Elon Musk’s contentious takeover of the app formerly known as Twitter and its rebrand to “X,” a.k.a. the “everything app,” has received mixed reviews on social media.
Still, while X users have been quick to blast Musk on his own platform, it’s rare to see the SpaceX and Tesla CEO criticized publicly. But that’s exactly what happened during the Valorant World Championship Final on Sunday, when the billionaire was booed and chanted at during a live broadcast.
Musk attended the video game championship in Los Angeles over the weekend and was briefly shown on camera, only for the crowd to erupt in jeers of “boo” and “Bring back Twitter” for roughly four seconds before the camera switched back to the live gameplay.
Related: Elon Musk Expresses Concern Over X’s Future, Says It ‘May Fail’ Amid Turbulent Year
One attendee posted a clip of the incident on X where it garnered over 14.5 million views.
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
“That was actually a very sweet chant compared to all the other things they could [have] chanted,” one X user offered.
“I’m sure he’ll change it back now,” another said, sarcastically.
Other clips on social media showed Musk stepping into the event with his three-year-old son X Æ A-12 in tow.
What is Elon Musk and his son X Æ-12 doing at the VALORANT Champions event? ? pic.twitter.com/S6G7p9tC6P
— sid (@immasiddtweets) August 29, 2023
The booing comes amid X’s ongoing legal troubles. Per documents filed on Monday, there have been 2,200 arbitration claims from former employees claiming unpaid severances.
Musk has been taking his losses in stride, it seems. In recent weeks, after admitting on X earlier this month that the platform “may fail” amid mass changes and revamping.
Related: X Might Have Deleted a Decade Worth of Photos, Videos From Users’ Accounts
“The sad truth is that there are no great ‘social networks’ right now,” the billionaire posted on his profile. “We may fail, as so many have predicted, but we will try our best to make there be at least one.”
In May, it was found that ad revenue at X dropped roughly 59% in a one-year period, according to internal documents obtained by The New York Times.
Musk’s estimated net worth as of Tuesday morning was $222 billion.
