Elon the Cheat

Gamers have exposed the truth. Musk's desire for fair play is as fake as his commitment to free speech.

Trump's America is willing to accept cheating almost everywhere. In elections. In business. At golf.

But there's one place where even the broest of bros draw the line: Video games.

And now, just before his Inauguration as America's new Puppetmaster, Elon Musk has been exposed as the world's biggest—and most pathetic—video game cheat.

It's a scandal that has reverberated beyond the gaming community—and beyond social media—and may have lasting effects on his credibility with the largely male audience who he tricked into believing he was not just a maker or exploding cars and rockets, but also a gamer god.

In a video titled "Elon Musk Fraud Gamer Situation is Pathetic," YouTuber penguinz0 dissected the scandal for his 16.4 million followers:

As Vulture puts it:

Musk getting roasted by gamers is, obviously, hilarious, precisely because he has spent so much time attempting to ingratiate himself to them throughout his cultural ascendancy.

On YouTube, penguinz0 calls Musk's claim to have "one of the top characters" on the game Path of Exile 2 top player " his weirdest lie ever."

In minute detail, penguinz0 then spends more than a quarter of an hour dissecting how Elon exposed himself during livestream play as a novice player, unaware of basic elements and tactics, who used other expert players to boost the "Elon Musk" account onto the leaderboard so he could then appear on the account to "flex it."

In the gaming community—one of the last bastions of our culture in which fair play is both expected and demanded—cheating is profoundly condemned and getting caught is seen as the ultimate humiliation.

Making matters worse, gamers and social media users have also exploded Musk's past claim to be a top four player in the game Diablo 4.

As one YouTube commenter wrote: "A lifetime of taking credit for other people's work has led to this."

Musk has severely damaged his credibility in the gamer world, exposed himself to mockery and ridicule, and created some potential problems for his new xAI gaming venture.

Musk is also (finally) being sued for not playing by the rules in his Twitter acquisition, where the SEC says his illegal actions cheated Twitter shareholders out of at least $150 million.

Elon, of course, was one of the loudest anti-trans voices who helped make fairness in women's sports a key topic in the last election. And, even in victory, he continued to bully his own trans daughter.

But gamers have exposed the truth. Musk's desire for fair play is as fake as his commitment to free speech.

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P.S. This really is the time to get off X once and for all. Please find me on Bluesky and these other places.