“Racists will be taking out loans”: Trevor Noah slams Musk’s “ridiculous” Twitter verification plan

Trevor Noah criticized Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, including his “ridiculous” plan to charge users $8 per month to be verified with a blue checkmark, during the opening monologue of Tuesday’s edition of “The Daily Show.”

“For months now, Musk has said that he wanted to own Twitter. The reason he wanted to own Twitter is because he wanted to make sure that it became a haven for free speech,” Noah said. “. . . Because let’s be honest, up until now, people have really held back on Twitter.”

Noah noted that use of the N-word had increased 500% in the first 12 hours following Musk’s acquisition, adding that such trolls don’t “want free speech, [they] just wanna hate on people.”

“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 continued. “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.”

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

Musk reportedly had initial plans to increase the price of the Twitter Blue subscription plan from $4.99 to $19.99, which prompted online backlash and a since-viral reaction from Stephen King. On Tuesday, Musk took to Twitter to announce the new price, writing, “Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month.”

In his monologue, Noah ridiculed the decision, saying “with $8 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 sh*tting on you.”

“It’s all about ‘equality.’ No, you’re trying to make money. I get it,” he added. “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.”

You can watch the full segment below via Twitter: