your timeline, and a quote tweet, the place a consumer can add their very own commentary above the unique tweet. However Musk doesn’t appear to know or care about these options.
What sort of content material is Musk stealing? For example from Saturday, somebody tweeted a joke at Musk that included a photograph of a crying man with the phrases, “While you order a ebook referred to as ‘tips on how to rip-off folks’ and it’s nonetheless not right here after 4 months.” The consumer tweeted it at Musk within the afternoon and Musk tweeted his personal model simply 9 minutes later, with very minor tweaks to the wording of the joke.
“Ordered ‘Learn how to Rip-off’ ebook months in the past however nonetheless not arrived. Beginning to assume it might be … however no I’m certain it’s coming quickly,” Musk tweeted with out giving the unique poster any credit score. Musk’s model has over 15 million views, whereas the particular person he stole the joke from has simply 177,000 views.
Or take one other picture {that a} Dogecoin account tweeted at Musk on Saturday. It’s a screenshot from the Pixar film The Incredibles making a joke about gendered nouns in numerous languages. It was tweeted at Musk at 4:23pm and he stole it simply three minutes later with out credit score. Musk’s tweet has over 5 million views, whereas the unique tweet has 673,000.
Or take this tweet from final month, poking enjoyable on the Related Press for taking situation with utilizing “the” in entrance of sure phrases to explain teams of individuals. Musk even replied to the unique tweet along with his favourite emoticon, the cry-laugher. However he rotated and simply stole the joke somewhat than retweet it.
Or have a look at this tweet from a consumer joking about how a lot time folks waste on the platform when they need to be working. Musk racked up nearly 25 million views in comparison with simply 28,000 for the unique.
And it’s a relentless sample that Musk has been doing for years. Relatively than simply hit the retweet button on a tweet, he’ll take the picture and cross it off as his personal. In 2021, Musk posted a humorous joke for any fan of the 1982 film Blade Runner starring Harrison Ford. However he simply took it from another person on Twitter who had shared it earlier within the day.
Then there’s this meme that reporter Cody Johnston factors out was tweeted straight at Musk earlier than he stole it.
Generally, Musk will even seemingly screenshot a tweet and crop out the unique poster, like he did with this joke from comic Morgan Murphy in 2020.
Musk has additionally stolen quite a few jokes from the satire web site Onerous Drive, whereas cropping out the web site’s title on the joke. When the location referred to as him out for not giving them credit score, Musk replied “much less humorous than SNL on a nasty day. This might make a drunk particular person sober. Strive tougher!”
Onerous Drive replied, “properly you’re the professional on SNL’s unhealthy days,” together with a screenshot of Musk’s look on the NBC present.
Musk was apparently devastated sufficient to delete the unique stolen tweet.
It’d be one factor if it was a joke right here and there. Lots of people have the identical concepts on the identical time, and there’s additionally the potential of inadvertently taking somebody’s joke that you simply remembered from days in the past, really believing it was your personal unique thought. I’ve personally accomplished this at the very least twice in my a few years on Twitter, solely realizing it after the actual fact. However Musk appears to steal jokes each single day.
Musk defenders will probably say that stealing jokes and memes is not any large deal, and people folks could be completely proper. Within the grand scheme of issues, it doesn’t actually matter. Nevertheless it may assist us perceive some issues in Musk’s life that do matter.
For instance, Musk’s rampant meme theft may level to how Musk grew to become such a divisive media character over the previous yr. It’s one factor to turn out to be wealthy, plenty of folks do this. However Musk appears to wish to take all of the credit score for the success of firms like Tesla and SpaceX, leaving different essential figures within the historical past of his firms out of the headlines. And Musk reportedly is not going to tolerate dissent to the official narrative.
Musk likes to name himself a founding father of the electrical automobile firm Tesla, however that’s not correct. Musk was an early investor in Tesla and squeezed the founders out. The actual founders, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, sat down with CNBC in 2019 to speak about getting pushed out of their very own firm. As CNBC explains, Musk was the corporate’s fourth CEO when he took that place in October of 2008.
Musk was even requested as soon as about whether or not he creates his personal memes on social media and the billionaire’s response wasn’t terribly assured.
“You create you personal memes although, don’t you?” a number from the YouTube channel Tesla Homeowners Silicon Valley requested in an interview printed to YouTube in June 2022.
“Uh, some… I create some memes, um…” Musk mentioned unconvincingly.
“Your meme sport is robust,” the host responded.
“Thanks,” Musk replied.
If in case you have proof that Musk has ever created his personal meme, not to mention his personal joke, on Twitter, please cross it alongside. As a result of virtually each try by Musk at being humorous appears to have existed already on social media.
Beneath are simply a few of the different tweets Musk has stolen lately. Once more, it’s not an enormous situation within the greater image, however maybe it exhibits there’s nothing Musk desires extra on the planet than to get laughs.
Musk was loudly booed when he was introduced on stage at a Dave Chappelle live performance again in December, so the CEO has retreated to his secure house, a web site the place he can joke round with the web, whereas getting the adulation of thousands and thousands of followers—and blocking anybody who displeases him. It’s simply bizarre he paid $44 billion for the pleasure when he might’ve accomplished all that without cost.