Months ago, reports began circulating that the social media platform Twitter would start charging individuals, including celebrities and other previously-verified accounts, for those blue check marks next to their names.
That finally happened with Twitter Blue, an $8 monthly subscription made available for individuals to gain their own blue check and other platform benefits.
This past Thursday, it also brought about a purge, as many accounts lost the “legacy verified” check marks they had previously attained on the platform for no charge.
The above has brought reactions from various celebrities who have commented or joked about the loss of their blue check marks and Twitter’s attempt to make them pay for Twitter Blue.
Monsters and Critics reported on Thursday about WWE star Alexa Bliss blasting Twitter with a tweet reacting to the loss of her check mark, as she indicated it could lead to issues with scammers posing as her on the service and paying for the blue check mark to fool people.
Others weighing in on the topic via their Twitter profiles, minus the check mark symbols, were actors Halle Berry, Kerry Washington, and singer Ciara.
Celebrities react to losing their Twitter Verification
Many people responded to Thursday’s Twitter purge, including model and TV personality Chrissy Teigen, who currently has 12.8 million followers.
“the only thing that matters,” she wrote in a tweet which indicated that getting the “darth seal of approval” was more meaningful than the blue check mark.
Actress Halle Berry also had some fun as she reacted to the Twitter purge, posting an image of a teary-eyed cartoon character remembering when she used to have that blue check mark next to her name.
Singer Ciara said she knew her fans were still “checkin” on her even without the check mark next to her name on the platform.
Actress Kerry Washington didn’t let the loss of the symbol affect her, as she shared a GIF shrugging off the situation.
Actor Jeremy Renner is known for his role as Marvel’s Hawkeye, who was among those who survived Thanos’ infamous finger snap in Avengers: Infinity War. In real life, the actor survived a horrific snowplow accident that brought severe injuries his way.
“Yeah, I’m still here…,” Renner told his fans after losing his check mark.
“No blue check, still feel like me,” wrote Ben Stiller, which elicited an emoji response from Musk.
Elon Musk is paying for some Twitter Blue subscriptions
Earlier Thursday, Monsters and Critics reported that LeBron James has Twitter Blue, despite the NBA saying he wouldn’t be paying for the subscription.
LeBron was one of several individuals to retain their blue check mark, despite being outspoken that he wouldn’t pay to keep that symbol next to his name. Author Stephen King was another, who confirmed with a tweet that he wasn’t paying.
However, Twitter CEO and owner Elon Musk commented on a report that had been shared from The Verge about the situation, indicating he was “personally paying” for some subscriptions.
As of this report, there’s no indication of how many celebrities are getting the seemingly complimentary Twitter Blue subscriptions. Based on some of the tweets above, many celebs aren’t too worried about having that verified status.