In November 2024, the billionaire published a meme hinting at his desire to acquire the American television channel MSNBC. On the same day, social media users circulated a video in which its host Rachel Maddow emotionally reacted to Musk’s joke. We have verified the accuracy of such publications.
On November 24, entrepreneur Elon Musk posted a provocative meme about the liberal television channel MSNBC. In the picture, a media logo is superimposed on the buttocks of a prostitute, and the caption “Elon Musk resists the temptation to buy” is superimposed on the image of a monk. The businessman added in his tweet: “Don’t lead us into temptation...” On the same day, a video circulated on social networks in which one of the main MSNBC anchors, Rachel Maddow, allegedly reads the news about Musk’s post, and then in a trembling voice says that she is forced to end the broadcast. Telegram channels commented the video goes like this: “Musk has already expressed a desire to acquire the channel and shake out the entire liberal soul from it. And he wants to start with the dismissal of the channel's headliner, Rachel Maddow. In the video is the presenter herself, who is demonstrably sick at the sight of that very meme.” Other users explainedthat Maddow is "crying over his eventual fate." An alleged fragment of a recent MSNBC broadcast was published by Telegram channels “Evil proof️"(251,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Banksta" (125,000) and "The goat screamed" (105,000), as well as users "VKontakte", Facebook, YouTube and other platforms.
November 20 Comcast media holding announced plans to spin off several of his channels, including MSNBC, into a separate company, hoping to boost their profits and ratings as cable television declines in popularity. November 22 Donald Trump Jr., the son of the elected President of the United States and an active supporter of his father, reposted on social network X, a picture with the inscription “MSNBC is for sale” was tagged by Musk and wrote: “I have the funniest idea in history.” To this the entrepreneur replied: "What is the price?" Users X notedthat the billionaire's behavior reminds them of 2018, when Musk was considering buying Twitter (he implemented idea four years later, and in 2023 renamed social network).
On the eve of the US presidential election, Musk, publicly and financially supported Trump, criticized MSNBC calling him "absolute garbage." He claimed that the liberal channel promotes blatant propaganda, and on November 21 wrote in X: "Now MSNBC is going under." When Trump after winning the election announcedthat the billionaire will be appointed co-chair of the new US Government Efficiency Department, channel host Rachel Maddow stated: In this case, the federal authorities should not do business with Musk's companies - and thereby attracted attacks from Trumpists. However, they were not the first for the journalist - Maddow is known for her liberal position and criticism Trump. Russian-language pro-Kremlin accounts characterize her as one of the main media enemies of Musk, Trump, conservatives, Republicans, anti-globalism, Russia, etc.
Maddow's name was mentioned in X and in discussions of Musk's possible purchase of MSNBC. On November 23, in response to Musk's tweet, podcaster and Trump supporter Joe Rogan wrote: “If you buy MSNBC, I'd like to take Rachel Maddow's place. I will wear the same clothes and glasses and tell the same lies.” "Agreed", - reacted businessman. On the same day, the parody account @elonmuskADO published the following tweet: "I'd like to fire Rachel Maddow (for fun) and then turn MSNBC into a channel that brings top news from X every day." Many other users and even a GOP-friendly TV channel Fox News mistook this joke for a real tweet from a billionaire.
It was against this background that the same thing spread in RuNet video, where Maddow allegedly tries to tell viewers about Musk's plans to buy MSNBC. A sign on the screen reads: “Musk posted a dangerous meme.” When Maddow presumably sees the image, her voice begins to shake. She asks to display the picture on the screen, and the audience is shown the same meme with a half-naked girl and a monk from the account of owner X. After this, the presenter cries and ends the broadcast.
However, Maddow’s reaction has nothing to do with the possible purchase of the TV channel by Musk and the meme he published. The video with her participation is taken from ether MSNBC June 20, 2018. Then the journalist tried to tell the audience how, in accordance with immigration laws Trump, who was then president, among illegal migrants took away children and took them to orphanages. Maddow was unable to read the news to the end because of the emotions that overwhelmed her and asked to switch the broadcast to another presenter.
First modified video appeared November 24 in the English-language segment of Instagram. Instead of the original headline of the story, “AR: The youngest children are sent to shelters for “tender years” in Texas,” the creators of the fake wrote: “Musk published a dangerous meme” - and added a provocative picture from tweet businessman. At this point, the audio turns off, and in the original Maddow is talking about migrant children.
In RuNet, this video gained popularity after the publication of the Telegram channel “The goat screamed", posted on November 24 at 13:03 Moscow time. Almost five hours later, the author of the channel added: “The video has been edited, but it doesn’t change the essence of the matter.” But by that time, the video had already begun to spread on other channels without an appropriate disclaimer, gaining hundreds of thousands of views.
Thus, a video where the MSNBC presenter emotionally reacts to the news about the possible purchase of the TV channel by Elon Musk was edited. It was based on a fragment of a broadcast six years ago, when Rachel Maddow read out the news about the implementation of Trump’s immigration laws.
Cover photo: Telegram
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