Why are people calling Elon Musk a 'Space Karen'?

If you've logged on to Twitter in the last year or so, you've probably seen the phrase "Space Karen" trending.

Every now and then the phrase will trend, especially when Elon Musk does something people do not like.

"Space Karen" is the insulting nickname people use to refer to Musk, 51.

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When Musk gave remaining Twitter employees an ultimatum to work harder or leave, activists projected the name "Space Karen" onto Twitter HQ.

People used it against Musk again after he suspended several journalists' accounts who had been covering him from Twitter last year.

Musk accused them of "doxxing" his private information.

@theliamnissan

People have called out Musk for preaching that he wanted to make Twitter free-speech-oriented while censoring journalists who have covered him and his companies.

The name "Karen" has become synonymous with middle-aged, white women who are exemplifying entitled behavior.

Many felt Musk was suspending accounts on personal bias.

@ColleenDerkatch

Musk was bestowed his nickname in November 2020, after he tweeted questioning the validity of Covid-19 rapid tests.

During the pandemic, those who questioned Covid-19, vaccines, or refused to comply with restrictions were often called Karen.

"What's bogus is that Space Karen didn't read up on the test before complaining to his millions of followers," Dr Emily Bell wrote.

@emmabell42

Space Karen has become Twitter's method of calling out Musk for being entitled or exhibiting exclusive behaviors.

Like when Musk made fun of people who declare their pronouns.

And now people are using the nickname again, after Twitter applied a temporary limit to the number of tweets users can read in a day, with Musk saying the temporary limits were to address "extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation".

So there you have it. Don't mess with the internet or the internet will come up with an unflattering nickname for you.

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