Nicki Minaj, Doja Cat & More Musicians React to Losing Their Blue Check Verification on Twitter

As promised, Elon Musk’s Twitter regime has begun removing the platform’s trademark blue check verification from legacy accounts.

The mass reckoning started Thursday (April 20), with fans logging on to find that some of the site’s most famous users — Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé and more — had lost the elite status symbol, which for years has been displayed next to public figures’ profile names to confirm their identities. From now on, surviving checkmarks indicate that a user is subscribed to Musk’s Twitter Blue service, which grants a blue tick to anyone paying a monthly $8 fee.

“This account is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number,” reads a disclaimer on Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus’ accounts, each of which retained their checks.

Just like the rest of the Twitterverse, musicians have had some thoughts about the ordeal. A long running concern with the Twitter Blue setup is how easy it will become for people to impersonate public figures by simply purchasing a verification symbol, something Finneas lamented on in his post-checkmark tweet: “we used to have a system in place on this app that would make sure you knew someone was really who they said but that’s gone now,” he sarcastically wrote.

Musicians like Nicki Minaj, however, are embracing the risk. When one fan told the rapper to subscribe to Twitter Blue so that people wouldn’t mistake her for an internet troll, she simply replied with “I am,” along with a hilarious gif of Mike Myers’ Austin Powers character Dr. Evil.

Other artists have expressed everything from anger to indifference toward Musk’s decision. And then there’s Doja Cat, who says she’s better off without the verification symbol. “Having a blue tick now means theres a higher chance that you’re a complete loser and that you’re desperate for validation from famous people,” she tweeted.

See how musicians are reacting to the loss of their blue checkmarks below: