Elon Musk faced a chorus of boos and chants demanding the restoration of Twitter during his appearance at a video gaming tournament over the weekend.
PC Gamer reports that Elon Musk, the tech billionaire and owner of X (formerly Twitter), found himself at the center of a different kind of spotlight at a video gaming event, the Valorant Champions 2023 tournament. When his attendance was announced during the live broadcast, the crowd responded with “raucous boos,” leaving even the event’s broadcasters puzzled. One broadcaster questioned, “Where’s that coming from, that can’t be from in here, surely?” while another wondered if the reaction was even more intense than that received by professional Valorant player tenZ.
Elon Musk getting booed at VALORANT Champs and the crowd starts chanting “bring back Twitter” lmao pic.twitter.com/lDoWse78YV
— Jake Lucky (@JakeSucky) August 26, 2023
The crowd’s discontent didn’t end there. Shortly after, attendees broke into a chant of “Bring back Twitter,” a clear nod to Musk’s recent and controversial name change for the social media platform. Initially, Musk had proposed to acquire Twitter for $44 billion, but he later withdrew from the agreement. However, legal pressure from a Delaware court compelled him to fulfill the deal. Since taking over, Twitter has undergone a series of massive changes, including staff layoffs, monetization strategies, and even a name change to “X.com.” Reports indicate that the company has lost two-thirds of its value under Musk’s leadership.
As Breitbart News previously reported, marketing analysts call the rebranding of Twitter “completely irrational:”
Jasmine Enberg, an analyst with Insider Intelligence, noted that “Twitter’s corporate brand is already heavily intertwined with Musk’s personal brand, with or without the name X,” adding that “much of Twitter’s established brand equity has already been lost among users and advertisers.”
It’s “completely irrational from a business and brand point of view,” Allen Adamson, co-founder of the marketing and brand consulting group Metaforce, said, adding that this change was an “ego decision” on Musk’s part.
“To me, it’s going to go down in history as one of the fastest unwinding of a business and brand ever,” Adamson added.
Amidst the uproar, the tournament proceeded with a match between Canada-based Evil Geniuses and the Singaporean team Paper Rex. The broadcasters attempted to refocus the audience’s attention on the game, declaring, “Focus [is] back on the game now.” However, the crowd’s sentiments towards Musk remained a significant subplot of the event. In a positive note for the gaming community, Evil Geniuses emerged as the first North American team to win a Valorant Champions tournament.
Read more at PC Gamer here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan