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'Super Mario Bros.' star Jack Black wants to call Elon Musk's 'bluff' on new Twitter policy
Jack Black's not paying for Twitter, no matter what weird policy changes the social media site implements.
Last month, Twitter CEO Elon Musk announced that the company would begin removing blue Verified check marks from "legacy" verified users, and going forward would only grant the checks to users willing to pay the $8 monthly subscription for the "Twitter Blue" service. Unsurprisingly, many verified users who've been on Twitter for free for years at this point weren't down with that, including The Super Mario Bros. Movie star Jack Black.
RELATED: Watch Jack Black get tricked into dressing as Bowser
Speaking to Variety at the Mario premiere over the weekend, Black -- who plays Bowser in the new film -- said he'd rather wait and see if Musk and company really do remove his blue check mark, but also made it pretty clear that he sees no reason to pay for the service.
“I don’t know if I’m going to pay for it,” he said. “I’m a little embarrassed by the blue check to be honest with you. Maybe it’s cooler not to have checks. It’s definitely not cool to pay for it. I’m gonna see what happens if I don’t pay for it. I’m gonna call his bluff, see if he really takes my check away.”
The Verified program on Twitter was originally designed to add legitimacy to accounts, including those of celebrities, journalists, and companies, so that users would know whether communications were coming from the real person or someone impersonating them online. Since taking over the company last year, Musk has worked to implement "Twitter Blue" as a new revenue stream for the company, giving subscribers to the program new features like longer tweets and, of course, blue check marks. Last week, Musk gave a deadline of April 1 for users to subscribe to Twitter Blue in order to keep their "legacy" blue checks, leading many verified users to insist that they wouldn't pay for Twitter. As of this writing, many legacy blue check marks remain, though Musk has promised they'll be phased out of the service in the coming weeks.
As for the rest of the Mario cast, Mario himself, Chris Pratt, made it pretty clear that he wouldn't stop using social media, but did quip "Good luck" when asked about potential imposters trying to be him on any given site.
“I don’t know,” Pratt said. “I care deeply about all of [my followers]. I’ll do whatever I have to do to stay a part of their lives because I respect their attention and I love to use it as an opportunity to talk to them when I’m doing movies and stuff.”
Seth Rogen, who plays Donkey Kong in the new film, offered only a very simple summation of his relationship with Twitter: "I almost never use it."
It's clear that the debate over Musk's policy change, and what it might do to various Twitter users, will be ongoing for quite a while, so this probably isn't the last red carpet on which we'll hear about it. In the meantime, keep a close eye on your follows and followers, and look for The Super Mario Bros. Movie in theaters Wednesday. You can pick up tickets right now.
