You’ve seen the screenshots. Maybe you saw the Community Notes or the sudden disappearance of a certain blue checkmark. Honestly, if you blinked in early 2025, you might have missed one of the weirdest, most terminally online beefs in recent history. It wasn't about rockets or electric cars. It was about Path of Exile 2 and a level 97 Hardcore character.
Basically, the elon musk asmongold tweet saga is a masterclass in what happens when the world’s richest man gets his gamer ego bruised by a guy who hasn't cleaned his room in a decade.
It started with a boast. Elon Musk, a guy who somehow runs five companies while apparently finding 40 hours a week to grind ARPGs, claimed he was one of the top players in the world. He wasn't just playing; he was "dominating." But the gaming community, especially the high-level Path of Exile 2 (PoE2) sweats, didn't buy it.
The level 97 problem
Gaming is a meritocracy. You can’t buy your way into a Level 97 Hardcore character in PoE2 without people noticing something is off. Hardcore means if you die once, your character is deleted. Gone. To hit level 97, you need hundreds of hours of near-perfect play.
When Musk streamed his gameplay to "prove" his skill, it backfired. Hard.
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Viewers watched him walk right past Chaos Orbs—basic currency that any real player would grab instinctively. He was dragging items into his inventory like a total noob instead of using hotkeys. He looked lost. Asmongold, the king of "caustic commentary" and Twitch’s most prominent gaming voice, didn't hold back. He flat-out accused Musk of being "boosted," which is gamer-speak for paying someone else to play your account.
"Did Elon Musk play this account to level 97? The answer is very simple: No," Asmongold said on stream. He even threw down a massive wager: he’d stream on X (formerly Twitter) for an entire year if Musk could prove he actually leveled that character himself.
When the DMs leaked
Musk didn't take the "fake gamer" allegations well. He did what he often does when cornered: he got petty. He unfollowed Asmongold. Then, he did something that actually triggered a warning on his own platform. He leaked private DMs between him and Zack (Asmongold’s real name).
The "gotcha" Musk thought he had was a message where Asmongold mentioned needing to talk to his editors before committing to a project. Musk tweeted:
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"Asmon behaves like a maverick 'independent', but in reality has to ask his boss for permission before he can do anything. He is not his own man."
It was a weird flex. Anyone who knows how YouTube works knows that editors are employees, not "bosses." Even Musk’s own AI, Grok, and the Community Notes team pointed this out. The internet collectively cringed. You’ve got a billionaire trying to frame a standard business workflow as some kind of secret puppet-mastery.
The blue checkmark vanishing act
For a few hours, Asmongold’s blue verification badge vanished. Most people assumed it was a manual "delete" from the top. It eventually came back, with some saying it was a glitch and others insisting it was a shot across the bow.
Musk eventually deleted the most aggressive tweets, but the damage to his "gamer cred" was done. He even joked about a Chinese alter-ego named "Elon Ma" being the one actually playing the account. It was a joke, sure, but in the context of the evidence, it felt more like a "it's just a prank bro" retreat after being caught.
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Why this actually matters for the future of X
This isn't just about two famous guys arguing over pixels. It’s about the culture of X as a streaming platform. Musk wants creators like Asmongold to leave Twitch and bring their millions of viewers to X. But when you leak the DMs of the very people you’re trying to recruit because they criticized your gameplay? That’s not a great pitch.
Fast forward to early 2026, and the relationship has taken another strange turn. Despite the PoE2 drama, Musk recently backed Asmongold during a massive controversy involving a shooting in Minneapolis. Asmongold had defended an officer’s actions, sparking a huge backlash. Musk jumped in to agree, proving that in the world of high-stakes social media, "gamer beef" is temporary, but "culture war" alliances are forever.
What you can learn from the chaos
If you’re a creator or just someone following the drama, there are a few real takeaways here:
- Authenticity is the only currency that matters in gaming. You can be the richest person on Earth, but if you can't hit your flask timings in a boss fight, the community will sniff you out.
- Keep your DMs professional. Even if you're talking to a "free speech absolutist," assume your private messages are one ego-bruise away from being a public post.
- Don't ignore the editors. The weirdest part of the elon musk asmongold tweet was the misunderstanding of how content is made. If you're building a brand, your team is your strength, not a sign that you aren't "your own man."
The beef might be "over" in the sense that they aren't trading insults today, but the precedent is set. If you're going to challenge a guy who literally lives in his gaming chair, you better actually know how to play the game.
To stay ahead of how these platform dynamics are shifting, keep an eye on how X updates its Creator Rev-Share program. If you're a streamer, now is the time to diversify your platforms—just maybe don't tell the owner his gear score is fake.
Your next move: Check your own X privacy settings and ensure "Data sharing" with AI models is configured to your liking, especially if you handle sensitive business via DMs.