Elon Musk bizarrely changed his X profile name to “Kekius Maximus” on Tuesday – sparking a flood of questions from supporters and critics alike.
The world’s richest man, who boasts nearly 210 million followers on the platform he has owned since 2022, also switched up his profile avatar to feature an image of the popular Pepe the Frog character clad in gladiator-like armor.
Musk, a confidant of President-elect Donald Trump, has yet to offer a full explanation for his sudden name change.
But there are a few hints.
Elon watchers online have suggested that the new moniker is a bizarre combination of Pepe the Frog and Russell Crowe’s character, Maximus Decimus Meridius, in the 2000 blockbuster “Gladiator.”
Musk’s new profile image shows Pepe the Frog clad in golden armor while holding a video game controller.
Pepe, which started off as simply a cartoon in the “Boy’s Club” comic series, allegedly became associated online with white supremacists and the alt-right during the 2016 presidential election.
The Anti-Defamation League dubbed the character a hate symbol and described it as the “Alt Right’s favorite meme.”
However, Musk and many others who are chronically online have always rejected those claims.
A link to gaming?
The Tesla founder teased his handle change in a post on X on Tuesday, writing: “Kekius Maximus will soon reach level 80 in hardcore PoE.”
PoE is an apparent reference to the popular “Path of Exile 2” video game, which Musk is known to play.
Connection to cryptocurrency?
Kekius Maximus is also the name of a “memecoin” — a cryptocurrency based on a popular online meme.
Musk has previously caused massive ripple effects in the crypto market with his social media antics — notably with the dogecoin.
In the wake of Musk’s handle change, the Kekius Maximus crypto’s value soared by more than 900% as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the CoinGecko site.
It wasn’t immediately clear, though, if Musk — who has previously shown support for memecoins — has anything to do with Kekius Maximus specifically.
Speculation of a burner account
Many have speculated online, too, that Musk’s motive is rooted in claims that he is running a burner super-fan account.
Internet sleuths have been suggesting that the Space X CEO is behind an account — operating under the name Adrian Dittmann — that heaps praise on him.
Musk has denied being Dittmann — and mocked people who claimed he’s operating the alt account.
Deepening the mystery, Dittmann appears to be a character who operates only on X — there is almost no evidence of a person with that name operating outside the social media platform.
Musk added fuel to the fire by retweeting a post from the Dittmann account on Tuesday that mentioned the Kekius Maximus saga.
“Imagine you’re a journalist writing about Elon on X and it goes: ‘Elon Musk, aka Kekius Maximus, on X…,’” the Dittmann post read. (NY Post)
