Twitter boss Elon Musk trolled Bette Midler after the Hollywood star called him a “worm” for taking away her coveted blue verification checkmark.
Midler was one of the dozens of celebrities who are melting down after being stripped of the blue badge, despite being warned weeks that it would be removed this month.
After Twitter launched its new subscription service, which allows any users to apply for blue check verification, those who didn’t sign up would lose their badge this week.
Several celebrities, including Midler, have been vocal about their refusal to pay the $8-per-month fee, meaning they lost their verification badge.
In a post on Twitter, Midler complained: “Elon, deciding that I’m not me, I’m a fake, & obliging ME, who has contributed mightily to your platform, (at least until you ‘tweaked the algorithm & tanked my metrics’) to pay monthly because you don’t have enough money & you’re humiliated b/c everyone thinks you’re a pathetic douche, is the funniest thing you’ve ever done.
“Let that sink in. Sorry to hear about your rocket.
“Elon took my blue check away! I’m unverified!” she added.
“After all these years and thousands of tweets and free content, this worm has the nerve to de-certify me!”
Elon took my blue check away! I’m unverified! After all these years and thousands of tweets and free content, this worm has the nerve to de-certify me!
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) April 20, 2023
Jason Alexander, the actor who played George Costanza on the hit sitcom Seinfeld, also lost his mind along with his blue checkmark.
‘Ok everyone,” Alexander said.
“Twitter has removed my verification.
“I will no longer be posting on this app,” he claimed.
“Anyone who posts as me is an imposter. I wish you all well.”
As Slay News reported earlier, Hollywood leftist Alyssa Milano tried to bully Musk with a wild threat: “So by revoking my blue check mark because I wouldn’t pay some arbitrary fee, someone can just be me and say a bunch of bullshit.
“Does that mean Twitter and @elonmusk are liable for defamation or identity theft or fraud?”
After the celebrities received blowback, a Twitter user tried to make peace by saying:
“The attacks on Alyssa Milano are out of line.
“She brought up a concern I think a lot of celebrities have.
“Celebrities on Twitter are left with 3 choices right now: 1) Pay the $8.00. 2) Cancel their Twitter Account. 3) Know that some of their fans will be misled, possibly defrauded, and that they may be defamed.
“While you may not agree with Milano’s take on this, she brings up choices that virtually every celebrity has to make.
“As hard as it is to believe @elonmusk, some celebrities may not like you.
“They may feel like paying $8.00 goes against everything they believe in.
“This means they either close their account down or allow their fans to be misled.
“Most will likely choose the latter, and this isn’t good for them, their fans, Twitter, or for Elon Musk.
“I think the solution here is to put just a small tag on legacy verified Twitter profile pages indicating they were verified under the old system.
“It doesn’t need to be prominent and it doesn’t need to show up next to every tweet or reply these users make.
“It could be exclusive to the user’s profile page.
“It allows fans to click through to a profile to see if it’s legitimate.
“So this will allow Elon to still sell the blue checks, but also allow celebrities to maintain verification, just in a less prominent way.
“What are everyone’s thoughts?”
Enter Musk who trolled the outraged celebrities with a mocking reply, saying: “We’ve started a ‘save-a-celebrity fund’ to pay their $8.
“We take this matter very seriously,” he added.
A Twitter user said: “LOL!
“Actually I think this could be a solution, even though I’m not sure if you are serious.”
Musk responded with a laughing face emoji and the comment: “It’s a real thing.”
We’ve started a “save-a-celebrity fund” to pay their $8. We take this matter very seriously.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 21, 2023
🤣🤣 It’s a real thing
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 21, 2023
It also emerged that Musk trolled his three biggest critics on Twitter by paying their Twitter Blue subscription fee for them.
Musk paid for Stephen King, LeBron James, and William Shatner – three of the loudest complainers about his new subscription plan.
King, James, and Shatner had all vowed to refuse to pay the $8 subscription.
Stephen King said: “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.”
Musk said later he paid for: “Just Shatner, LeBron and King.”
