Ayo Edebiri Slams “Idiot” Elon Musk For Fake Pirates of the Caribbean Casting Post

Long before Elon Musk wreaked havoc on the White House, he propagated a false rumor that Ayo Edebiri would replace Johnny Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

Musk shared the made-up casting decision on X (formerly Twitter) last February, writing to his more than 200 million followers, “Disney sucks.” On Wednesday, Edebiri said on her Instagram story that Musk’s repost of the now-deleted rumor sparked “some of the most insane death threats and racial slurs of my life (idk if it’s the #1 moment, but for sure top 3) for a fake reboot of a movie I had never even heard of because of this man.” Edebiri then called Musk a “double s**g h**l-ing fascist”—a reference to Musk’s much-discussed Inaugural gesture; the billionaire has not denied that he was doing a Nazi salute—and an “idiot,” before jokingly concluding that “Life is, of course, a gift.” In the next post on her Story, Edebiri joked, “wait no DEI [Diversity Equity Inclusion], but I’ve changed my mind maybe we could make some money idk lmk.”

In the Instagram story post just before her comments on Musk, Edebiri praised Bill Burr for slamming Musk during a recent interview on NPR’s Fresh Air. The comedian said that Musk was “evidently a Nazi,” referring to the controversial hand gesture he made at Donald Trump’s inauguration. “I just refuse to believe it was an accidental two-time Sieg Heil. And he does it at a presidential inauguration!”

Burr went on to call out Musk’s “dyed hair plugs and a laminated face” before labeling him as someone “who makes a bad car and has an obsolete social media platform.” He then asked liberals: “Why are we so afraid of this guy who can’t fight his way out of a wet paper bag?” Edebiri put a bullseye emoji alongside his comments on her Instagram story, before sharing her own opinion of Musk.

Rumors about a sixth Pirates of the Caribbean film have run rampant since Depp, who starred as Captain Jack Sparrow in all five previous movies, testified that Disney had dropped him from Pirates 6 amidst the abuse allegations from his ex-wife, Amber Heard. (In a strange twist, Musk and Heard were once in a romantic relationship.)

But Depp made it perfectly clear that he had no interest in reprising the role. “If Disney came to you with $300 million and a million alpacas, nothing on this Earth would get you to go back and work with Disney on a Pirates of the Caribbean film?” asked Heard’s defense attorney Ben Rottenborn during his defamation trial against Heard. “That is true,” Depp replied.

What form a sixth entry to the franchise will take remains a mystery. Longtime series producer Jerry Bruckheimer confirmed last May that two scripts set in the Pirates universe were in development—one a reboot from Dead Man Tell No Tales screenwriter Jeff Nathanson, and the other involving Margot Robbie and Birds of Prey writer Christina Hodson. Suffice it to say, Edebiri has never been credibly attached to any Pirates of the Caribbean project.