When it comes to discussing one’s celebrity status, there often comes a questions surrounding the state of their relevance. Are they deserving of the attention they have? What’s their backstory and is it relatable? How do they interact with everyday people?
While I do not wish to participate in determining the merit of one’s rise to fame, there is much to say about how those in the public eye utilize the platforms their fame has granted them.
A person I wish to bring to the forefront of this discussion is none other than Elon Musk.
Having helped found, fund and take ownership of major companies including PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla and the social platform X, formerly known as Twitter. Musk has been in the public eye for just shy of three decades.
Deemed the real-life Tony Stark, Musk who was well respected in the tech community, solidified his status as a household name in 2008 after the release of Tesla cars. It was one of the first all-electric vehicles able to perform on the same level as gasoline-powered cars in terms of speed, acceleration and overall luxury.
Since then, Musk’s social media image and political interference has painted a less-than-desirable image of how he runs his companies as well as his views regarding the rights of marginalized people and communities.
Over the years Musk has been no stranger to letting his opinions be known. Justifying anything he shares as his First Amendment right to freedom of speech. When criticized, he has been known to lash out using various childish and underhanded tactics. This has included making fun of appearances, perpetuating misinformation on the war in Gaza, using deep fake videos, inappropriate references and misogynistic statements.
One such instance of misogyny involved global pop star Taylor Swift following her endorsement of presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, in September of this year. Swift signs off the post with the statement “Childless Cat Lady” as a clapback to comments made by Republican Vice Presidential Candidate JD Vance. In response to the post, Musk took to X to voice his unprompted opinion stating “Fine Taylor, you win… I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life.”
In an interview with former CNN reporter Don Lemon, Musk was asked whether he believes he has a responsibility to his followers to fact-check prior to posting to his social media platform X. Musk responded that the X users and community notes would be able to correct him so there is no need to research his statements prior to uploading them to the platform.
The issue with this mentality is that there is a dependency on the audience to circle back to the information rather than focusing on delivering accurate information the first time.
Ultimately Musk shows no signs of remorse or reflection on his past comments as he continues to disguise his prejudices as “edgy humor” while allowing misinformation to run rampant on X.
Company Controversies
Tesla has also had its fair share of malpractice suites under the leadership of Musk, ranging from public health violations in factories, perpetuating racism, sexual harassment complaints amongst female employees, removing employees who would voice opinions opposing his own and threatening workers who attempt to unionize.
Musk is also well known for falling short of his promise of self-driving cars. The decade-long promise was once again pushed back at the Tesla Cybercab Unveiling on Oct.10, 2024.
Musk also used the launch to show the public Tesla’s Optimus Robots, where he claimed the robots were fully AI powered. Since the event, questions surrounding whether the Optimus robots were fully autonomous have been raised. With reports speculating that the bots were controlled remotely by Tesla employees.
Following the acquisition of Twitter in 2022, Musk, who had previously accused former leadership of carrying out a political agenda can now be seen doing the same by inciting conspiracies.
Just in the past year Musk has boosted conspiracies of a “coup” following President Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race, circulated a deepfaked video of Vice President Kamala Harris with initially no parody tag, started rumors that Trump’s assassination attempt involved the secret service and allowed X’s generative AI Search tool to generate false claims that Harris would not be on the ballot in several states.
Trump Rallies and Voter Lottery
Having officially endorsed Donald Trump via X this past July, Musk has continued to vocalize his support for the former president. Even going as far as donating $118 Million to the Trump campaign after previously claiming he would not provide monetary funding to either candidate.
On Oct. 27, Musk also made an appearance to deliver a speech at Trump’s rally in Madison Square Garden.
As such an integral part of Trump’s campaign funding, Musk’s approach to mobilizing voters in swing states has resulted in legal consequences.
On Oct. 20, Musk posted a link to a petition in support of the First and Second Amendments with those participating entering for a chance to win 1 million dollars daily. While the post itself mentioned that political party and voter registration were not taken into account in the lottery, one of the 14 winners were democrats or appeared left-leaning, and all were residing in key battleground states.
The question of if the lottery is truly random has sparked legal action against the multi-billionaire. On Monday, Oct. 21, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner filed suit against Musk under the pretense that the lottery violates consumer protection laws in Pennsylvania. The conditions of the lawsuit further demanded that the contest be stopped while the suit is ongoing.
In tandem with the suit filed in Philadelphia, the Justice Department issued a letter of warning to America PAC – an organization founded by Musk in support of former president Trump, notifying them of the lottery is in potential violation of federal law against incentivizing voter registration through money or prizes.
While the lottery has been paused, the lawsuit is still ongoing with Musk’s bid to delay the Pennsylvania lawsuit recently being denied.
As social media users, we have a responsibility to take accountability for what we post. Celebrities like Musk should not be exempt from those expectations. Through his lack of accountability, abysmal treatment of employees, perpetuation of harmful propaganda and abuse of power he continues to prove his disregard for everyday people.
