Democracy Dies in Darkness

These celebrities ‘subscribed to Twitter Blue.’ Except they’re dead.

Updated April 23, 2023 at 4:29 p.m. EDT|Published April 23, 2023 at 11:37 a.m. EDT
Last week, Twitter started removing large numbers of the blue verification check marks that had previously indicated a verified account. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
5 min

Chadwick Boseman, Kobe Bryant and Anthony Bourdain are the latest celebrities to be verified under Twitter Blue, the social media platform’s paid-subscription service that allows anyone to get a blue check mark by their display name if they pay $8 a month and confirm their phone number.

Except the actor, athlete and celebrity chef died years ago, before Twitter Blue even existed.