Athletes from a variety of sports have come out against Twitter’s CEO Elon Musk’s plan to dissolve legacy verification for users who aren’t subscribed to “Twitter Blue.” That includes Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, who boasts 2.4 million followers on Twitter and says he won’t be paying $8 for his own or anyone else’s verification.
Mahomes tweeted out on Friday asking when Twitter was taking away the verification checkmarks. The answer is sometime beginning in April, potentially tomorrow, Saturday, April 1.
When are they taking away our check? 🤣🤣
— Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes) March 31, 2023
He was met with a funny response from one of his teammates.
Pay the $8 for the guys https://t.co/U3Xjg7bpdw
— Marquez V-S (@MVS__11) March 31, 2023
Mahomes’ response to Valdes-Scantling was a classic.
Can’t bro i got kids… https://t.co/dP0DlmVaDl
— Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes) March 31, 2023
Mahomes and Valdes-Scantling aren’t the only ones out there scoffing at Musk’s Twitter charging for verification, though. NFL players such as Tyreek Hill, Micah Parsons, Michael Thomas, Darius Slay and others have all tweeted about the upcoming change.
For $8 bucks y’all can have this blue check mark , I don’t need no kind of plan 😂
— Ty Hill (@cheetah) March 31, 2023
Yoo I’m not paying for a blue check😂😂😂 ima start making troll accounts now!! It’s over for y’all 😂😂
— Micah Parsons (@MicahhParsons11) March 30, 2023
Don’t nobody want that raggedy blue check no way anymore 😂
— Michael Thomas (@Cantguardmike) March 31, 2023
They can have my blue check 😂😂 fans might tag the wrong name now when someone catch a ball on me!!😂
— Darius Slay (@bigplay24slay) March 31, 2023
These players all don’t seem to care to pay for verification, despite having the financial means to do so. If millionaire athletes don’t find the value in paying for Twitter verification, why should one of their millions of followers do so? Even outside of all the scammers and thieves this pay-for-verification system is likely to enable, it looks like Twitter’s new plan is already off to a poor start. That will be even more transparent when athletes leave the social media platform and further establish themselves to others.
