Musk jokes he wants to buy low-cost airline Ryanair
What's the story
Elon Musk's latest spat with Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary has taken the internet by storm. The feud started over in-flight Wi-Fi and quickly escalated into talks over a potential takeover as well as sarcastic jabs. The exchange began when Ryanair mocked Musk during an outage on his social media platform, X.
Airline's jab
Ryanair mocks Musk during X outage
When X experienced a major outage, affecting users' ability to post, load feeds, and access content in the US, Ryanair took a jab at Musk. The airline tweeted, "Perhaps you need Wi-Fi, @elonmusk?" This was in response to the chaos on his platform. The comment was made after Downdetector reported spikes in complaints about the service disruption.
Meme mania
Musk's response sparks meme fest
In response to Ryanair's jab, Musk tweeted, "Should I buy Ryanair and put someone whose actual name is Ryan in charge?" The tongue-in-cheek comment went viral, sparking a flurry of memes and jokes from netizens. One user even asked Musk's AI chatbot Grok about the market cap of Ryanair and potential candidates named Ryan for the job.
Viral image
AI-generated image of Ryan Reynolds as Ryanair CEO
The meme frenzy reached new heights when a user posted an AI-generated image of Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds in a suit with Musk. The caption read, "You have the opportunity to do something hilarious." Even people named Ryan joined in on the fun with one offering to become CEO and give all Ryans a discount.
CEO's remarks
O'Leary's previous dismissal of Musk and Starlink
Prior to this, O'Leary had publicly dismissed both Musk and the idea of installing Starlink on Ryanair flights. He had said on Newstalk radio show, "I would pay no attention whatsoever to Elon Musk. He's an idiot, very wealthy, but he's still an idiot." O'Leary also explained that putting an antenna on the fuselage would add a 2% fuel penalty due to weight and drag.
Connectivity debate
Musk disagrees with assessment on connectivity
Musk disagreed with O'Leary's assessment, arguing that connectivity is becoming a necessity rather than a luxury. He posted on X, "They [Ryanair] will lose customers to airlines that do have internet." This further fueled the ongoing dispute between the two industry titans.