“Chief Twit” Elon Musk has taken a lot of heat from the Twitterati this week over his plan to charge users $8 a month for verification, prompting him to double down on the unpopular idea while roundly mocking his critics with low-rent memes.
And although the edgelord billionaire has received fawning praise from Fox News over his $44 billion purchase of Twitter, it also appears some of the network’s stars feel it’s just too “embarrassing” to fork over cash in order to get their blue checkmarks.
Days after closing on his purchase of the social media platform, it was initially reported that Musk was pushing employees to create a subscription service that would charge users $20 a month to receive a verified account along with added features. The Tesla founder eventually dropped the price, claiming he was giving “power to the people” and that charging for verification would create a new revenue stream to reward the site’s content creators.
ADVERTISEMENT
Since then, and amid reports that he’ll lay off 50 percent of Twitter’s workforce, Musk and his acolytes have pushed back on the flood of criticism over his plans for the site.
After Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), for instance, ridiculed Musk for “earnestly trying to sell people on the idea that ‘free speech’ is actually a $8/mo subscription plan,” the Twitter boss replied: “Your feedback is appreciated, now pay $8.” That’s after, of course, he told “all complainers, please continue complaining, but it will cost $8.”
During Thursday’s broadcast of Fox News’ America’s Newsroom, co-anchors Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino spoke with Fox News contributor Kat Timpf about the latest back-and-forth between AOC and Musk, as well as the billionaire’s demand that all Twitter workers return to the office.
Towards the end of the discussion, however, Perino brought up the Twitter chief’s new subscription plan and whether Timpf would plunk down her cash for it.
“Would you pay $8 for it?” Perino wondered.
“I think it’s embarrassing to pay $8 for it,” Timpf replied, prompting Perino to shoot back: “I do too! I don’t think I’m gonna do it.”
Perino added that she’s “been looking for a reason to get off Twitter” and this could give her a reason to leave. Timpf, meanwhile, reiterated her belief that paying to remain verified on the site would be cringeworthy.
“I don’t think I would pay for it,” she concluded. “If this company [Fox News] paid for it for me, then sure. I think it’s still—I think It’s embarrassing to say, yes, Twitter is so important to me that I spent this money.”
