‘Banger’: Musk shares meme of Maduro’s ‘confiscated iPhone’. Here’s what the messages in it might mean

Elon Musk has shared a humorous post containing a meme that showed a fictional screenshot of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro’s confiscated iPhone, ‘revealing’ chats he had with various leaders, including US President Donald Trump, under whose orders he was extracted to the US to stand trial in alleged drug offences. The meme shows profile pics of Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping, Canada’s ex-PM Justin Trudeau, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, and Trump. The idea seems to be to share the possible last messages Maduro may have received before the American military operation on January 3. The shock and absurdity of Maduro’s US capture is evident in the meme photo, which is imagined as a ‘screenshot’ of his phone’s last chat history.

Maduro’s capture

On January 3, US forces seized Maduro from his presidential residence in the Venezuelan capital Caracas in what was essentially a regime change operation. He was brought to New York, where he appeared before a court on Monday (Jan 6). Maduro pleaded not guilty, and claimed he was kidnapped.

What is in the Maduro meme photo shared by Musk?

The original meme was shared by Musk with a simple comment: ‘Banger’ and a laughing emoji. The meme has got 26 million views and thousands of replies.

The satirical screenshot of Maduro’s iPhone Messages app shows texts from the leaders, with

a “CONFIDENTIAL” watermark overlaid, adding to the faux-leaked vibe of the meme.

Decoding the meme: What each leader told Maduro before his capture

Putin says, “We make deal, no tell Trump”, possibly referring to secretive alliances between Russia and Venezuela often involving oil, military support, or anti-US pacts. The “no tell Trump” suggests fear of US intervention by Trump, as well as Putin's poor English.

Xi, who is identified in the screenshot as “Chino” or Chinese, says: “Trump berry FAFO”. This appears garbled or intentionally poorly translated to mock Xi’s broken English. “Berry” is probably meant as “very,” and “FAFO” could be an acronym for the internet slang “f*** around and Find Out”. This could be referring to defence secretary Pete Hegseth's remark that Maduro ‘effed around and found out’, while detailing the Caracas operation to media along with Trump on January 4. China has several large investments in Venezuela and has given loans to the country. There are also oil deals which Trump could jeopardise for China.

Trudeau is identified as “Gringo Canada”, and says “Come to Canada whenever ;)”. While Gringo is an ironic slang used mainly by Latin Americans to refer to North Americans, the winky face symbol and invitation allude to Canada’s reputation for offering asylum to left-leaning exiles like Cuban refugees. While Trudeau is no more in power, it is a mockery of his progressive policies and criticisms of Trump.

Zelensky asks, “Can I borrow $500 million?”, which is poking fun at Ukraine’s heavy reliance on international aid amid its war with Russia, with billions in US funding under scrutiny by the Trump administration. Zelensky is known for his frequent requests for financial or defence aid, which he is seeking from Maduro, given Venezuela’s oil wealth.

Kim Jong-un, labelled “Otro Chino”, meaning “Another Chinese”, says: “you are homoseshuro”. This is possibly a deliberate misspelling of “you are homosexual,” as a childish or homophobic insult. “Otro Chino” lumps Kim in with Xi, alluding to North Korea’s alliance with China and shared authoritarianism with Venezuela.

Donald Trump’s message is interestingly ‘sent’ at 2.08 am, which is around the time Maduro was captured in the intervening night of January 3 and 4. The US president only says: “come outside”, which is shown as unread with a blue dot.