Stars React to Elon Musk Making People Pay to Keep Their Twitter Verification Blue Checkmarks

like thousands of others, lost his official verification badge after a site-wide purge of legacy verified accounts who refused to pony up for Twitter Blue — Musk’s $8-dolllar-a-month subscription service. “dear @elonmusk.

Ricky Gervais has spoken out after losing his blue checkmark on Twitter.On Thursday (April 20), the profile verification checkmarks were removed from all legacy accounts on the platform, barring those who paid for a Twitter Blue subscription.Various figures within the entertainment have since been sharing their thoughts about the change, with Gervais being one of the latest.“My blue tick has gone. I’m not sure if I’m really me or not,” joked the After Life star.My blue tick has gone.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The squeaky wheel gets the Twitter blue check-mark, it seems. After Twitter’s mass revocation Thursday of thousands of “legacy” verified blue check-marks, carrying out owner Elon Musk’s long-promised purge of the “corrupt” system, several high-profile accounts still had the iconic blue badges… even though they evidently aren’t paying for Twitter Blue (the subscription service whose perks now include a blue check-mark). Those included NBA superstar LeBron James, actor William Shatner and author Stephen King — each of whom had tweeted that they wouldn’t pay for Twitter Blue or had complained about Musk’s switch in the verification program.

Ricky Gervais and Richard Osman have reacted to losing their “blue tick” on Twitter. At the behest of Twitter CEO Elon Musk, the social media platform finally removed the “legacy verified” marks on celebrity profiles, with users now needing to pay a monthly fee in order to be “verified”.

Elon Musk is footing the bill.

Twitter‘s decision to remove its verified blue ticks.From today (April 20), the checkmark that authenticates legacy accounts on the platform will be removed from all profiles unless users opt-in to pay for Twitter Blue subscriptions.This change is “more about treating people equally”, according to Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter in late 2022 for a staggering $44billion. He added that the move would “offer subscribers a way to enhance and customize their Twitter experience”.As the blue tick began to vanish from the site, various musicians, comedians, TV personalities, and other stars from across the entertainment industry tweeted their reactions.Yungblud wrote: “I ain’t verified anymore … kinda hard.” The Doncaster artist then shared a selfie in response to a fan who asked him to “prove” it was the real Dominic Harrison.

Twitter took away legacy verified checkmarks on Thursday (April 20), and celebrities are reacting to the news.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Elon Musk’s purge of blue check-marks from Twitter accounts verified under the company’s previous regime has begun. Now a blue check-mark badge on Twitter primarily signifies that it’s an account belonging to someone who’s paying Musk, one of the world’s wealthiest individuals, for the perk. On April 20, as Musk had announced, Twitter started un-checking thousands of “legacy” verified accounts — those which the company had previously deemed to be “active, notable and authentic” — unless those users were subscribers to Twitter Blue, which starts at $8 per month.

K.J. Yossman Elon Musk has called his take-over of Twitter “quite painful” in an unexpected late-night interview with the BBC. The tech billionaire sat down with BBC North America tech reporter James Clayton at Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco on Tuesday evening local time. Asked about his previous comments regarding Twitter being “painful,” Musk acknowledged that was still the case but added, “I wasn’t stabbed, like some people around here.” The comment is understood to refer to the murder of Cash app founder Bob Lee, who was stabbed to death in San Francisco last week.

In a last-minute interview given to the BBC overnight, Twitter owner Elon Musk said his time at the social media platform has been “a rollercoaster” with a “high pain level”. Delivering updates on a number of his more controversial decisions, he said “mistakes [have been] made along the way” but that the social media giant is “headed to a good place.”

Doja Cat is speaking out about what she really feels about losing her verified blue check mark on Twitter.

If you have a legacy verified account on Twitter, get ready to say goodbye to your blue checkmark very soon unless you want to pay to keep it.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Elon Musk has set a deadline for purging legacy blue check-marks from Twitter accounts verified under the company’s previous regime — maybe. On Tuesday, the billionaire owner of Twitter tweeted, “Final date for removing legacy Blue checks is 4/20.” Musk is notorious for his love of memes and jokes, including those involving 420 (i.e., the unofficial day/time for toking up). So it’s not fully clear if April 20 is actually the cutoff date for revoking verification from accounts unless they’ve signed up for a Twitter Blue subscription. Twitter previously announced that starting April 1, it would begin removing the blue check-mark badges from legacy verified accounts — those which the company had previously deemed to be notable and/or authentic — unless users have signed up for the Twitter Blue subscription service, which starts at $8 per month. That doesn’t appear to have begun in a widespread way at this point.

Mediaite.Twitter has similarly blocked would-be rivals like Mastodon from sharing live links on the platform. But Substack is the home of hundreds of influential writers who need platforms like Twitter and Facebook to share it beyond their subscription bases.Taibbi said in a Substack chat that Twitter is now “unusable” for him, and that Musk did not respond to his questions about the move, Mashable’s Matt Binder reported.

Elon Musk has made a noticeable change on Twitter. On Monday, without an explanation, the social media site debuted a new logo on the web version.

Jack Black has said he’s “embarrassed” to have a blue tick on Twitter following owner Elon Musk’s plan to enforce a monthly fee.Appearing at the LA premiere of The Super Mario Bros. Movie on Saturday (April 1), the actor discussed whether he’ll pay the proposed $8 (£4.99) monthly fee to keep a blue tick on the platform through a Twitter Blue subscription.“I don’t know if I’m going to pay for it,” Black told Variety. “I’m a little embarrassed by the blue check to be honest with you.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Elon Musk is now using the design of Twitter itself to make hilarious (?) jokes. On Monday, without warning, the iconic Twitter bird logo on the home button of the social network’s web version changed to the “doge” of the Dogecoin cryptocurrency. (Twitter’s mobile apps weren’t changed.) The doge image (of a Shiba Inu) is part of the logo of the Dogecoin blockchain and cryptocurrency, which was created as a joke in 2013 — to mock other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Musk, who bought Twitter last fall in a $44 billion deal, is a well-known superfan of the Doge meme and he has promoted Dogecoin both on Twitter and during his appearance last year hosting “Saturday Night Live.” After the change to Twitter’s web logo Monday, the value of Dogecoin rose more than 20%.

Since the earliest days of Twitter, the social media platform has used a blue checkmark to verify the accounts of celebrities, journalists, politicians and other notables, serving as proof that they are who they claim to be.

The White House won’t pay for staffers to have Twitter’s blue verification checkmarks, as platform owner Elon Musk implements a plan to remove them unless users pay for the service.