‘Put him in a pool and delete the ladder’: People think Elon Musk’s gestures are giving off serious Sims NPC vibes
Elon Musk's controversial salute continues to trend on social media, and with it has come a deeper dive into how the tech billionaire moves and gestures — particularly their resemblance to Sim characters from video games.
In a video posted by @DropPopNet on X, the account compares a side-by-side view of Elon Musk’s poses for the camera on the left and a Sim dressed like the tech billionaire on the right.
The video comes from his red carpet appearance at the Breakthrough Prize Ceremony on Apr. 13, 2024. In it, Musk poses for cameras in progressively disjointed movements, shrugging, striking a pose, then changing to a more neutral standing pose between each while laughing with people off-camera.
Dubbed “the Oscars of Science,” the Breakthrough Prize is Silicon Valley’s grand celebration of cutting-edge research and innovation. Founded by tech leaders Yuri Milner, Sergey Brin, Anne Wojcicki, and Mark Zuckerberg with Priscilla Chan, the annual event brings together the scientific elite and a number of Hollywood stars for a night of prestige and awards.
Users on the X, which Musk purchased for approximately $44 billion on Oct. 28, 2022, have had a field day with the comparison. They offered up suggestions for what could be done to Musk as a Sim NPC character in comments and subsequent quote-retweets of @DropPopNet.
For those unfamiliar, the Sims is the wildly popular life simulation game series developed by Maxis and published by EA Games. In the games, characters often exhibit exaggerated, stilted movements, such as slow turns, slightly delayed reactions, and an overall aura of uncanny valley as they simulate real life through dating, marriage, and (a popular trick by Sims players) getting trapped in the pool with no way out. This kind of disjointed movement is exactly what viewers saw in Musk’s red-carpet demeanor.
“Which is extra funny since ‘NPC’ is a fave insult of theirs,” @jbroome noted in a response.
Another person said, “None of my Sims have ever given a Nazi salute though.”
“I saw someone say he moves as though he's always expecting the internet to turn him into the next big meme and it rlly does make sense when u look at it this way,” another X user pointed out in a quote-retweet.
The commentary about Musk’s mannerisms adds yet another layer of scrutiny to a public figure who seems to thrive on controversy and internet engagement. Musk’s behavior, whether intentional or simply a result of his natural demeanor, has fueled countless memes and discussions about his online persona. This latest moment highlights how even his most mundane actions are subject to widespread analysis, often with humorous or critical undertones.
'Even the Sims is making fun of Elon Musk'
Interestingly, according to some folks on BlueSky, it appears that a recent patch update to The Sims has added a Musk-like character to the game, who players have noted takes the game’s in-world social media websites down if you reject him.
And then there are those who love to create both real life and fictional characters in their Sims games, such as this BlueSky user's child, whose Donald Trump and Elon Musk Sims have gotten married and are expecting.
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