Reacting To The Fake Twitter Employees Who Trolled The Media | "Ligma + Johnson"
In this conversational YouTube clip, Sam Parr and a guest (Speaker A) dissect a viral stunt that masqueraded as genuine Twitter layoffs after Elon Musk’s takeover. The prank involved two self‑identified “data scientists”—Rahul Ligma and Daniel Johnson—who staged a dramatic exit with cardboard boxes and a Michelle Obama book, feeding a media narrative that they were the first victims of Musk’s cuts. The speakers recount how the story spread through major outlets (CNBC, NBC) and how the media’s eagerness for a sensational angle made the hoax believable. They also discuss the broader context of Musk’s post‑acquisition “war room,” detailing rapid, chaotic operational directives such as printing months of code for review, then abruptly shifting to digital review, and the push for new product experiments like forced sign‑ups and verification programs. Throughout, they weave cultural commentary—comparing Musk’s boldness to a UFC fighter’s “just get up” mentality, mocking the tech‑industry’s San Francisco vibe, and critiquing Twitter’s limited user‑base appeal versus platforms like Instagram or Snapchat. The dialogue blends humor, skepticism of media, and a critical look at Musk’s management style and Twitter’s product challenges.
Chapters
Somebody in our group chat knows this guy who did this, and he shared a text message that the guy sent before he did it. So he goes, um, he goes, yo bro. And the person says, sup? He goes, are you doing anything in the next hour? Wanna help me pull off a stunt? I'm at the gym and I need a box.
LOL.
I'm gonna walk out in front of the Twitter office with a box in my hand. There's hella TV crews outside. So Elon takes over Twitter. I guess the purchase went through. I feel like there was never like confirmation, like he actually wired the money.
He just literally showed up at the office and like, yeah, there, there hasn't been like a proper ribbon, ribbon, ribbon, ribbon-cutting moment. Like it's not like it was more like a squatter.
He just like went into the office and they're like, I guess you own it now. You seem to be here. Yeah, it's mine. Like playground rules. Like, wow, that's all it took to have Twitter.
Have you ever heard of, uh, like a coup, like a coup d'état, like with governments? Uh, you know, I was— I read a lot of—
yeah, they're pretty cool.
Yeah, they are. I read a lot of history, history jokes, or history jokes. I read a lot of history books about, uh, whatever, and they talk about like a coup, and I'm like, so you literally just like walked into the White House and you just said like, you know, this is mine, and like the general has promised me that he's gonna convince these soldiers to attack, you know what I mean? It's like an interesting concept. You're like So it's all just made up, I guess. Like, these rules that we live by, this is just— this is fiction. And that's kind of like what I felt like he did. He just watched, you know, like, well, I own this now. Thank you.
Did— have you seen, you know, Derrick Lewis, the UFC fighter? Have you seen that compilation of his thing where he says, just get up? No. So they're like, Derrick, you're a big, like, knockout artist, but like, you know, the knock on you has always been like, what if you get in a wrestling thing? You know, how's your jiu-jitsu? Are you training? Jiu-jitsu ain't real, man. And they're like, what? He's like, man, you don't need jiu-jitsu. Just get up. And they're like, he's like, why do I want to stay on the ground with another man between my legs? No, I'm not into that. Like, I'm not going to do jiu-jitsu. I'm just going to get up. And they're like, but you, you need jiu-jitsu to get up. He's like, no, I'm just going to get up. And so then there's this, and so they, there's a clip of him saying that. And then there's like, it's like a 6-minute compilation of literally somebody takes him down. He doesn't do jiu-jitsu. He just stands back up because he's so, so powerful. That's how I feel. That's what Elon Musk did. He's like, nah, just walk in. Yeah.
He's like, what do you mean? He's like, well, I'm just going to walk in with a sink and take it. So anyway, he does this thing where he just, he says, this is mine. And there's all these reporters outside of Twitter's office and something crazy happened.
They're waiting for a story. They're waiting for the story about something going wrong. Elon comes here. Oh, there's a protest. There's a walkout. And so what happens is the first big story that happens is there's a picture of these two guys and kind of like nerdy sort of engineering looking guys and they're holding giant cardboard boxes and it says, "These two data scientists, the data engineers, data scientists were fired today from Twitter. Here they're seen walking out with their possessions in their boxes." And I saw it and immediately something looked a little off. 'Cause I was like, this guy just looks so goofy. But I was like, well, that's pretty believable. You know, there's a bunch of goofy looking people that work in tech, but okay. Oh my God, he looks wild, man. They really found the perfect character. He looks pretty goofy. And then I read the name and it says—
But he had a box in his hand. So each had a brown box, like, which is just foreign because like if you work at a tech company, like you don't even probably own anything. You own enough just to put in a book bag.
Put your laptop in your backpack. Yeah.
And like, if you do get fired, do they even like, Is that a thing where you like hand people a box anymore? I don't know.
You know what I mean? They played it perfectly. So then it says Rahul Ligma and something Johnson, uh, Daniel Johnson were fired today, blah blah blah. And then, and I saw that and I was like, oh my God, this guy executed a Ligma. Like, for those who don't know, Ligma is a, uh, is a little joke that people play on the internet where it's like, like you say something, blah blah, Ligma, and then someone's like, Ligma? What's like, I'm not familiar. Ligma nuts, right? So that's the joke. And they did this to basically, I think CNBC NBC was the first one who, like, reported it, and then it just kept getting— the same photo kept getting spread everywhere because everybody wanted this story about—
and the lady who tweeted, she was this CNBC reporter, and I, I— the original tweet said something like, uh, we're at the scene of Twitter, these two engineers just came out who said they're the first to be laid off, and it's just so clear how defeated they are. And like, there's like an audible— or what does she say? She's like, there's just a visible They're just visibly defeated and totally broken. And Rahul Sharma says now he has no idea how he's going to be able to afford his Tesla payments. And then he's sitting there holding a Michelle Obama book. And so it's like him with his box is holding this Michelle Obama book. I don't know why. And he just said— and she tweeted out, like, you know, this is just, they say, the first of many that's going to happen. It was just like a crazy, crazy scene.
So people are, um, people are, are, are, have heard this part of the story, but now we got that My First Million exclusive juice on top of it. So somebody in our group chat knows this guy who did this and he shared a text message that the guy sent before he did it. So he goes, um, he goes, yo bro. And the person says, sup? He goes, are you doing anything in the next hour? Wanna help me pull off a stunt? I'm at the gym and I need a box.
LOL.
I'm gonna walk out in front of the Twitter office with a box in my hand. There's hella TV crews outside. And then this is literally how he pulled this off. He just goes, he gets an empty box and a Michelle Obama book. There's nothing else in the box. And he walks out and the TV crews go for it. And so that was, I thought, amazing. And then he— so that was like, I mean, what kind of genius is this person? Then he goes, there's hella TV crews.
Let's go get them.
He goes, bro, the media is so dumb. I literally put 5 minutes of planning into this. Even my uncle in India has seen the picture now. And he goes, the first thing he goes, "Did you just see the cameras and just walk out there?" He goes, "Yeah, basically. I got to the gym. It's near Twitter's headquarters. I saw all these cameras, so I just went and did it." Dude, that is so funny.
Who is this guy?
He's like a founder of a tech startup, basically. He just did this for fun.
Oh my god.
Yeah, I am ready to invest. His thing says, like, "Stealth startup," so I'm ready to invest in whatever he's doing. Any valuation.
There's hella TV cameras out.
Name your price, Ligma. So, so he goes, okay, so that was him. Did you see the interview with the other guy, Daniel Johnson?
No.
He also had a little gem. So that his was on videos that they're like, you know, um, how do you feel about this today? He's like, I don't know. I just gotta like, I gotta go home. I gotta talk to my husband and wife and regroup.
I don't know.
I just, I just really want to go home. I just really want to go home, talk to my husband and wife and just regroup. The most San Francisco thing ever.
Did anyone comment on that?
The news didn't even, like— They just played the clip, and then I saw that. I was like, "Wow, that is the funniest thing I've ever heard." Perfect timing, man. These guys are like, you know, comedic geniuses, basically.
Yeah, this is pretty gold.
Amazingly well played. Um, yeah. Do you wanna talk about the Elon war room, like what he's actually doing in there? Do you wanna talk about that, or not really?
Not really. I mean, I read that he said, "Hey, guys, you have a week to get this one thing done," and I think that that's cool. That's a good way to run things. I'm nervous he's gonna screw it all up, 'cause I make money from Twitter, so I don't want it to go away. Uh, but, uh—
I got courses to shill, bro.
Yeah, yeah. Like, I got consulting calls to take. Uh, so, um, I don't really care, though. When he talks about this shit, I'm like, "It doesn't impact me that much. I don't care what you're gonna do." Well, I don't care.
It's not gonna impact me, but I do find it interesting how he's going about this. So, basically, the report is He goes in and the first report I thought again was another troll, but I guess this is real. You see this? He's like, he told every engineer to print out all the code that they've committed and they've written in the last 3 or 6 months and have it ready for review. Did you see this?
Why print? So you could just see the, the page length.
And then they changed their mind. Like, I guess they realized how bad of an idea that was. And like, you know, an hour later they're like, shred the papers. Actually, we're going to review on the computer. Just be prepared to review. And so people are like, all these engineers like, I printed out like, you know, 300 pages of code. I guess I'll just shred this. I don't know what's going on here, dude.
And what's crazy is like, if you go to businessinsider.com, the headline is like, you know, I think it says like the toil of working at Twitter and it's like painting it like these people here. They're in a cold line. Yeah, this like, this is what it's like to toil at Elon Musk's Twitter. The expectation is literally to work 24/7.
And I think that's— I swear to God, straight clown behavior. I cannot believe they're doing that.
I can believe it. Uh, and it says, this is it, one of the people familiar said, describing the feeling of the company under Musk. Your job is on the line. It's like, dude, your job's always on the line. Uh, like, you know, like, this isn't like— it's not your right to work at Twitter, you dumbass. Uh, but I, I, uh, I, I thought it was funny because like, come on, man. Like, you're, you're coding this. Yeah, you're going to work 50 hours maybe for a little while. But also, I think a lot of employees at Twitter are probably like, this is awesome. We've been sitting on our ass. Let's, let's do it. And that side doesn't seem to be getting covered a lot.
Yeah. And so he created, I guess, a war room. So he basically brought in a bunch of people he trusts. So he brought in people from his other companies, like he brought in his chief legal person. That guy's now like the general counsel. Basically, he brought in— he created a war room. And here's who's reported to be in the war room. It's Elon, his, uh, his, his chief counsel. Then it's Jason Calacanis.
Oh, and then I think Jason's, Jason's amazing, but like, what the hell does he know?
Yeah, I guess, uh, Sriram from a16z, so just a venture capitalist who's a former PM, used to work at Twitter, also, you know, had to run that Twitter, um, and Clubhouse and, uh, Snapchat. Yeah. And then, and then also, um, I guess like some other people, some engineers or people from, uh, like Boring Company or Neuralink or whatever, like some people he trusts, like His cousin is there, like, and they basically just set up shop and they were like, all right, what are we gonna do with this thing? And they were like, change the logged out page. It forces you to sign up? No, you should be able to read tweets before you sign in, you sign up. And then, which is like an experiment that's been tried many times before. And then it's like, you know, we need to have this verification program. You have 5 days to deliver this, I guess. And so they're just like sort of trying to figure this out of, you know, who stays, who goes, what are we building? How are we gonna turn this thing around? And, Fascinating. I wish I could be a fly on the wall in this, uh, in this war room. I think that would be like probably the most interesting thing to do right now.
I think it would be awesome. Um, I hope they don't screw it up though because I got some fucking courses I gotta sell. So don't screw it up.
They're gonna screw it up. My point of view has always been very simple, which is all the things he complains about are things that like power users would be annoyed at on Twitter, like the bots problem or verification or the algorithm, you know, like not serving me the tweets I want. Like, the problem is that just only, I don't know, whatever, like 300 million people use Twitter and it's like, you know, 5 times smaller than like the other big social services and it doesn't really grow that much. And like, it's not like, you know, my mom doesn't use Twitter because she's like, oh, there's too many bots. If I tweet about crypto, that will tell me to buy crypto. Like, that's not her problem. She just doesn't see value in it. And like, you know, she just says, I don't get it. Yeah, I don't get it. I don't know why I would need this. Like, you know, I don't, I don't need to check this. Whereas Instagram and WhatsApp and like Snapchat have all given her a reason that she needs to have it. Like she needs to have Snapchat if she wants to see more pictures of her kids. She needs to have Instagram if she wants to keep up with what's going on with like Bollywood or whatever, right? Like, you know, everybody finds a need in the service. And like, that's the core problem with Twitter is that the core need it addresses is only for like people like us. And like, it doesn't address the need for a whole bunch of other people on the planet. And if they wanted it to be more valuable, then they would need to do that.
