CNN obtained some amusing reactions this week after airing a pair of segments on Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old “tech whiz” who has reportedly joined Elon Musk’s Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) workforce.
Coristine, in accordance with a Wired article printed Thursday, goes by the identify “Massive Balls” on-line. CNN anchor Anderson Cooper alluded to the nickname in a Thursday phase, after which “Massive Balls” started briefly trending on X, previously Twitter.
“We start tonight with Elon Musk and ‘Massive Balls,’” Cooper stated, noting that the teenager is amongst those that are “serving to the world’s richest man do no matter it’s he’s doing, dismantling elements of the federal authorities.”
A second phase hosted by CNN’s Erin Burnett additionally made waves on social media after the phrases “Massive Balls” appeared onscreen.
“I didn’t have Massive Balls on the CNN chyron on my 2025 bingo card. But it surely was completely epic,” one particular person wrote.
Added one other: “CNN simply unintentionally made the funniest information phase of all time.”
In a while Thursday night, Musk himself reacted by sharing a screenshot of Burnett’s phase on X.
“Greatest chyron ever,” he wrote.
Coristine, who reportedly hails from New Canaan, Connecticut, and is a first-year scholar at Northeastern College, didn’t reply to interview requests for the Wired article. He’s believed to be the youngest member of Musk’s DOGE workforce, and beforehand interned for Neuralink, the tech billionaire’s brain-computer interface firm.
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In keeping with the article, Coristine “has entry to delicate U.S. authorities methods,” although his skilled and on-line historical past have known as his means to “cross the background test sometimes required to acquire safety clearances” into query.
A separate Wired article describes Coristine as one among a six-man “coterie of engineers” who’re “taking part in a key function as [Musk] seizes management of federal infrastructure.”
“What we’re seeing is unprecedented in that you’ve these actors who are usually not actually public officers getting access to essentially the most delicate information in authorities,” Don Moynihan, a professor of public coverage on the College of Michigan, instructed the outlet “We actually have little or no eyes on what’s occurring.”