Actor Michael Caine made a brief appearance on Twitter on Monday that had users howling with laughter. The 89-year-old actor joined Twitter in 2010 but uses it sparingly, and he last posted in January of 2022. On Monday, he made two uncharacteristic tweets that seemed to sum up the day the platform at large was having.
Caine is based in London, England, so at 10:22 p.m. local time for him he tweeted: “Hello!” Caine did not respond to any tweets, “like” or retweet any posts, but 11 minutes later he wrote: “Good Night My Sweet Ones.” Fans reasonably assumed that Caine had signed onto the app after a long break, scrolled through its offerings and decided it was not for him. He politely showed himself out, and even the most prolific users of Twitter couldn’t blame him.
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Monday was a big day for Twitter as the company announced that it has accepted a bid from billionaire Elon Musk to buy the platform and take the company private. Musk reportedly offered $44 billion for the purchase. The story had many users commenting on the nature of Twitter itself and how it might change for better or for worse under Musk.
Caine’s brief interjection on this chaos was welcome by most as a funny distraction. Many made jokes laughing with the actor at the mess social media has become. Here’s a look at the top comments on Caine’s enigmatic posts.
Role Model
To many fans, Caine was setting the bar for how Twitter should be used. On a day that was troubling for many fans of the platform, this was the glimmer of hope they needed.
Out
Fans had a great time imagining that Caine had genuinely spent 11 minutes on Twitter and not liked what he saw. They felt like this was the most relatable take of the day.
Real
One thing fans liked about these posts is that they believed they came from Caine himself โ not a publicist or a social media expert.
Energy
Fans felt that Caine displayed a lack of social stamina that has become common throughout the last two years or so.
Antithesis
Many fans joked that Caine’s polite, detached demeanor was the antithesis of Musk, who is himself an outspoken, dissatisfied user of Twitter.
Worth It
Users looking for a reason to stick around on Twitter while other platforms pop up to compete with it joked that posts like these made it all worth it.
Anecdotes
Finally, seeing Caine’s name in the trending topics list had many fans sharing more general anecdotes about the actor or their favorite moments from his career. So far, Caine has not returned to social media with further commentary.