Elon Musk has “w” painted over on company sign to annoy landlords

Elon Musk is apparently not a big fan of the name of the company, which he paid around $44 billion to buy in October 2022. And now it’s not even worth half as much.

About a year ago, Musk had users vote on whether to remove the “w” from the company name. However, only the answer options “Yes” and “Of course” were available. The corresponding vote has now been deleted.

Now Musk has apparently picked up the idea again and removed the “w” from the company sign of Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco – causing a lot of hype.

First, the letter whose absence turns “Twitter” into the word “Titter” was taken down. This is shown by a photo published on Twitter on Thursday.

User @williamlegate’s Twitter message has been viewed nearly six million times and has been liked 33,000 times. There was also a lot of discussion under the post, for example about Musk’s humor or whether the photo was really real.

Musk then confirmed the authenticity himself on Easter Monday by posting a photo of the sign on which the “w” of the actually black “Twitter” lettering on a white background had been painted over white.

According to Musk, the building’s landlord stated that Twitter and Musk had a legal obligation to leave “Twitter” on the sign. Accordingly, he painted the “w” in the color of the background, according to Musk. And: “problem solved”.

SRI Nine Market Square LLC, the building’s lessor, has long been a thorn in Musk’s side. Musk once suggested converting the building into a homeless shelter, according to Spiegel Online writes.

Musk seems to have been particularly displeased that the landlord sued Twitter because the company had not paid its rent for several months.

Why Musk no longer wants to call Twitter Twitter is unclear. Also why it should be Titter. Musk no longer responds to inquiries. And he did not comment further on the subject via Twitter.

But titter seems to be less sexist than it first appears. According to the Merriam-Webster US Dictionary means “to titter” that one laughs “nervously, artificially or partially suppressed”.

You can also translate the whole thing as a giggle. Musk himself wrote a short time later that “they” had tried “to stifle our giggles”.

In any case, the reactions to the step were rather critical or cautious. The question arose several times as to whether Musk was five or twelve years old and why he was ruining the brand even more.

However, there was also encouragement. In addition to many laughing emojis, several users recommended that the Twitter boss either buy the building or look for another headquarters.

The multi-billionaire had previously replaced the chirping blue bird on the short message service’s homepage with the Shiba Inu dog, the Dogecoin symbol. As a result, the price of the corresponding cryptocurrency climbed by 30 percent.