Elon Musk Rebrands Himself on X

Elon Musk is no longer going by that name on X. The BBC reports Musk "has sparked speculation" after changing his profile name to "Kekius Maximus" and pairing it with a profile photo of an armored Pepe the Frog, who appears to be holding a gaming console. Fortune calls the new handle "a mash-up of an alt-right symbol, a memecoin, and the lead character of the movie Gladiator." Benzinga reports the price of the PEPE memecoin rose 11% after the swap. As for the alt-right element, the New York Post reports the Anti-Defamation League has called Pepe the "Alt Right's favorite meme," though the paper notes "Musk and many others who are chronically online have always rejected those claims."

As for his new moniker, the BBC calls "Kekius" an apparent Latinization of "kek," a word "popularized by gamers but now often associated with the alt right" that means something akin to "laugh out loud." It adds that "Kek" is also the name of Egypt's god of darkness, who is sometimes shown as having the head of a frog. "Maximus" is the same name as that of Russell Crowe's Gladiator character, Maximus Decimus Meridius. (More Elon Musk stories.)