King also denied ever referring to Musk as Donald Trump’s “new first lady” — but only because he “didn’t think of it”
Celebrated author and expert poster Stephen King dismissed the internet rumors that he’d been kicked off Twitter/X after insulting owner Elon Musk.
On Wednesday morning, King addressed the speculation, quipping, “I see there’s a rumor going around that I called the Musk-man Trump’s new first lady.” Magnanimous man that he is, King further denied coming up with such an insult before quipping — “but only because I didn’t think of it.”
He added, “There’s also a rumor going around that Muskie kicked me off Twitter. Yet here I am.”
Per PolitiFact — because, yes, this silly rumor somehow got the official fact-check treatment — this bit of extremely online hearsay began spreading on Instagram Threads. A post there about the alleged ban garnered over one thousand likes and comments before spreading to other platforms like Reddit (proving X does not have a monopoly on easily spreadable disinformation).
It also appears that the “Musk bans King” report was a rehash of a satirical post that originated back in July with an account called SpaceX Fanclub and a website called Esspots. While both label themselves as “satire,” SpaceX Fanclub and Esspots have proven to be rather adept at kicking off wild online rumors with posts and stories that happen to not be labeled as “satire.”
Anyway, at least for now, King can continue to post freely. And that means his feed will continue to be a font of Trump and Musk jabs, as well as immaculate dad jokes like this: “Did you hear about the dolphin restaurant? Not many customers, true, but it still serves a porpoise.”
