Elon Musk said Gladiator II was ‘woke’ and he was magnificently owned – both in this life and the next

There are lots of things you could say about Ridley Scott’s latest historical(ish) romp, Gladiator II, in which Paul Mescal struggles to fill the sandals of Russell Crowe.

Things like ‘too long’ for instance, and ‘not as good as the first one’.

But surely ‘woke’ isn’t one of them?

We say this after @karpathy shared their take on the big screen sequel.

My Gladiator 2 review. pic.twitter.com/MTCgrXHr4e

— Andrej Karpathy (@karpathy) November 24, 2024

And it was spotted by Elon Musk – of course it was! – who doubled down in characteristic Musk style.

Woke lies kill art https://t.co/aIzKzxKBgr

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2024

Woke likes kill art?

Apart from the fact it sounds more like a cryptic crossword clue, it also generated no end of responses from people only slightly (utterly) bemused that he was suggesting Gladiator II was ‘woke’.

And these people surely said it best.

1.

Sorry what part of Gladiator 2 is “woke”? Protagonist is a straight white dude who embodies the “traditional masculinity” these guys supposedly go for. There’s like only one woman with a speaking part in the movie.

Do they literally just mean because it has Denzel? pic.twitter.com/cGylVfQKQQ

— Will Mavity (@mavericksmovies) November 24, 2024

2.

The only remotely political message of Gladiator II is that emperors are bad and wealthy plutocrats who whisper in their ear are even worse…oh wait I see what he’s mad about pic.twitter.com/CSMDbOBBX3

— Ben Dreyfuss (@bendreyfuss) November 24, 2024

3.

Denzel has one line saying he prefers men over women sometimes and that was just too much for them

— Stasik Geta (@ROKNRUSHNBOY) November 24, 2024

4.

denzel washington should actually beat the shit out of you https://t.co/WTURAuAwDN

— MF Isles (@sirskistan2) November 24, 2024

5.

To be more serious, there is nothing remotely woke about gladiator 2 and no one even woke was responsible for making it. The people who wrote and directed the film are not fond of woke-ism.

— Ben Dreyfuss (@bendreyfuss) November 24, 2024

6.

https://t.co/mSAAwUA8En pic.twitter.com/F74qOpSrMl

— Daniel Miller – SiCcOp (@SicCoP1) November 24, 2024

7.

“Woke” is when a movie has the exact same plot, structure, and character types as the first one, but with one extra non white person.

— Christian Harding (@charding333) November 24, 2024