Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk showed up to Valorant Champions 2023 and was met with an ocean of boos. Most of the Los Angeles event was Musk-less, as more than 1 million viewers tuned in to watch competitors go head-to-head in Riot Games’ tactical first-person game. However, during the grand final matchup between Evil Geniuses and Paper Rex, the event feed cut to a shot of the tech billionaire, who was watching the two teams from the crowd. Musk was only on-screen for five seconds max, but that was more than enough time for the crowd of 11,500 to recognize his face and belt out enough boos to nearly drown out the next few moments of the match.
Even as the boos subside, you can hear the audience keep up their audible disdain with a chant for around 30 seconds longer. Although the Valorant Champions 2023 commentators claim they can’t make out what the chant says, it’s pretty clear for the viewers at home: “Bring back Twitter.” The Musk jump scare was caught and shared by Gamer Update’s Jake Lucky, and you can watch it for yourself below.
Elon Musk getting booed at VALORANT Champs and the crowd starts chanting "bring back Twitter" lmao pic.twitter.com/lDoWse78YV
— Jake Lucky (@JakeSucky) August 26, 2023
Few are as experienced as Muck when it comes to making poorly received decisions. The SpaceX founder successfully purchased the brand once known as Twitter late last year, but the transition since has been anything but smooth. He’s spent most of this summer getting rid of the social media site’s iconic bird imagery in favor of, well, an X. The “Twitter” name is also slowly fading away, although the vast majority of users have refused to adopt the X rebrand. Nowhere has that refusal to accept the changes been more apparent than the Valorant Champions 2023.
Musk has continued to push unfavorable alterations to the site’s formula, including one change that could potentially see it doing away with the block feature. Users have already expressed their dissatisfaction with moves such as these, but Musk has continued to move forward with more head-scratching decisions, regardless. Whether or not his response at Valorant Champions 2023 will impact his decision-making in the future remains to be seen, so be sure to stay tuned for any updates.
