has been called out over posting a screenshot of an article without crediting the source, leading to an online breakdown.
The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, posted a snippet of a Zodiac Killer comedy article to his Twitter earlier this week, without saying where it came from – which has raised the question of properly crediting creators online.
After posting the tweet, the editor of the website it came from asked why any reference to the publication had been cut out of the headline. Musk retorted that it was a ‘6/10’ joke and to ‘get off the high horse’.
Following this, the response from the website included jabs at his popularity and lack of comedic skills, after his dud performance on Saturday Night Live last year.
Musk, the face of and , has risen to prominence online after making years-long promises surrounding his eco-friendly electric cars and various other stunts like producing flamethrowers.
Most recently, he’s been tangled in a web of confusion over his and is seemingly trying to back out of the $44 billion purchase after stock at Tesla and Twitter began to tank due to his announcement. He’s also being sued by investors due to .
The joke in question surrounded the Zodiac Killer’s cryptic messages that have never been fully solved and how video player VLC can read just about anything.
Hard Drive, a comedy and parody video game website similar to The Onion, took to Twitter, after being told to back down by the billionaire, with another article about how Musk is only going to Mars because no one likes him on Earth.
During the exchange, Musk claimed that they didn’t know comedy due to them being ‘woke’.
In the aftermath of being upstaged by Hard Drive, Musk has since deleted the tweet and posted a tweet about how he’s being tested, which the editor of Hard Drive has taken as a .
With all this said and done, it does raise the question about crediting on the internet. As jokes and memes take a life of their own (just see the ), it’s only websites like Know Your Meme that attempt to trace back their lineage.
Elon has previously been for doing this exact thing, by posting uncredited art to his millions of followers.
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