Elon Musk has revealed he is personally paying for three celebrity blue tick subscriptions on Twitter.
The entrepreneur, who bought Twitter for £37 billion last year, confirmed he had given Star Trek actor William Shatner, basketball ace LeBron James and author Stephen King complimentary accounts.
His admission came after US outlet Pop Base tweeted the statement: “Elon Musk reveals he is ‘personally paying’ the Twitter Blue subscriptions of some celebrities to keep their checkmark.”
Musk’s sassy response was: “Just Shatner, LeBron and King.”
All three celebs have previously criticised the new blue tick move, after Twitter took the decision to remove the account verification checkmarks on Thursday.
Instead, they will now charge Twitter users £9.60 a month subscription in the UK to have a blue tick by their name.
Basketball legend LeBron was one of the celebs who refused to pay the fee tweeting: “Welp guess my blue tick will be gone soon cause if you know me, I ain’t paying the 5.”
But despite millions of Twitter users blue ticks disappearing, LeBron’s account still has a blue tick, as does William Shatner’s and Stephen King’s.
Giving an explanation as to why, horror author King told his 7.1 million Twitter followers: “My Twitter account says I’ve subscribed to Twitter Blue. I haven’t. My Twitter account says I’ve given a phone number. I haven’t. Just so you know.”
“You’re welcome namaste,” Musk cheekily hit back.
High profile names who have lost their blue tick include footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, who has over 100 million followers.
The Pope, singer Beyoncé, tech giant Bill Gates, Harry Potter author J. K Rowling and politician and former Hillary Clinton also became unverified.
Celebs who tweeted about the cull included comedian Ricky Gervais, who said: “My blue tick has gone. I’m not sure if I’m really me or not.”
Last Leg presenter Alex Brooker joked: “Mum has just rang to tell me that my blue tick has gone to live on the same farm as my right foot. They’re gonna have so much fun.”
While Pointless presenter and author Richard Osman tweeted: “Farewell blue tick, old friend. Don’t forget, always set your feed to ‘Following’ rather than ‘For You’. The you’ll keep seeing the people you actually follow and not people who’ve paid you attention.”
Those who seemed to have kept their ticks include former US president Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, US singers Madonna and Taylor Swift and reality star turned entrepreneur Khloe Kardashian.
It seemed odd that Khloe’s sisters Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner’s had disappeared, along with the verification ticks from Adele and Lady Gaga’s official accounts.
Other stars no longer enjoying blue tick status include Justin Bieber, Sir Elton John, Britney Spears, Selena Gomez and Dua Lipa.
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