Tag: Stephen King

Categories
Elon Musk Social Media

Elon Musk’s Pathetic Attempt To Troll Stephen King Backfires Badly On Him

Twitter CEO Elon Musk, apparently hoping to garner some positive media buzz as he watches the social media platform continue to tank, thought it’d be a great idea to let the world know that he’s paying for some celebrities to have a verified account, even though everyone else has to pay $8 a month for a blue check next to their screen name.

According to Time, “The costs of keeping the marks range from $8 a month for individual web users to a starting price of $1,000 monthly to verify an organization, plus $50 monthly for each affiliate or employee account. Twitter does not verify the individual accounts, as was the case with the previous blue check doled out during the platform’s pre-Musk administration.”

Celebrity users, from basketball star LeBron James to author Stephen King and Star Trek’s William Shatner, have balked at joining — although on Thursday, all three had blue checks indicating that the account paid for verification.

King was even more emphatic.

“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.”

That led Musk to respond: “You’re welcome namaste”

It seems that Musk intended his move as a form of trolling, but as many others on Twitter noted, it reeked of desperation and failed miserably.

https://twitter.com/donmoyn/status/1649178541643235328?s=20

Is it really any surprise that Twitter has lost half of its value since Musk took over?

Categories
GOP Social Media

Ted Cruz Thumps His Bible At Stephen King And Promptly Gets His A*s Handed To Him

Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz really needs to take an extended absence from social media. Why? Because he keeps trying to troll others and always winds up humiliating himself because he clearly has no discernable sense of humor.

Consider just a couple of spectacular Twitter fails for Cruz that left him with internet egg on his face:

In October, Cruz was forced to delete a tweet he posted about Muslim white supremacists: “Cruz tweeted out a screenshot of what he claimed was an article from the Atlantic which was titled “The Evolution of White Supremacy” and included a subtitle which read: ‘In Dearborn Michigan, Muslim parents who oppose teaching pornography to children become the new face of the far right.”

Turns out the story was fake and Cruz fell for the lie.

Cruz also attempted to troll White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on the subject of student loan debt relief, posting a tweet that read “We believe in Santa Clause. And unicorns. And pixie dust!”

The guy graduated from Princeton and Harvard Law, but he can’t even manage to spell a name that most five-year-old kids have mastered.

And now Teddy Boy has responded to a tweet from novelist Stephen King in which the bestselling author encouraged kids to read as much as possible, even books that may be banned at their school (especially if they live in a deep red state like Texas), writing:

“Hey, kids! It’s your old buddy Steve King telling you that if they ban a book in your school, haul your ass to the nearest bookstore or library ASAP and find out what they don’t want you to read.”

Exactly. If they’re going to keep books away from kids in school libraries and classrooms, there’s always the bookstore and public library. Many curious young bookworms (including me) have done exactly that when anyone dared to try and keep information from us.

Cruz, however, couldn’t resist responding:

“And just like that, millions of kids began reading the Bible….”

Very few (if any) school districts in the United States have banned the Bible, so that’s a false equivalency. And here’s betting Teddy would pitch a hissy fit if the Koran was also allowed in Texas schools.

Though King hasn’t yet responded to Cruz, others did, and they let the senator have it.

Free advice, Ted: Delete your Twitter account and become a monk. That way you can read the Bible all day and night without interruption except for when you need to rub one out.

Categories
Social Media

Stephen King Responds To Musk’s Plan For Charging Twitter Users And It’s Absolutely Brutal

 

Even though he’s only owned Twitter for a couple of months now, Elon Musk is already losing money hand over fist on the social media site, with Bloomberg reporting that Musk’s net worth is down a cool $8 billion in the week since he paid $44 billion to purchase a controlling interest.

How to solve the massive hemorrhaging of cash from Twitter? Well, Musk floated the idea of charging $20 a month for those who want “verified” accounts, which are easily identified by the blue check mark you see next to some users, for example on MSNBC’s Twitter account:

The Washington Post reports that Musk is desperate to find ways for his new acquisition to pay for itself.

Musk is scrambling to find ways to shore up Twitter’s business and increase its revenue. Though the company is no longer public, it now has to make huge interest payments every year on the debt Musk accrued by buying it. Musk also pitched his co-investors on the deal by saying he would be able to improve the company’s business rapidly in the years after taking it over.

Right now, Twitter makes most of its money from advertising, and Musk is currently in New York meeting with advertisers to shore up relationships with them, including representatives of the biggest marketing agencies, according to an executive at one of those agencies who spoke on the condition of anonymity. But advertising won’t be enough, Musk has said repeatedly.

But the idea of charging users for verified accounts isn’t sitting well with many, including novelist Stephen King, who was eager to let Musk know that his plan is only going lead to millions dropping Twitter altogether, which could prove catastrophic for Musk’s dreams of making a mint off the site.

King let Musk have it.

Musk tried to counter with a better offer.

Others joined King and noted that since they’re providing the content for Twitter, maybe Musk should be sending them a check every month instead of the other way around.

Even an online poll shows that the vast majority of Twitter users will refuse to fork over a red cent for the right to post on the platform.

Sounds like Elon should have stuck to inheriting money from his daddy and being an insufferable asshole. At least he’s good at those.

 

Categories
Coronavirus GOP

Stephen King: Ron DeSantis Is Evil Enough To Be A Villain In My Novels – But He’s Too Stupid

Novelist Stephen King has created some incredibly memorable villains in his books, but he doesn’t think Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has what it takes to be among them.

As King explained during an appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” the novelist was asked about some of the tweets he’s sent out recently that were highly critical of DeSantis, and he made it clear that while the governor is certainly evil enough with his absurd COVID-19 policies, he doubts that the Floridian has enough brains to carry off any actual evil plans:

“Ron DeSantis is probably not the brightest bulb in the chandelier at the best of times.”

That led Colbert to ask:

“So, not an evil genius? Not a mastermind?”

King responded:

“No, I wouldn’t say so. You know, he’s got that deer-in-the-headlights look somehow.”

Colbert couldn’t resist adding:

“Deer in the headlights hoping that’s two motorcycles that are going to go right by him.”

It should be noted that King — who is a native of Maine — now spends half the year in Sarasota, so he’s had a chance to observe DeSantis up close, and he’s not impressed, firing off tweets making it clear that he thinks the Florida governor is a few cans short of a six pack:

Or, to put it another way, consider what the AV Club had to say about DeSantis not being fit for a King novel. They pretty much hit the proverbial nail on the head:

“So that’s evil, but is it Stephen King evil? Not according to King, who greeted Colbert’s pitch for a future fictional Florida governor villain with the dismissive shrug of a guy who knows what makes a truly compelling antagonist. After all, your best Stephen King monsters (your Greg Stillsons, your Randall Flaggs) couple their nefarious machinations with a complexity of thought and more than a little charisma, whereas, in King’s authorial estimation, Florida is currently being led by a garden variety venal, callous dope, whose threadbare conservative posturing couldn’t sustain even the shortest tale of terror.”

But if you want to think of something truly terrifying, just imagine Ron DeSantis as president. Now THAT’S enough to give you nightmares.