Politics

Elon Musk changes Twitter name to Elona following 'effeminate' taunts from Chechen leader

Elon Musk changes Twitter name to Elona following 'effeminate' taunts from Chechen leader
James O'Brien reacts to Elon Musk challenging Vladimir Putin
LBC

Elon Musk has taken the unusual step of changing his name on Twitter from Elon to Elona, after being called “'effeminate” from the Head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov.

Kadyrov was commenting on Musk’s decision to challenge Vladimir Putin to “single combat”. The Tesla billionaire baffled the internet this week after offering to take on the Russian leader in a bid to end the conflict in Ukraine.

Writing on Telegram, Kadyrov said Musk would require a huge amount of training to beat Putin.

“Elon Musk, a word of advice: Don’t measure strength against that of Putin’s,” he said in an English translation shared by Musk on Twitter.

Musk had an unexpected response to Kadyrov's commentsGetty

“Vladimir Vladimirovich (Mr Putin’s middle name) will look unsportsmanlike when he beats the hell out of you, a much weaker opponent.”

He then mocked Musk and called him “gentle (effeminate) Elona” before offering to train him in three Chechan institutes.

Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

After the criticism, Musk changed his name to Elona on social media and said: “Thank you for the offer, but such excellent training would give me too much of an advantage.

“If he is afraid to fight, I will agree to use only my left hand and I am not even left-handed. Elona.”

Who knows where this strange sideshow to the war in Ukraine will take us next.

It comes after Musk previously joked about sending “space dragons with lasers” to Ukraine to help the country defend itself, while he actually made a difference by providing the country with internet via SpaceX’s Starlink satellites.

He made the bizarre proposition to fight Putin in a tweet recently, writing: “I hereby challenge Владимир Путин [Vladimir Putin] to single combat.

“Stakes are Україна [Ukraine].”

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.

The Conversation (0)
x