Billionaire Elon Musk changed his nickname on the X platform on Tuesday, December 31, to “Kekius Maximus”. A new pseudonym and profile image that Internet users have associated with the far right.
An enigmatic pseudonym but oh so political. Tesla boss Elon Musk changed his nickname on X, his own social network, for the New Year to “Kekius Maximus”. A name that sounds like that of Maximus Decimus Meridius, in “Gladiator”, associated with the expression “kek”, frequently used by far-right Internet users and many trolls to replace “lol”.
The eccentric billionaire also swapped his profile picture for an image of “Pepe the Frog,” a popular cartoon character.
Pepe, the identity frog
Many Internet users saw in the use of Pepe the Frog an allusion to the extreme right. The amphibian, imagined and designed by Californian Matt Furie, has become, to the great dismay of its creator, the mascot of the far right on the Internet. It was described as a “hate sign” by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which fights against anti-Semitism in the United States.
The frog actually appeared on the Internet in a Nazi uniform and the identity right regularly appropriates the animal. As the future US Minister of Government Efficiency once again showed strong support for Germany’s far-right AfD party, Pepe was seen as a political rallying point.
The Kekius memecoin up 1,400%
After Musk’s change of pseudonym, the value of the memecoin Kekius, a cryptocurrency inspired by an internet meme, climbed by nearly 1,400% on Tuesday afternoon, according to the CoinGecko website. By introducing a new profile photo, that of Pepe the frog, the PEPE memecoin was also propelled.
If the billionaire has not yet reacted to the speculation, Internet users are wondering whether it is a joke or a hidden message in favor of cryptocurrencies.
