Trevor Noah railed against Elon Musk‘s controversial Twitter takeover during the latest episode of “The Daily Show,” calling it “ridiculous” that Musk plans to charge users $8 per month to have a blue check mark as part of Twitter Blue (via The Daily Beast). Referring to Musk as “the guy who always looks like a ghost, whether it’s Halloween or not,” Noah reasoned that charging people for blue check marks goes against Musk’s mission of bringing free speech and equality to Twitter.
“So, here’s my question: If you’re trying to create equality on Twitter, why charge anyone to be verified? Just give everyone a blue checkmark then,” Noah said. “Why are you charging people? It doesn’t make sense to offer it as ‘equality’ and then put a price on it, do you get what I’m saying? Can you imagine if MLK was out there like, ‘I have a dream. I have a dream… and I’ll tell you all about it for $8.99 a month.’ It wouldn’t be the same thing.”
According to reports, Musk originally planned to jack up the price of the Twitter Blue subscription plan from $4.99 to $19.99 per month, and the service would be the only way to retain verified-user status. Users would have 90 days to join the subscription program or have their verified status revoked. After backlash over the $19.99 price, Musk floated the $8 per month tier on Twitter.
“With eight dollars a month, you can subscribe to Netflix, you can get Paramount+, you can get Hulu… or you can pay so that people verify that they’re actually shitting onyou,” Noah said about the decision.
“It’s all about ‘equality.’ No, you’re trying to make money. I get it,” Noah continued. “I think this $8 a month thing is ridiculous. If you ask me, if Elon Musk wants to make money from Twitter, what he should do [is], don’t charge people for blue checkmarks. Charge white people to say the N-word. Twitter will be the most profitable company in history. Racists will be taking out loans.”
Noah appeared to be referencing reports about use of the N-word spiking 500% on Twitter in the 12 hours after Musk took over the company. Musk later noted about his decision to jack up the price of Twitter Blue, “I will explain the rationale in longer form before this is implemented. It is the only way to defeat the bots & trolls.”
