Confusing billionaire Elon Musk has changed his nickname to that of the character from the movie Gladiator.
Close to President Donald Trump, of whom he has become an important advisor, the boss of Tesla and SpaceX also swapped his profile photo for an image of “Pepe the Frog”a popular cartoon character who was nevertheless associated with the far right during the first election of Donald Trump and described as “sign of hatred” par l’Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
As usual, Elon Musk, the richest man on the planet, who bought Twitter to rename it X in 2022, gave no explanation for these changes which caused the buzz.
What allusion?
His new pseudonym could be an allusion to Maximus Decimus Meridius – the Roman general played by Russell Crowe in 2000's Gladiator – and “blue”an expression frequently used by far-right Internet users and many trolls to replace it “mdr”.
Before changing his pseudonym, Mr. Musk posted an announcement on X: “Kekius Maximus will soon reach level 80 in hardcore PoE”. PoE is an apparent reference to the popular video game Path of Exile.
Immediate effects
Following Mr. Musk's change of pseudonym, the value of the memecoin Kekius Maximus – a cryptocurrency inspired by an Internet meme – soared by nearly 1,400% on Tuesday afternoon, according to the site CoinGecko, while Internet users wonder if this is a joke or a joke. hidden message in favor of cryptocurrencies.
The billionaire will be one of the key figures of Trump's mandate who appointed him to head a commission to “governmental efficiency”an organization created to reduce federal budgets, one of the workhorses of Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
