LeBron James, Monica Lewinsky and several other celebrities refuse to pay Musk $8 for Twitter Blue

Ever since his acquisition, Twitter's new CEO Elon Musk's plan to monetise the 'blue tick' has received the most significant backlash, several celebrities including LeBron James, Monica Lewinsky, William Shatner and others have refused to pay for the verification badge which was originally ascribed to them for free.

Musk now wants everyone to pay $8 a month (Rs 900 in India a month) for verified Blue check marks, and all legacy Blue badges are set to go away any moment.

The White House and the New York Times have already refused to pay for verified Blue with subscription service, as a result of which Musk removed the NYT's blue tick calling their reportage "equivalent of diarrhea".

LeBron James, the highest-paid NBA player of all time and earning over $40 million per year, refused to pay Twitter.

"Welp guess my blue check mark will be gone soon cause if you know me I ain't paying the 5," he posted on the platform.

Actor William Shatner tweeted at Musk: "Now you're telling me that I have to pay for something you gave me for free? What is this - the Columbia Records & Tapes Club?"

Shatner also referenced to the New York Times announcement of not paying for the blue tick either.

Michael Thomas, a wide receiver for the NFL's New Orleans Saints, posted: "Don't nobody want that raggedy blue check no way anymore".

Activist-lawyer Monica Lewinsky posted a set of screenshots showing several Twitter accounts impersonating her.

"Well this is going to be fun. In what universe is this fair to people who can suffer consequences for being impersonated? A lie travels halfway around the world before truth even gets out the door", she posted.

American rapper and Grammy-winner ICE-T also followed suit to say that he refuses to pay for the blue tick.

Departing from the old blue tick which was rolled out primarily to 'verify accounts of public interest', the new and revamped 'blue tick' can be bought by all 'real' users of the micro-blogging platform.

Besides generating revenue for the company which has been battling losses since his acquisition, Musk has justified the decision to make money out of the blue tick as an attempt to give “power to the people”.