An apparent attempt by right-wing commentator Ian Miles Cheong to impress billionaire Elon Musk went awry on Tuesday thanks to a Community Note on X.
After the trailer for the long-anticipated video game Grand Theft Auto 6 (GTA6) dropped on Monday, Musk was met with widespread ridicule after stating that he refused to play the series’ previous installment due to its focus on crime.
“Tried, but didn’t like doing crime,” Musk wrote. “GTA5 required shooting police officers in the opening scene. Just couldn’t do it.”
Amid the mockery, the Malaysia-based Cheong attempted to agree with Musk by stating that he too was opposed to the game’s violence.
“I’m glad shooting cops in Cyberpunk2077 is completely optional,” Cheong said. “Never finished GTA5 either.”
Cheong was soon met with the same ridicule as Musk, but not because he claimed to share the same opinion. Instead, a Community Note revealed that Cheong had written a staggering number of articles about his experience with the game.
“Ian Miles Cheong has written up to 255 Gameranx articles covering GTA V, including descriptions of personally killing or evading (virtual) police in game’s singleplayer mode,” the note said.
Unsurprisingly, Cheong was quickly derided by countless gamers across social media.
“Malaysian grifter, RT columnist and @elonmusk fanboy Ian Miles Cheong has been sucking up to his idol again,” one user said. “Just stop Ian, Elon’s not giving you a Cybertruck.”
Others soon uncovered numerous posts on X that Cheong had made over the years praising GTA5.
In one such post from 2016, Cheong even described GTA5 as the best game in existence for its genre.
“Playing GTA V, and, uh, yea, it’s better than any other modern day open world game that’s been released since. Sorry, Mafia III,” he said.
Incredibly, despite his alleged opposition to shooting police in the game, Cheong later responded to a far-right account on X that highlighted Black people in GTA6 by stating: “You can shoot all of them.”
Users on X swiftly responded to note Cheong’s apparent hypocrisy.
“Same dude who said he can’t stomach killing cops in GTA btw,” one user wrote. “But apparently black people is fair game.”
GTA6 is set to be released in 2025.
