Ahead of this weekend’s historic SpaceX launch sending a manned crew to the International Space Station — a first for a private spacecraft — boss Elon Musk revealed that he tested positive for COVID-19. In his post on Twitter revealing his testing status, Musk declared that something “extremely bogus” was going on as he had two negative tests and two positive tests. The two positives were enough to prompt NASA chief Jim Bridenstine to recommend Musk quarantine during the launch, but his comments about his testing experience soon led the internet to dub Musk “Space Karen”.
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After Musk’s post about his COVID-19 testing Dr. Emma Bell, whose Twitter bio identifies them as a bioinformatics postdoc, shared Musk’s tweet calling him out for misleading information regarding the nature of the tests — and giving him the name Space Karen.
“Rapid antigen tests trade sensitivity for speed,” Dr. Bell wrote. “They return a result in
Rapid antigen tests trade sensitivity for speed. They return a result in pic.twitter.com/a1Snfpm03h
— Emma Bell PhD (@emmabell42) November 14, 2020
It didn’t take long for the nickname of Space Karen to start making the rounds on the internet, prompting not only the term to trend but for the internet to do what it does best: make memes, crack wise, and have quite a bit of fun with the term. While COVID-19 itself is no laughing matter — infection rates are trending upward worldwide causing another round of quarantines and shutdowns — there were some pretty funny reactions to Musk being called a “Space Karen”. You can read on for just a few.
And as for that SpaceX launch, while Musk wasn’t able to attend in person due to his COVID-19 status, after being delayed from Saturday, November 14th to Sunday, November 15th due to weather, the launch went off smoothly with the SpaceX Crew Dragon arriving at the International Space Station early Monday morning.
What do you think about the internet dubbing Musk “Space Karen”? Let us know in the comments.
Photo by Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Endorsements
“Space Karen” also endorsed Kanye for president. 🤦🏽♀️ pic.twitter.com/orlJ9zCzkA
— Kennedy (@KennedyIsShe) November 16, 2020
Reporting the black holes
I can only assume that Space Karen is calling the police on Black Holes. pic.twitter.com/rDrIvCWTy8
— Deth Veggie (@DethVeggie) November 16, 2020
Good morning…
Good morning to everyone except Space Karen @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/to7KaPJW7W
— BasuraBlanca (@BasuraBlanca72) November 16, 2020
It’s what the day needed
OMG – “Space Karen”! 😂😂 thank you for this, I needed it today.
— Nicole Herzog (@primatdufeu) November 14, 2020
Really
they really calling elon musk space karen pic.twitter.com/ZmelOZTcoh
— jazz✨ (@jasmynej14) November 16, 2020
Best thing on Twitter
Space Karen is the best Twitter thing on Twitter today.
— Malav Parekh (@Malavtweets) November 16, 2020
Pack it up, the internet’s been won
Nothing on this website today will be as good as Space Karen. Going to log off and treasure it.
— Robin Marwick (@electricland) November 16, 2020
This plot twist
Elon Musk thinks we see him as Iron Man but actually he’s like The Mandarin and his last phase Space Karen haha pic.twitter.com/ymj6JmBoRB
— Asiul_EATJin (@Asiul_Jin) November 16, 2020
LMAO
Love the clear explanation of the science. Also, Space Karen lmaoooo https://t.co/zP425eeDFU pic.twitter.com/tHoa3IKJMx
— Elaine Soohoo, PhD (@sososoohoo) November 16, 2020
Space Ranger
Elon Musk learning the internet calls him Space Karen after catching Coronavirus pic.twitter.com/ZiDK871Pt5
— paolette (@deviIette) November 16, 2020