Patti Harrison Mocks Five Tech Billionaires on WIRED Cover — SkimNews
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- Patti Harrison impersonates Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos on WIRED's cover, with Lauren Sánchez Bezos appearing alongside Bezos
- Twitter (now X) unbanned Donald Trump and Kanye West under Elon Musk's ownership, while Harrison remains banned for impersonating Nilla Wafers
- Social media platforms are 'the most literal panopticon,' Harrison argues, conditioning users to attack each other instead of structural forces driving addiction
- Harrison's prior interviews cut her comments about Gaza before publication due to fear of repercussions — making WIRED's choice to run them feel 'hopeful'
- Escape-focused comedy is itself a political act, Harrison contends — 'a reaction to wanting to escape from a reality that is giving you existential dread'
- DARPA funded a 'residency' for Harrison's self-published book combining her transgender journey with arguments for robots with prehensile grip and 80-mph flight capability
Why it matters: Harrison's interview lands at a moment when outlets cut Gaza commentary pre-publication and platforms profit from outrage-fueled addiction. Her WIRED cover — lampooning five tech billionaires — uses the magazine's platform to run Gaza quotes other publications removed, while the figures she impersonates continue running the platforms whose economics she names.
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