Elon Musk is laughing off — but not laughing at — John Oliver’s 30-minute rant, in which the comedian referred to the tech mogul as “erratic,” “self-serving” and “increasingly racist.”
When a social media user reposted an article on X, formerly known as Twitter, about Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight” segment, asking, “Oh no, how will Elon ever recover?,” the SpaceX founder replied with crying-laughing emojis.
He then hit back at the British comic, writing, “Oliver was great several years ago, but stopped being funny when he sold his soul to wokeness where humor is basically illegal.”
Oliver began his discussion about Musk, 52, on his HBO late night talk show Monday by comparing the South African businessman to “any bad guy in a movie” like DC Comics’ Lex Luthor, villains in James Bond flicks and Billy Zane’s character in “Titanic.”
“Truly, the man has range,” he quipped, causing the audience to erupt into laughter.
Oliver, 46, then delved into several of Musk’s career downfalls, noting in part that ever since the latter’s acquisition of Twitter, “It has been one fiasco after another with the most recent coming when he tweeted his agreement with this antisemitic post.”
He also spoke of Musk chastising advertisers who threatened to pull out of his social media platform over the antisemitism backlash, claiming the X owner was pulling the “you’re not breaking up with me, I’m breaking up with you card” while wearing a jacket from “Ralph Lauren’s midlife crisis collection.”
Oliver also called out Musk’s early business failures such as when he sold Tesla cars in advance to customers at one price point and then elevated the cost in what even he admitted was a “bait-and-switch.”
The talk show host then trolled Tesla’s cybertruck, saying, “Who on earth actually wants to spend up to $100,000 to drive every child’s first attempt at drawing a car?”
Referencing Musk’s company SpaceX, which is the world’s most dominant satellite company, Oliver added, “The problem isn’t just the optics of having someone as erratic as Elon in charge of half the world’s satellites. His opinions can change the shape of world events.”
He also quoted Musk’s biographer, Walter Isaacson, who once said the mogul likes “drama.”
“He loves drama? I’m sorry, I’m really not that comfortable with one of the most powerful people on earth being summed up the same way you describe Andy Cohen on New Year’s Eve,” Oliver said.
“I’ll be honest, my feelings about Elon changed a bit in the writing of this piece. I’m probably now more impressed by what he’s doing, but more worried by the fact that he’s the one who’s been doing it.”
The comedian then concluded, “The least surprising thing on earth is a middle-aged billionaire CEO with self-serving libertarian views, increasingly racist politics and a messiah complex.”
Although Musk appeared only a bit miffed by Oliver’s criticism, a writer who profiled him recently shared that he believes the world’s richest man “truly cares about his reputation.”
Author Ben Mezrich, who penned “Breaking Twitter,” claimed Musk once spiraled after he was booed at Dave Chapelle’s show in San Francisco last December.
