Le Journal

At 87, Joyce Carol Oates isn’t pulling punches, especially not when it comes to Elon Musk. The acclaimed author has spent the past week dismantling the billionaire on X with observations so cutting that they’ve sparked a cultural moment. Oates accused Musk of being “joyless” and “uncultured,” which led to a public meltdown from the Tesla CEO and a flood of memes across X and Bluesky. What happened between Elon Musk and Joyce Carol Oates? The beef started with the news that Tesla shareholders voted to approve a trillion-dollar bonus for Elon Musk if the company meets its high-performance goals within a specific time frame. If it reaches certain financial milestones, the X owner will become the world's first trillionaire. On Nov. 6, 2025, Texas state Senator Roland Gutierrez took the opportunity to post about the affordability issue. "Elon Musk wants to become a trillionaire off the backs of American taxpayers while we are struggling just to pay for groceries," he wrote. https://twitter.com/wildbarestepf/status/1986891961589244160 The next day, Musk fan Stefanie Tyler quote-tweeted the state senator with a screenshot of a Musk tweet claiming he had been given nothing all his life, despite documented financial support from his wealthy parents and the fact that he is the world's richest individual. Then came Oates. "So curious that such a wealthy man never posts anything that indicates that he enjoys or is even aware of what virtually everyone appreciates—scenes from nature, pet dog or cat, praise for a movie, music, a book (but doubt that he reads); pride in a friend’s or relative’s accomplishment; condolences for someone who has died; pleasure in sports, acclaim for a favorite team; references to history," she said. @JoyceCarolOates/X "In fact he seems totally uneducated, uncultured. The poorest persons on Twitter may have access to more beauty & meaning in life than the 'most wealthy person in the world.'" Oates is not the first to suggest that Musk is secretly miserable and empty on the inside, but perhaps the most successful. The mind behind Hyperloop couldn't help but respond, calling her a "lazy liar" and "mean" in multiple posts. Joyce Carol Oates: 1, Elon Musk: still coping Of course, responding to Oates' thoughts only spread the word further. Musk critics on X delighted in seeing the author clearly hurting the billionaire's feelings. Oates continued to post about how sad and pathetic Musk is as her followers discussed the matter. Bangers like "whatever club he's invited to join has been devalued by the invitation" and asking "why a person with unlimited resources exhibits so little appreciation or even awareness of the things that most people value as giving meaning to life" were met with cheers across platforms. As Musk haters observed the man lashing out at Oates in response, proving that her accusations caused him further suffering, they began to spread the idea that he doesn't read or even watch the movies he claims to love. That tweet in which Musk seemed to reveal that he thinks Blade Runner is the main character's name resurfaced. https://twitter.com/esjesjesj/status/1987957334769893477 It wasn't long before they noticed that Musk was suddenly spending a lot of time commenting on popular media. He replied to posts about films like Edge of Tomorrow and Man on Fire with his usual brilliant input, like "Great movie" and "Man on Fire is great!" By Monday, book-related apps like Blinkist were conveniently putting out articles on how Musk "reads a lot." X user @dogprom_2 joked that Oates "BBQ'd his illiterate a** so bad he's pushing ads about how he reads books actually." https://bsky.app/profile/lizrummy.bsky.social/post/3m5ca6jvoms2d Here come the Oates-Musk memes At this point, word had spread to Bluesky—the app made for people desperate to flee what was then called Twitter after Musk took over. On both platforms, all who despise the Tesla CEO reveled in the resulting memes. The best are the ones that reference…

TikTok influencer Brenay Kennard has been ordered to pay a whopping $1.75 million in damages after a court held her responsible for breaking up a marriage. Akira Montague brought a civil lawsuit against Kennard last May, accusing the influencer of having an affair with her then-husband, Timothy Montague, and flaunting it across social media. According to The News & Observer, Kennard stayed with the Montagues for at least two weeks in 2023 when she was having trouble with her own marriage. Her husband, Devon Mayo, is Timothy's cousin. Mayo filed for divorce earlier this year. Much of the case seemed to revolve around Kennard's inclusion of Timothy in her TikTok videos. She was also accused of using things Montague told her about her marriage in confidence to "seduce" her husband. She ultimately said she discovered proof of the affair in January 2024. It was a heated lead-up to the actual trial. Prior to the lawsuit, Montague was arrested for allegedly threatening Kennard. In September of this year, Kennard was arrested and charged with cyberstalking Montague. The trial itself was just as eventful—at one point, Timothy was arrested for having a gun in the courthouse. https://twitter.com/foxsoultv/status/1988436563391639827 How can someone be sued for breaking up a marriage? North Carolina is one of the only states that still has laws allowing someone to sue for alienation of affection. The person bringing the lawsuits against a third party has to prove that there was previously love within their marriage, that love was alienated, and that the person they're suing acted maliciously to create the rift. Clearly, the jury felt that Montague met that burden. Although she initially sued for $3.5 million, she was ultimately awarded $1.5 million for "alienation of affection" and $250,000 for "criminal conversation," which refers to sleeping with someone else's spouse. Brenay Kennard's expensive affair The courtroom itself was filled with people supporting Montague, cheering as the jury's conclusion was shared. Online, people were mostly just stunned at how costly this particular instance of FAFO turned out to be. https://twitter.com/ebknowing/status/1988251737375768709 "On another note, this whole story is WILD! The guy isn’t even worth the 1.75 million to begin with physically or net worth. Yall better leave those married men alone…" https://twitter.com/RealTeaWithTia/status/1988358111837458584 "Chile it’s expensive to take somebody else’s man." Mayo filed a similar lawsuit against Timothy last December, and onlookers are already anticipating that trial as well. https://twitter.com/MissdatFOOLJOKA/status/1988413531688141258 The internet is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s newsletter here. Sign up to receive the Daily Dot’s Internet Insider newsletter for urgent news from the frontline of online. The post “It’s expensive to take somebody else’s man”: Influencer ordered to pay $1.75 million for breaking up a marriage appeared first on The Daily Dot.

A viral in-flight video showing a grown passenger physically holding down his window shade while a toddler tries to lift it has launched a heated debate online about parenting and plane etiquette. In a video with over 514,000 views shared to X by the @InternetH0F account, a passenger shows a tiny hand reaching down the side of the toddler's seat to pull open the plane window. The passenger holds down the window shade as the child grunts in frustration and tries to pull the man's hand from the shade's tab. The child even reaches behind their seat, trying to unplug the man's headphones, and blocking the man's television screen as he watches a movie. The child's guardian, who presumably sits with the child, does not try to correct the disruptive behavior. https://twitter.com/InternetH0F/status/1986765757980549430 How did viewers react to the misbehaving child? In the comments, viewers share their outrage over the lack of discipline from the child's parent. "I'm calling the flight attendant, make them reprimand the parent and child," one suggests. "If you can't keep your child in line on a plane don't travel," another remarks. "This is the fault of the parents!! It’s a parents job to teach their child manners and how to behave in public spaces. If you haven’t done so, maybe you need some lessons on manners as well," a viewer writes. However, others sympathize with the kid's desire to see out the window of the plane. "People who want to close the window are the worst type of people... Very inconsiderate. Just because you dont enjoy beautiful things doesn't mean you have to make everyone else suffer. Sad all around for both sides," one writes. "Bro, just let the kid enjoy the view!" a second exclaims. "I am normally on the side of the adult whenever there is a kid versus adult confrontation on an airplane. But let the kid look out the window. That’s the fun of getting the window seat no?" a third says. The internet is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s newsletter here. Sign up to receive the Daily Dot’s Internet Insider newsletter for urgent news from the frontline of online. The post “Bro, just let the kid enjoy the view!”: Passenger fights toddler for control of plane window shade as parent does nothing appeared first on The Daily Dot.

Greetings, BBN! Kentucky, our Top State last week, followed this week up with another amazing and completely unforeseen SEC victory, demolishing the Florida Gators 38-7 in their last SEC home game and first SEC home win in eons. WKU was off, but Louisville, touting a 7-1 record and #15 ranking, fell at home to the Cal Golden Bears in a disastrous overtime loss. Not good news for the state as a whole, but terrific news for UK fans, who only count a perfect week as one where they win and the Redbirds lose. The states of Utah and Iowa took big hits for their CFP chances on Saturday, while the states of Texas and Oregon boosted theirs. Indiana survived Penn State’s last gasp in one of the greatest games of the entire season, capped by one of its greatest catches. All that and more shaped the CFP race for the home stretch. Let’s see what state was on top in Week 11: Honorable Mention: Wisconsin Wisconsin has been one of the most lifeless states in the FBS this season, not only losing all their Big Ten games but getting shut out or only scoring once in several of them too. This weekend they shocked the nation, though—or at least the state of Washington. Hosting the Huskies and having to play most of the game with a backup QB, they managed to win 13-10 with only 48 passing yards. Half of those were thrown by their punter on a fake punt too. A miracle in The Badger State, and their first Big Ten win of the season. The Top State: Indiana Yet again, the state of Indiana is celebrating improbable victory. Penn State threw the Indiana Hoosiers their absolute best punch in Beaver Stadium and had them down 20-24 in the final two minutes. It was game over until it wasn’t, and with the greatest one-foot-in-bounds TD catches of the season, Fernando Mendoza and the Hoosiers are still unbeaten and still on their mission to bring the national championship to the FBS’s historically worst power conference team. It was also IU’s first ever win at Penn State. Notre Dame and Ball State chipped in with victories too, and Purdue only lost to Ohio State by 24! An excellent week on top for the Hoosier State, which has been all Hoosiers all season.