Elon Musk is faithful in friendship.
The CEO of Tesla (TSLA) and SpaceX does not abandon his friends, even when they are going through a bad time: this is the message that the billionaire has just sent on Twitter, which he has owned since October 27, after paying a tidy sum of $44 billion.
The friend in question is Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. The multi-faceted musician became a persona non grata last month, after making anti-Semitic comments and wearing a t-shirt with the print "White Lives Matter," as opposed to "Black Lives Matter."
Ye was ostracized. He lost all business partnerships, with the big brands distancing themselves. After blocking his account, Twitter reactivated it again on October 28, the day after Musk took over the platform.
But despite this, Ye had not reappeared on the platform. It is finally done. The rapper, who was still a billionaire before his latest controversies, posted his first two messages in more than a month on November 20.
'Don't Kill What Ye Hate'
"Testing Testing Seeing if my Twitter is unblocked," Ye wrote.
Musk responded by posting a kind of dual message to his friend's tweet.
"Don’t kill what ye hate," the billionaire commented. "Save what ye love."
Musk seems to be suggesting to everyone not to just remember the controversies of Ye, but to focus on his genius and the good deeds he has undertaken. Basically, controversies should not overshadow Ye's genius and talent.
The Tech tycoon also seems to be implicitly asking his friend to give priority to positive actions, to focus on what he does best and does well. In doing so, he seems to be asking him not to tweet posts that will add fuel to the fire and would put Musk in a delicate situation with advertisers, who do not want to associate their brands with a platform where anti-Semitic, racist and hateful messages are posted.
Ye seems to have taken his friend's advice, since a few minutes later he posted a new message in Hebrew: "Shalom," which means "peace."
"Shalom : )" Ye said.
This isn't the first time Musk has lent his support to Ye, who had also been banned from Instagram.
Musk also posted a message on Twitter on October 18, hours after the announcement of Ye's purchase of Parler. It accompanied it with an image of the two of them joining their arms and hands. They were all smiles.
Good Catch
The character on the left, who was obviously Ye, had a Parler inscription on his shirt. The character on the right, who appeared to be Musk, had a Twitter inscription on his shirt.
"Wait for it..." were the three words that accompany the image.
Merging Twitter and Parler?
Musk says nothing more. A few minutes later, he posted an equally mysterious message.
"Fun times ahead!!" the tech tycoon said.
The messages have since been deleted.
Ye's return to Twitter could be a good thing for Musk, as the rapper is an icon with Gen Z and millennials who adore his sneakers. The rapper, who is also a designer, has revolutionized the sports shoe with his brand YEEZY. As a result, the musician is synonymous with what is best in the world of sneakers.
It is certain that if he becomes active, Ye could help give a solid argument to Musk who wants to rebalance the business model of the social network by increasing the share of revenue subscriptions.
But to do this, the new owner must convince social media creators and influencers to migrate to the platform and create content. Ye would definitely be a very good way to attract them.
Advertisers represent 91% of Twitter revenues, compared to less than 9% from subscriptions.
