Elon Musk laughing dark green wall with door behind

PewDiePie/YouTube

Far-right media CEO appears to get pranked by offer from ‘Elon Musk’ to buy his network

'That was fast dude.'

 

Claire Goforth

Tech

Posted on Jun 9, 2022

The conservative One America News Network (OAN) claimed that Elon Musk is considering buying it. Musk denied it.

On Thursday, OAN Chief Executive Officer Robert Herring tweeted, “We just received a call from somebody very close to @elonmusk telling us that he would like to talk to us about purchasing @OANN.”

OAN subsequently retweeted Herring’s claim from its verified account.

In Body Image
Robert Herring/Twitter

People were highly skeptical about Herring’s claim.

“Did the person yell ‘BA BA BOOEY!’ at the end of the call?” wrote one.

Musk is embroiled in an ongoing saga over his offer to buy Twitter. He offered to buy the social media platform in April for $44 billion. The board of directors accepted it.

More recently, Musk balked at completing the transaction. He’s demanding Twitter provide him with more information about bot and scam account activity on the platform. If it doesn’t fulfill this request to his satisfaction, he’s threatening to withdraw the offer.

Within an hour, Musk responded to Herring’s tweet to seemingly deny that he’s interested in buying OAN.

“Only Twitter,” he replied.

In Body Image
Robert Herring/Twitter Elon Musk/Twitter

Amusement only grew after Musk denied that he wants to buy the right-wing network being sued for $1.6 billion by Dominion Voting Systems over lies about fraud in the 2020 election.

“Backing out of another one, are ya,” wrote @LOLGOP.

Memes and jokes filled the comments.

“I got the same call… only it was about the sofa I’ve got posted on NextDoor,” replied @MattDThompson.

https://twitter.com/JuanLabrin/status/1534938890569646082?s=20&t=26QPTh30JAbiI1pvUUR5Xg
https://twitter.com/KT_So_It_Goes/status/1534944185832415234?s=20&t=26QPTh30JAbiI1pvUUR5Xg

As of this writing, Herring hasn’t deleted the tweet. OAN didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment submitted through the contact form on its website.


Read more of the Daily Dot’s tech and politics coverage

Nevada’s GOP secretary of state candidate follows QAnon, neo-Nazi accounts on Gab, Telegram
Court filing in Bored Apes lawsuit revives claims founders built NFT empire on Nazi ideology
EXCLUSIVE: ‘Say hi to the Donald for us’: Florida police briefed armed right-wing group before they went to Jan. 6 protest
Inside the Proud Boys’ ties to ghost gun sales
‘Judas’: Gab users are furious its founder handed over data to the FBI without a subpoena
EXCLUSIVE: Anti-vax dating site that let people advertise ‘mRNA FREE’ semen left all its user data exposed
Sign up to receive the Daily Dot’s Internet Insider newsletter for urgent news from the frontline of online.
Share this article
*First Published: Jun 9, 2022, 1:18 pm CDT