Why we should all game-shame Elon Musk
There are two words one ought to think of when considering a recent news story involving Elon Musk. No, not those two.
The two words that should spring to mind right about now, and which show that Musk may be losing some crucial ground with a constituency he could once rely on are: git gud. I am not, for the avoidance of doubt, having a stroke. Look, I'll explain.
Last Saturday, before his big bust-up with tariff idiot Peter Navarro, the clown prince of the White House appeared on a livestream, playing action role-playing game Path of Exile 2. As you may know, Musk usually prides himself on being a good – nay, excellent – gamer. What a shock it was, then, for streamers to watch him try and fight the game's very first boss and die again, and again, and again.
Sick of embarrassing himself and being rinsed by more or less everyone watching, he ended up rage-quitting after half an hour, and that was the end of that. To say it was mortifying for him would be an understatement. Musk had, for some time, claimed that he was one of the world's top players of PoE 2, but gamers realised earlier this year that something was afoot.
In the end, he was forced to admit that, yes, he'd hired some people to level up his characters while playing on his account, so he could pretend to be more proficient at the game that he'd let on. Elon Musk is, should you need a reminder, 53 years old. It would be easy to spend the rest of this column making fun of him for having done this, but it feels worth looking at the demographic he's chosen to betray instead.
If you're not a gamer, the one thing you should understand about them – well, us – as a community is that meritocracy reigns supreme. It always has, and probably always will.
There is something of the great unifier about video games, in that gaming doesn't care about what you look or sound like, or where you live, or how old you are. All that matters is how good you are at playing whatever game you've chosen as your poison.
I am, for the avoidance of doubt, not exactly defending it as a culture. It can often feel quite thankless, obnoxious and idiosyncratic. That's where 'git gud' comes from, by the way.
Anyone who's ever struggled with a level or a boss in a game and turned to forums for advice and answers will have encountered it. Someone else will, at some point, have asked a similar question and been hit with the two-word answer. How do I beat this seemingly unbeatable villain? Easy: get good.
You may find this attitude childish, and you may well be right, but that's not quite the point. The point here is that gamers, male ones especially, had long respected and loved Elon Musk, but the tide may now be turning. Explaining you're a busy and powerful man who just doesn't have time to also be a master gamer is one thing; lying about being great, being found out, then showing yourself up in public is quite another.
Oh, and it should go without saying that Musk's association with an administration whose tariffs have delayed the release of Nintendo's much-anticipated Switch 2 won't be doing him any favours either. That the console's price tag will now be dearer in the US than it was ever going to be is sure to draw the ire of many of these gamers.
Will this matter in the long run? Perhaps, perhaps not. What we do know is that Gamergate was, in a way, the beginning of the end for the glory days of the internet, and the cultural power of gamers cannot be underestimated. A lot of them are, by definition, very online, and it wouldn't take much of a mood change for them to alter the way even reactionary social media users feel about Musk and his ilk.
Even if none of that does happen in the end, we can still bask in the glory of the Tesla Twat having made a complete tit of himself in front of the very people he's always desperate to impress. Doesn't that put a spring in your step?
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BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Pornographic Taylor Swift deepfakes generated by Musk's Grok AI
Elon Musk's AI video generator has been accused of making "a deliberate choice" to create sexually explicit clips of Taylor Swift without prompting, says an expert in online abuse."This is not misogyny by accident, it is by design," said Clare McGlynn, a law professor who has helped draft a law which would make pornographic deepfakes to a report by The Verge, Grok Imagine's new "spicy" mode "didn't hesitate to spit out fully uncensored topless videos" of the pop star without being asked to make explicit report also said proper age verification methods - which became law in July - were not in the company behind Grok, has been approached for comment. XAI's own acceptable use policy prohibits "depicting likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner"."That this content is produced without prompting demonstrates the misogynistic bias of much AI technology," said Prof McGlynn of Durham University. "Platforms like X could have prevented this if they had chosen to, but they have made a deliberate choice not to," she is not the first time Taylor Swift's image has been used in this explicit deepfakes using her face went viral and were viewed millions of times on X and Telegram in January 2024. Deepfakes are computer-generated images which replace the face of one person with another. 'Completely uncensored, completely exposed' In testing the guardrails of Grok Imagine, The Verge news writer Jess Weatherbed entered the prompt: "Taylor Swift celebrating Coachella with the boys".Grok generated still images of Swift wearing a dress with a group of men behind could then be animated into short video clips under four different settings: "normal", "fun", "custom" or "spicy". "She ripped [the dress] off immediately, had nothing but a tasselled thong underneath, and started dancing, completely uncensored, completely exposed," Ms Weatherbed told BBC added: "It was shocking how fast I was just met with it - I in no way asked it to remove her clothing, all I did was select the 'spicy' option."Gizmodo reported similarly explicit results of famous women, though some searches also returned blurred videos or with a "video moderated" BBC has been unable to independently verify the results of the AI video Weatherbed said she signed up to the paid version of Grok Imagine, which cost £30, using a brand new Apple asked for her date of birth but there was no other age verification in place, she new UK laws which entered into force at the end of July, platforms which show explicit images must verify users' ages using methods which are "technically accurate, robust, reliable and fair"."Sites and apps that include Generative AI tools that can generate pornographic material are regulated under the Act," the media regulator Ofcom told BBC News."We are aware of the increasing and fast-developing risk GenAI tools may pose in the online space, especially to children, and we are working to ensure platforms put appropriate safeguards in place to mitigate these risks," it said in a statement. New UK laws Currently, generating pornographic deepfakes is illegal when used in revenge porn or depicts children. Prof McGlynn helped draft an amendment to the law which would make generating or requesting all non-consensual pornographic deepfakes illegal. The government has committed to making this amendment law, but it is yet to come into force."Every woman should have the right to choose who owns intimate images of her," said Baroness Owen, who proposed the amendment in the House of Lords."It is essential that these models are not used in such a way that violates a woman's right to consent whether she be a celebrity or not," Lady Owen continued in a statement given to BBC News. "This case is a clear example of why the Government must not delay any further in its implementation of the Lords amendments," she added.A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "Sexually explicit deepfakes created without consent are degrading and harmful. "We refuse to tolerate the violence against women and girls that stains our society which is why we have passed legislation to ban their creation as quickly as possible." When pornographic deepfakes using Taylor Swift's face went viral in 2024, X temporarily blocked searches for her name on the the time, X said it was "actively removing" the images and taking "appropriate actions" against the accounts involved in spreading Weatherbed said the team at The Verge chose Taylor Swift to test the Grok Imagine feature because of this incident."We assumed - wrongly now - that if they had put any kind of safeguards in place to prevent them from emulating the likeness of celebrities, that she would be first on the list, given the issues that they've had," she Swift's representatives have been contacted for comment. Sign up for our Tech Decoded newsletter to follow the world's top tech stories and trends. Outside the UK? Sign up here.
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Telegraph
The Right-wing Star Wars actress who won a battle for free speech
If ever Hollywood decides to remake Frank Capra's classic 'little man against the system' picture Mr Smith Goes To Washington, they could do worse than star mixed-martial-artist-turned-actress Gina Carano in the lead. Only this time, Carano's nemesis would not be the forces of political intrigue, but the entertainment powerhouse Disney. Capra's film had a happy ending, in which Mr Smith's integrity and decency won out, and so it has proved for Carano, who was sacked by Disney from the television series The Mandalorian in 2021 for, essentially, the expression of her political views. She has now won a high-profile lawsuit against the company, in which it has grovellingly settled out of court and issued a humiliating statement: 'We look forward to identifying opportunities to work together with Ms Carano in the near future.' She, meanwhile, wrote on X – the platform owned by Elon Musk, who bankrolled her case on free speech grounds and whom she thanked profusely for his assistance – 'Yes, I'm smiling.' I have come to an agreement with Disney/Lucasfilm @disney @Lucasfilm which I believe is the best outcome for all parties involved. I hope this brings some healing to the force. I want to extend my deepest most heartfelt gratitude to Elon Musk, @elonmusk a man I've never met,… — Gina Carano 🕯 (@ginacarano) August 7, 2025 While the Right will be celebrating, and the liberal Left reacting in scorn and disbelief, it is useful to remember what, exactly, Carano was found 'guilty' of. When she was initially cast in the Pedro Pascal star vehicle The Mandalorian in 2019, playing the character of Cara Dune, Carano had successfully transitioned from mixed martial arts fighting into acting. Her most notable role before then was the lead in Steven Soderbergh's 2011 action picture Haywire, in which she starred opposite A-listers including Michael Fassbender, Michael Douglas and Ewan McGregor. She more than held her own, and went on to appear in the action films Fast & Furious 6 and Deadpool, as well as films with titles like Kickboxer: Vengeance and Scorched Earth. Her casting in The Mandalorian, therefore, represented a bid for respectability, positioning her as an actress rather than simply an accomplished ass-kicker. Her character swiftly became a fan favourite and, had matters been different, it is likely that Cara Dune would have continued into the show's third series, and the forthcoming film spin-off. There was even talk of a Cara Dune series, with the potential title of Rangers of the New Republic. The Star Wars films have often been criticised for their comparatively weak female characters. Carano's unapologetically ballsy character was intended by the showrunner, Jon Favreau, to be someone who was 'raising stakes and raising hell'. 'Abhorrent and unacceptable' Favreau got his wish, but not quite in the way that he had anticipated. Carano had never hidden her conservative political views, which she expressed in typically forthright fashion on social media. But matters shifted after the 2020 US presidential election, when she shared her belief that there had been widespread voter fraud resulting in the election being called for Joe Biden rather than Donald Trump. (She tweeted 'make voter fraud end in 2020'.) When the Covid outbreak began, she was similarly dismissive of the widespread need for masks, suggesting that they were unnecessary. Her employers observed her remarks with gritted teeth, and waited for an opportunity to rid themselves of a potential embarrassment. It was not long in coming. In February 2021, Carano shared an Instagram post in which she compared the apparent persecution of people for the expression of their political views to how the Jews were treated during the Holocaust. It may have been emotive, but it was also fair comment. Disney subsidiary Lucasfilm, however, did not see it like this, and described her post as 'abhorrent and unacceptable' before sacking her from The Mandalorian following a social media campaign to dismiss her bearing the hashtag #FireGinaCarano. Lucasfilm's statement (which Carano saw online rather than being privately informed about) high-mindedly declared that 'Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future'. Both her agency and her lawyer dropped her, fearing collateral embarrassment. Carano, in other words, had been thoroughly cancelled. But the star had made her name and forged her reputation in the ring, and she refused to go quietly. She went on the conservative podcast The Ben Shapiro Show shortly afterwards and said, 'I've seen the bullying that takes place. I'm going to go down fighting.' Yet her dismissal also had a severe personal impact. She told the Hollywood Reporter in 2024: 'I just laid down and cried and cried. I curled into a foetal position. It's not that I didn't think that something like that could happen. It was that I couldn't imagine they would put out this horrendous statement about me after working with me – the most powerful entertainment company in the world saying that about me.' Double standards Had it not been for Musk publicly offering to bankroll court cases involving free speech, and the shift in political opinion in the United States, then Carano would have had limited options. She did not work again as an actress, except in a couple of low-budget, conservative-friendly productions (one of these, a satire on Hunter Biden, saw her star opposite her British equivalent, actor-turned-provocateur Laurence Fox). Yet she was also swift to observe the double standards at play. Her co-star, Pedro Pascal, was similarly outspoken politically, but on the Left rather than the Right – something he has maintained to this day with his criticism of JK Rowling – and tweeted in 2018 that the treatment of migrant children in the US was akin to that of the Jewish people in the Holocaust. As Carano told Shapiro: 'I know that we both have mis-stepped on our tweets. We're not perfect. We're human beings. But he's not a bad human being. He's a sweet person.' Yet Pascal faced no sanction from anyone at Disney or Lucasfilm. Carano, however, was 'watched like a hawk. I had a problem because I wasn't going along with the narrative'. Carano admitted that she had acted in a way that had marked her out. She had posted things on social media that were felt to be critical of trans people and the modish Black Lives Matter movement, and she later told the Hollywood Reporter: 'Stuff like that I deleted, because I don't want to be associated with anything like that.' Yet the perception of her as a Right-wing provocateur – worsened when she used the words 'boop/bop/beep' as her pronouns in her Twitter bio – resulted in her being sent by Lucasfilm and Disney to what she described as 'a re-education camp', where she was told by transgender representatives from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) that she was expected to put out a statement of apology. Although she described the conversation as 'sweet and fun', and the representatives as 'lovely people', Carano called it 'one of those statements that almost makes you roll your eyes'. She was then ordered to attend a mass meeting of the LGBTQ group at the studio, which she was sternly informed would be a 'litmus test' for whether she could have a career in the future. She declined, saying instead, 'Can I take five or six of these trans leaders to dinner? I'll pay for it.' Her offer was declined, and that was it for her. Prior to her firing, Pascal – who has a trans sister, and whom Carano continued to praise – had tried to advise her. 'He was telling me, 'Just put #transrights in your feed. Do it and they'll leave you alone,'' Carano said. He may well have been right. Yet few would have been convinced that Carano was doing it except under severe duress. However, now that she has fought and won on her point of principle, she can claim vindication. As she incredulously said to the Hollywood Reporter, 'Boop/bop/beep? Seriously? This was the start of the end for me? A 20-year career, the blood, sweat and tears of fighting?' Disney in Trump's America It is a mark of how swiftly, and how much, things have changed since Trump's re-election last year that the issue of pronouns – whatever they are – in a social media bio now seems ridiculous rather than somehow crucial. Yet the 'journey' that Disney has been on over the past decade or so is a fascinating one. Bob Iger, the company's chief executive – who, when he was asked by the Hollywood Reporter last year if he had any comment on Carano's lawsuit, simply replied 'None' – is nobody's fool. As soon as Trump returned to office, Iger began building bridges with the White House and the wider Republican party. In 2024, he instructed the Disney-owned ABC News to donate $15m to Trump's presidential library and to make an on-air apology after the president began a lawsuit when the show's anchor, George Stephanopoulos, incorrectly said Trump had been found 'liable for rape'. Iger will be treading extremely carefully over the coming months to attempt to keep the most powerful man in the world on side. It also represents something of a surprise that Carano would ever consider working for, or with, Disney again. Last year, she blasted the company after it attempted to throw out the lawsuit, by saying on X: 'Disney has confirmed what has been known all along, they will fire you if you say anything they disagree with, even if they have to MISREPRESENT, MALIGN, and MISCHARACTERIZE you to do it … If you ever wanted to know what today's 'Disney values' are, they just told you.' Predictably, the settlement has enraged the Left. One X user contemptuously wrote that 'Yes, Gina Carano is a conservative crank who hates trans people and thinks the 2020 election was stolen, but she is also the single worst actor I have ever seen in my life.' But that is an increasingly marginal view; for many Star Wars fans, the universe suddenly seems like a more welcoming place.
Sky News
2 days ago
- Sky News
Mandalorian actor Gina Carano settles lawsuit with Disney – and thanks Elon Musk for funding it
Actor Gina Carano has settled her lawsuit with Disney and Lucasfilm after claiming she was wrongfully dismissed from The Mandalorian for expressing her political opinions. Carano was fired in February 2021 after starring as Rebel ranger Cara Dune in two series of the Disney + Star Wars series The Mandalorian. According to court documents, it came after the 41-year-old referenced the Nazis' treatment of Jewish people while discussing current political differences in the US. At the time, production company Lucasfilm said in a statement that her "social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable". But late on Thursday, she posted on X: "I have come to an agreement with Disney/Lucasfilm which I believe is the best outcome for all parties involved." She added that she "hopes this brings some healing to the force". The details of the financial settlement have not been disclosed. When filing her lawsuit at the Californian District Court last year, she had sought $75,000 (£59,000) in damages. She also thanked Elon Musk for financing the lawsuit, despite the two having never met. "I want to extend my deepest most heartfelt gratitude to Elon Musk, a man I've never met, who did this Good Samaritan deed for me in funding my lawsuit," she wrote in her post. "Thank you Mr. Musk and X for backing my case and asking for nothing in return." The X owner is an ardent advocate of free speech and has funded similar legal battles previously. Carano signed off: "I am excited to flip the page and move onto the next chapter. "My desires remain in the arts, which is where I hope you will join me. Yes, I'm smiling. From my heart to yours, Gina." In response to the settlement, Lucasfilm said in a statement: "Ms Carano was always well respected by her directors, co-stars, and staff, and she worked hard to perfect her craft while treating her colleagues with kindness and respect. "With this lawsuit concluded, we look forward to identifying opportunities to work together with Ms. Carano in the near future." In legal documents, Carano's team claimed both Disney and Lucasfilm had "targeted, harassed, publicly humiliated, defamed, and went to great lengths to destroy Carano's career". She also alleged she was treated differently to her male colleagues. Neither company commented on these claims. Lawyer Gene Schaerr, managing partner at Schaerr Jaffe, said at the time: "Disney bullied Ms Carano, trying to force her to conform to their views about cultural and political issues, and when that bullying failed, they fired her. "Punishing employees for their speech on political or social issues is illegal under California law." Carano, who began her career as a mixed martial arts fighter, has starred in other Hollywood franchises, including Fast & Furious 6 as Riley Hicks, and Deadpool, in which she played Angel Dust.
