On Friday (October 28), American business news channel, CNBC, fell for a prank by random strangers, who posed as Twitter employees and claimed that they were fired by the company’s new owner Elon Musk.
CNBC mistook two strangers for ex-Twitter employees after they were spotted with boxes near the entrance of the company’s headquarters in San Francisco. When quizzed about their ouster, the duo decided to play along.
One of the pranksters identified himself as ‘Rahul Ligma’. “It makes me worry about the future of our democracy… the future of celebrity conservatorship. I mean, when Britney [Spears] happened…” he was heard as saying.
Lib reporters outside Twitter HQ get absolutely TROLLED by SAVAGE actors pretending to be fired software engineers
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 28, 2022
The looks on their faces when he says his name is PRICELESS
“Rahul Ligma” pic.twitter.com/l4IIxBdrdw
He continued, “Michelle Obama wouldn’t have happened if Elon Musk owned Twitter. Obama in 2008 wouldn’t have happened without Elon Musk owning Twitter…I even own a Tesla, man. I’m a big fan of clean energy, climate change, even free speech too.”
The choice of the made-up name by the prankster brought the focus on a word ‘Ligma’, which was coined in 2018. It is a fictional testicular disease, which is meant to make people say ‘lick my balls’ in response to the joke.
According to Urban dictionary, Ligma Balls is a “very rare disease (fictional) that weeaboos, blue haired Jews, and cringy Pom Pom Dancers. This corrupts the body’s testicles and (supposedly) kills the person.”
The origins of Ligma
According to Know Your Meme, the term first came into prominence in May 2018 when an Instagram user named ‘Galevik’ asked gun-control activist David Hogg to boycott ‘Ligma.’
“Alright, I’ll bite. What is Ligma anyway?” a naive Hogg asked. “Ligma balls bit*h,” responded Galevik, who was immediately blocked by then 18-year-old gun control activist.
A month later, a tweet was posted by a parody account of former US President of Donald Trump (@realDonaldTrump18), making direct reference to ‘Ligma Balls’. “I am reinstating Ligma…Ligma f*cking balls lmao,” the handle posted an imaginary conversation between Trump and an inquisitive journalist.
The urban lingo became viral after an internet hoax over the death of a popular Fortnite player named ‘Ninja.’ An Intagram user (@ninja_hater) claimed on July 16, 2018, that Ninja had unexpectedly passed away. It was further amplified by several other accounts
Meanwhile, a photoshopped image of a CBS report, alleging death of the e-sport gamer, also began doing the rounds of the internet.
“Tyler Blevins, better known as Ninja, rose to fame as quickly as he fell. The streamer was hospitalized Sunday night and passed away this moning due to a new and rare disease known as Ligma,” the morphed report claimed.
Ninja tried to pacify his ‘distressed’ fans, who fell for the hoax, by uploading Fortnite gameplay on his Twitter and Instagram profile. The hoax was designed in such a way that anyone, who inquired about Ligma, was responded with ‘Ligma Balls’ by those who are privy to the joke.
In an interview with Polygon, the hoax creator (ninja_hater) said, “I personally like the joke and how it’s really kept the joke going, and even spread to other people.” He further added, “The whole ‘Ninja dying’ joke was just to see how much it would spread, and to shake up the internet community.”
While the ace Fortnite gamer was initially miffed with the hoax (asked moderators to ban those who mentioned Ligma in chat), he finally decided to give in on July 22, 2018. Ninja responded to a meme video review by popular Youtuber ‘PewDiePie’ with a ‘Ligma’ comment.
“RIP Ninja…that damn Ligma,” he wrote. This however did not stop comedians from making sketches about ‘Ligma Balls.’ One such hilarious video was created by popular Instagram comedian Supreme Patty. “Ligma is no joke,” he emphasised.
After news organisations including CNBC, Bloomberg and ‘Live Now from Fox’ fell for the prank by Rahul Ligma and Daniel Johnson and passed them off as ex-Twitter employees fired by Elon Musk, Ligma (or Ligma Balls) is back in the spotlight.
