„Space Karen“ is a mocking name for Elon Musk. Bioinformatician Dr. Emma Bell called him that in a tweet in 2020.
What does „Space Karen“ mean? Explanation, definition, meaning
The incident occurred on November 14, 2020 on the microblogging platform Twitter. It was caused by a controversial tweet by entrepreneur Elon Musk, who was critical of the functionality and credibility of Coronatests. This drew the ire of bioinformatician Dr. Emma Bell, who gave him the unflattering epithet „Space Karen“ in a tweet. The designation resonated around the world. This resulted in various memes depicting Elon Musk as „Space Karen.“ This trend has been reignited as of a few days ago (as of November 2022).
„Space Karen“ – cause and context
SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk stood out several times in 2020 as a critic of the Corona measures. In November of that year, he caused a stir with a tweet. In it, he criticized the effectiveness of rapid corona antigen testing. Musk wrote that he was tested for the corona virus a total of four times in the same day. Two results were positive and two others were negative. Musk called the whole thing a hoax. After all, he said, the four tests were done by the same machine and nurse.
While the tweet received a lot of encouragement from his followers, bioinformatician Dr. Emma Bell expressed anger. In a tweet, she explained why rapid antigen tests can vary. The tests give a result in less than 30 minutes and because of that can only detect infection if the person being tested is absolutely full of coronavirus. The real hoax, he said, was the fact that Space Karen (Elon Musk) publicly criticized the credibility of the tests without having sufficiently studied the matter.
The term „Space Karen“ quickly made the rounds and caused a lot of fun on Twitter. Elon Musk had publicly disgraced himself with ignorance and gaps in his knowledge. The not very friendly nickname has remained with the entrepreneur to this day.
What does the name „Space Karen“ mean? Explanation
To understand the meaning of the expression, an explanation of the background of the „Karen“ meme is necessary. Especially in America, the name Karen has been used for several years as a characterization of a woman who gets upset in public over trifles. The cause was numerous cell phone videos that quickly went viral. The videos showed women demanding disproportionate rights from various groups of people. They demanded to speak to superiors or police officers about trifles. That’s why the „Karen“ meme got the addition „Can I speak to your manager“?
A Karen is a middle-aged woman. Because the name is common in this group of people, Karen was chosen. She represents a white, privileged, middle-aged, thin-skinned woman. Karen doesn’t let anything stand in her way. She is argumentative and resistant to advice. A sassy „bob“ hairstyle is her trademark.
The Space from the title „Space Karen“ refers to Elon Musk as the founder and CEO of the SpaceX company. With this term, Dr. Emma Bell unmistakably addressed the insult to Elon Musk. The addition of Karen portrays Musk as a privileged, white, middle-aged woman who gets upset over trivial matters without first having studied the subject matter.
The „Space Karen“ designation is back in November 2022
After taking over Twitter, Elon Musk drew attention with numerous employee layoffs and office closures. A collective panic is developing on the platform. Some fear the future closure of the platform and are already looking for alternatives. In this context, the term „Space Karen“ flared up again. Many users are again sharing „Space Karen“ memes that show Elon Musk with a blond short hairstyle in space. These memes were originally created shortly after Dr. Emma Bell’s unflattering name for the Tesla CEO.