Actress Bette Midler covered her Twitter background with blue checkmarks in protest of Elon Musk removing her verified status for a second time.
The Hocus Pocus actress, 77, plastered the blue ticks all over her social media profile days after Musk removed all ‘legacy’ marks from accounts on April 20 – unless users paid an $8 a month subscription.
Musk later partially walked back on his decision and granted free verification status’ to those with more than a million followers.
While Midler’s verification status was initially taken away with every other public figure and organization, she briefly got it back on April 22 before it again disappeared despite having a two million following.
‘#ElonMusk has unverified me #AGAIN?!? I guess he didn’t like my gag. #Elon, you silly man, where’s your sense of humor? I thought for sure you’d enjoy all those checks; they weren’t easy,’ Midler wrote on April 24.
It’s unclear why Musk decided to remove the actress’ blue tick, but only days before Midler had slammed the CEO for spending money to ‘send up rockets’ through his SpaceX company but failing to ‘honor’ the ‘extraordinary blue marble.’
Bette Midler called Elon Musk ‘pathetic’ after he took away her blue checkmark twice in one week. Pictured: The Hocus Pocus star
Midler threw a public fit on Twitter after noticing her blue tick had disappeared on April 20.
‘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,’ Midler wrote last week.
In a series of tweets, Midler slammed Musk as ‘pathetic’ while complaining her fans won’t be able to tell if her account is legit.
‘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,’ she wrote.
Two days later on April 22, Midler bitterly called out Musk once again while slamming his April 20 rocket launch through SpaceX.
She wrote: ‘We can send up rockets from now until kingdom come, but this planet is our only home. Love and honor this extraordinary blue marble, every single day…not just.’
On the same day, Midler’s verification status returned as Musk decided to give those with more than one million followers their blue tick back.
The actress briefly walked back on her criticism with a tweet that read, ‘Thank you, #Elon.’
She later confirmed her reinstated status and claimed she didn’t pay for the monthly verification subscription.
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‘Yes, Elon gave me back my blue check but I didn’t pay for it. Does that make me a good guy or a bad guy? I’m so confused. So far only 400 people have signed on to get their checks back. Guess #Twitter’s going thru an “unscheduled disassembly”, too,’ Midler wrote.
Elon Musk initially took away blue check marks from all organizations and public figures on April 20. Days later, he partially walked back on his decision and granted free verification status’ to those with more than a million followers
Over the span of a week, Midler threw a public fit on Twitter after noticing her blue tick had disappeared two times – the first time was on April 20
On April 24, Midler announced Musk had given her the blue tick back. It is unclear why he took it away hours later despite the actress having a two million following
On April 24, the actress twitted that she was ‘again’ unverified despite having a 2 million following
Midler’s criticism of Musk halted for two days until she woke up on April 24 with her blue tick gone, again.
The actress was one of several people with more than one million followers who received their verification marks back.
While Midler’s blue mark is gone, others with an over a million following appear to have their’s in tact.
Many celebrities in have expressed surprise after waking up last week to find their tick reinstated – with many rushing to reassure fans that they have not paid for them.
And some have pointed out that other accounts with fewer than one million followers have also had their tick reinstated – seemingly at Musk’s discretion.
Author Stephen King, basketball star LeBron James and actor William Shatner were among the stars whose blue ticks remained, despite claiming that they had not paid a subscription.
‘My Twitter account says I’ve subscribed to Twitter Blue. I haven’t,’ tweeted King.’My Twitter account says I’ve given a phone number. I haven’t.’
Musk responded to King’s tweet and said ‘you’re welcome’ after he confirmed on Twitter that he is personally paying the subscription for Twitter Blue on some verified accounts.
