Elon Musk
| Photo Credit: KENT NISHIMURA

What was supposed to be a flex for Elon Musk turned into an online disaster, as the billionaire’s attempt to stream Path of Exile 2 mid-flight using Starlink quickly devolved into an hour and 45 minutes of cyber-bullying and trolling.

Broadcasting from a private jet equipped with Starlink satellite internet, Musk hoped to demonstrate the service’s ability to support real-time online gaming at 30,000 feet. Instead, viewers hijacked the in-game chat to relentlessly mock the SpaceX CEO. Personal jabs flooded the screen almost immediately. One message read, “You ruined the country just like you ruined all your marriages,” while another said, “You have no real friends and will die alone.”

Musk remained largely silent throughout the session, occasionally dying in-game and starting over due to the hardcore (perma-death) setting. He acknowledged the harassment at one point, muttering, “There’s a lot of r*tards in the chat,” but didn’t take action to mute messages or hide the chat feed despite several users telling him how to do it.

Adding to the awkwardness, one user, claiming to be conservative influencer Ashley St. Clair, posted, “Please pay your child support. Thank you Elon,” referencing an ongoing custody battle. Whether it was actually her or not, the trolling didn’t stop. Others mocked his political ties, accusing him of enabling Donald Trump’s administration, and criticised his parenting and gaming skills.

The stream ended when Musk’s final character, named Kekius Maximus — a nod to an popular meme — died to a tutorial boss, allegedly due to “bad connection.”

Musk’s already shaky gamer reputation took another hit recently when his estranged daughter, Vivian Wilson, appeared on Hasan Piker’s Twitch stream and called her father a “f**king dogsh*t” Overwatch player who needed help ranking up from his 12-year-old kids. ““This is so cringe. Why would you even pretend to be? It’s fine not to be a gamer,” she said.