Elon Musk adopted the moniker “Kekius Maximus” on X on Tuesday, sparking hypothesis amongst his 210 million followers about his mysterious new deal with that could be a mash-up of an alt-right image, a memecoin, and the lead character of the film “Gladiator.”

South Africa-born Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and a confidant of US President-elect Donald Trump, additionally changed his profile image with considered one of “Pepe the Frog,” a well-liked cartoon character, sporting historical Roman apparel and holding a online game joystick.

No clarification

In typical Musk trend, the billionaire tech mogul and proprietor of X – previously Twitter – provided no clarification in regards to the new username and avatar, however the transfer triggered rapid ripple results.

The change roiled the cryptocurrency world, sending the worth of a memecoin – a digital forex impressed by an web meme – with the identical identify skyrocketing.

It additionally despatched web sleuths attempting to find solutions: Was the identify change only for the laughs? Was there a hidden message? Was this one other thinly-disguised try and jolt the crypto markets? More troublingly, was it a wink and a nod to on-line hate teams?

Elon Musk and X didn’t instantly reply to AFP’s request for remark.

His new deal with seems to be a mix of “Maximus Decimus Meridius” – a Roman basic performed by Russell Crowe within the 2000 smash hit “Gladiator” – and “kek,” an expression well-liked among the many alt-right and web trolls that’s used as a variation of “LOL,” or chortle out loud.

“Kek” can also be a reference to a “virtual white nationalist god,” the nonprofit Southern Poverty Law Center instructed AFP, including that Roman male pictures have been utilized by white nationalist teams reminiscent of Identity Evropa.

Pepe the Frog was initially a cartoon character from the “Boy’s Club” comedian collection, however throughout Trump’s first presidential marketing campaign it grew to become related to the alt-right and white supremacists, with the Anti-Defamation League dubbing it a “hate symbol.”

“The majority of uses of Pepe the Frog have been, and continue to be, non-bigoted,” the ADL wrote on its web site.

However, because it proliferated on-line, the meme was centered on “racist, antisemitic or other bigoted themes,” the ADL added.

‘Hate is not a joke’

“Manipulators can twist anything to give a wink and a nod to a sub-culture of online hate, while claiming ignorance,” the SPLC mentioned.

“The use of the meme and name are indicative of the continued online culture that claims hateful ideas are simply jokes. Hate is not a joke.”

Before altering his deal with, Musk posted a teaser on X: “Kekius Maximus will soon reach level 80 in hardcore PoE.”

PoE is an obvious reference to the favored “Path of Exile 2” online game.

The billionaire is thought to play the sport, calling it a “hall-of-famer” earlier this month in a publish on X.

In the wake of Musk’s deal with change, the memecoin Kekius Maximus’s worth soared by greater than 900 p.c as of Tuesday night, in keeping with the location CoinGecko.

The memecoin was buying and selling at lower than one-fifth of a greenback at round 00:30 GMT.

In the previous, Musk has despatched crypto costs on a rollercoaster trip together with his social media commentary, but it surely was not instantly clear if he has any involvement on this specific memecoin.

The billionaire, an advisor to the incoming Trump administration, has been tapped to run the brand new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked with lowering authorities spending.

Musk’s account on X has grow to be more and more influential – and has typically courted criticism for amplifying misinformation – since his buy of the platform for $44 billion in 2022.

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By Garrin Lambley © Agence France-Presse