Today was coined “Twitter Judgement Day” as the social media app began to remove the blue check mark verification badges from those individuals who chose not to pay the $11 per month fee.
After buying Twitter, Elon Musk has made many changes to the 17-year-old social site, but none have made a bigger splash than the modifications to Twitter’s verification system.
Also notice that the “prankster billionaire” Musk made the “Judgement Day” fall on 4/20…which I can confirm was no comical coincidence. The blue check mark used to be given freely to celebrities and other high profile individuals to authenticate that their account was actually owned by them.
Now, Twitter is entering into the “Wild-West,” allowing anyone to pay for the check mark and disrupting the initial intention of the verification system.
Once celebrities heard about the change, many came out to say they would not be paying the monthly fee to keep their blue check marks. One of the most prominent figures to come out against the new fee for verification was Los Angeles Laker and 4-time NBA Champion LeBron James.
James posted to his Twitter account back on March 31st:
“Welp, guess my blue check will be gone soon cause if you know me I ain’t paying the 5.”
Welp guess my blue ✔️ will be gone soon cause if you know me I ain’t paying the 5. 🤷🏾♂️
— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 31, 2023
Flash forward to today, as many social media accounts “kept the receipts” of LeBron’s anti-blue-check tweet and noticed something strange about James’ account…
It is still verified.
So, in natural social media fashion, it has been all gas and no brakes in roasting the NBA’s all time scoring leader for “LeCapping” and being a “LeLiar.” Take a look at some the best responses on Twitter below.
Freezing Cold Takes definitely kept an eye on LeBron’s account to see if he would lose his verification status:
— Freezing Cold Takes (@OldTakesExposed) April 20, 2023
OutKick’s Clay Travis had some particular words for the James:
I’m not sure any athlete lies more frequently than LeBron. About everything, large and small. https://t.co/NFXzDBA0sp
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) April 20, 2023
Shannon Sharpe’s Burner Account (which I highly recommend following) entered the chat:
Lebron James got caught lying again & he bought the twitter verified badge 😭 pic.twitter.com/qkexjm1T4u
— Shannonnn sharpes Burner (PARODY Account) (@shannonsharpeee) April 20, 2023
Another user referenced “Judgement Day” and called out LeBron James for being hypocritical:
It’s Judgement day on twitter and It look’s like Lebron ended up paying along with plenty others that complained before. https://t.co/BJeu2DjN1z
— Nickspicks (@Nickthepicker) April 20, 2023
This video seems to make fun of LeBron’s signature move where it looks like he’s going to do something with the ball, then takes it back (very clever metaphor):
LeBron lying for the THRILL of it
pic.twitter.com/2NmNhfkDWr https://t.co/wpSygEseBL
— ً (@FanMahome) April 20, 2023
And now, below is just a collection of random comments on all of these posts of various Twitter accounts blazing (4/20 joke) LeBron:
LeLiar
— 𝙇𝙖𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝘽𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙧 (@BurntByBateman) April 20, 2023
— Jordan Hyland (@TheJordanHyland) April 20, 2023
LeCap strikes again 😭😭😭
— Austin (@Brongevity) April 20, 2023
Buck LeFron! pic.twitter.com/uXI2GWCOon
— Levi (@LeviNtheDream88) April 20, 2023
— L Johnson (@LJohnson0013) April 20, 2023
