Neil Gaiman gets a blue tick against his will and laments ‘sad, muddled’ Twitter

The Sandman executive producer Neil Gaiman has clarified his blue checkmark status after Twitter‘s decision to pull legacy verification away from non-paying accounts was met with backlash. Just like other celebrities, Gaiman expected his badge to be removed from his account, only to see it return.

Gaiman went on to Twitter to clarify his stance about the change to his account. According to the writer, he made it clear that he didn’t subscribe to Twitter Blue, nor did he give his phone number to the social media website. He went on to describe the mess that Twitter has become as “a sad and muddled place.” Interestingly, this is the same reaction Stephen King received when he saw his checkmark stay on his account during the Blue checkmark purge.

Ever since Gaiman realized that he received his badge back for free, he started to spread awareness about how Twitter is using celebrities to “illegally endorse” the Twitter Blue subscription, even if they didn’t pay for it. He also supported King’s suggestion to have Musk donate money to charity instead, rather than pay for hundreds of celebrities’ accounts to keep the badge.

Gaiman is one of many celebrities that shared disinterest in paying a Twitter Blue subscription after Twitter decided to push the feature to more users. King has been vocal about the paid verification system since it was first announced in 2022. Meanwhile, Jack Black expressed embarrassment for the social media site and claimed that it’s just a bluff to have celebrities pay $8 a month. While celebrities have announced a celebration once they’ve become unverified, others like Bella Ramsey have announced a departure from the social media platform.

It was alleged that Twitter’s 180 to bring back checkmarks to certain accounts was the website’s way to combat the #BlockTheBlue campaign, where users block those who paid for Twitter Blue subscriptions. At the same time, these checkmarks that the celebrities received made it appear like they paid Twitter for the service when in reality, it was given to them for free. So perhaps Gaiman has a point about the current state that Twitter is in right now — that it is a “sad and muddled place” to be online.