Turns out “Rahul Ligma” was not actually fired from Twitter, but instead was just some random dude with a box that got CNBC with a Ligma Nuts joke pic.twitter.com/zVoPIf5ker
— greg (@greg16676935420) October 28, 2022
Musk mocks media over Twitter layoffs prank
The billionaire entrepreneur commended CNBC’s “ace reporting” after the outlet was duped by pranksters
esla CEO and Twitter owner Elon Musk took shots at the mainstream media after men posing as newly-fired Twitter employees tricked reporters, with at least two outlets taking the bait before quietly editing their stories.
The pair of pranksters were seen milling around Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters with boxes in hand on Friday, identifying themselves to journalists as ‘Rahul Ligma’ and ‘Daniel Johnson’ while claiming to be recently sacked software engineers.
While agencies such as CNBC and Bloomberg initially covered the story with a straight face, even citing interviews with the two men, both outlets later amended their articles to note that ‘Ligma’ and ‘Johnson’ were likely imposters, removing any direct mention of the hoaxers.
It turns out that the purportedly fired Twitter employees featured in the news yesterday were hoaxers with a good sense of humor. CNBC’s story on them now comes with an editor’s note: “After CNBC published details of an interview with people who claimed to be fired employees of Twitter, several reports emerged suggesting it was a hoax. CNBC could not confirm the identities of the individuals.” The New York Post follows up in “Pranksters posing as laid-off Twitter employees trick media outlets: ‘Rahul Ligma.’”
“Rahul” went all the way in the name of authenticity: he “held a copy of Michelle Obama’s book ‘Becoming’ aloft while speaking to reporters.”
Hoaxer “Rahul Ligma” had a good name. Hoaxer “Daniel Johnson” had a good line, reported by CNBC’s Deirdre Bosa: “Daniel tells us he owns a Tesla and doesn’t know how he’s going to make payments.” I’m choking up as I write. The hoaxers can be seen in Bosa’s tweet below.
UPDATE: It’s real, and it’s spectacular:
Gutted by their firing and what it means for Twitter. Please tell Mr. Ligma to connect w me on LinkedIn
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) October 29, 2022
h/t Patagonians