These tweets split the SpaceX-time continuum.
Elon Musk’s $44 billion Twitter takeover wasn’t the first time he owned the platform. Like an NBA team owner who used to kill it on the court, the Tesla boss has been a Twitter fixture for years: from his highly publicized, ongoing beef with Bill Gates to his flippant quips about hot-button topics like the COVID-19 pandemic and gender pronouns.
Musk’s nonexistent Twitter filter is perhaps fitting, as he apparently plans to make the platform a place where almost anything goes.
“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” declared the 50-year-old social media mogul.
In fact, following the SpaceX honcho’s Twitter takeover and privatization, many conservative pundits claimed their follower counts skyrocketed. Right-wing watchdogs questioned whether the phenomenon was due to the company releasing them from digital house arrest.
Without further ado, here are 12 badass Elon Musk tweets that left a mark.
Say good night to your V-card
Musk’s non-rhetorical flamethrower was on display in 2018 when the entrepreneur retweeted a fake news article claiming that he’d bought the popular video game Fortnite and deleted it to save “kids from eternal virginity.”
“Had to been done ur welcome,” quipped the centibillionaire in the tweet with more than 1.1 million likes.
The nerd-bashing barb didn’t sit well with the game’s developer, Epic Games, which mocked Musk for his mission to colonize Mars.
However, it appears the two have since quashed their apparent beef: The Tesla CEO showed his support for the pixel purveyor after it challenged Apple’s fees on its App Store.
What a stock-block
Musk is infamous for seemingly torpedoing Tesla stock with tweets so outrageous they would probably make Wall Street want to enlist the Easter Bunny to stop him from typing.
In a particular stock-block from 2020, the Twit-wit sent the car company’s shares plummeting after tweeting: “Tesla stock price is too high imo.”
One ticked-off trader responded: “Dude … I just lost $10k because of this tweet. Wtf is wrong with u.”
Twitter high-jinks
In the realm of stock-tanking antics, nothing holds a candle to Musk smoking pot on the “Joe Rogan Experience” in 2018. The Nueralink visionary recently retweeted a meme of the high-minded moment after acquiring a 9% stake in Twitter earlier this month.
“Twitter’s next board meeting is gonna be lit,” read the meme.
Ethical qualms aside, it’s probably safe to say Twitter won’t be a “boring company” under the Musk regime.
Not Biden his tongue
Musk was unsurprisingly displeased with President Joe Biden for neglecting to mention Tesla in a recent speech about car manufacturing in the US.
Following the alleged snub, the electric car trailblazer tweeted that the leader of the free world was a “damp [sock] puppet in human form” — using blue sock emojis for emphasis. Sick burn, bro.
Yeezy decision
Musk apparently believes that Kanye West would be better suited as president than Biden, having endorsed Ye’s short-lived 2020 presidential campaign.
“We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future,” the “Jesus Walks” singer had tweeted. “I am running for president of the United States.”
Musk retweeted the announcement with the caption, “You have my full support!”
Who wears short-shorts?
The world’s richest man is apparently not above mixing it up with the online hoi polloi, as evidenced by this hilarious exchange with a fan over Tesla merchandise.
“Short shorts coming soon to Tesla merch,” teased Musk, who added in a follow-up tweet that they’d be paired with “thigh-high sockboots.” He was referring to a line of red satin short-shorts that he released to celebrate Tesla’s stock climbing — which ironically crashed the online store.
A bemused user subsequently wondered whether the company big-wig would be “modeling” the apparel, to which he responded, “Of course.”
Alas, the entrepreneur never put his money where his mouth is.
He’s not pro-pronouns
While many CEOs take pains to tiptoe around sensitive topics, Musk has remained steadfastly politically incorrect in his online discourse.
In one of his more controversial Twitter barbs, the Tesla boss said, “Pronouns suck” — which earned him an online tongue-lashing from then-partner Grimes, who identifies as non-binary.
“I love you but please turn off ur phone or give me a call [sic],” scolded Grimes in a now-deleted tweet. “I cannot support this hate. Please stop this. I know this is not your heart.”
Musk sparked the ire of the transgender community again later that year over a tweet labeling pronouns an “aesthetic nightmare.”
The moron-avirus
Pronouns aren’t the only hot topic Musk has thumbed his nose at. The visionary has been infamously dismissive of COVID-19 lockdowns and even stated the “coronavirus panic is dumb” in a tweet with more than 1.5 million likes.
‘Billy G is not my lover’
The car magnate has savaged fellow billionaire Bill Gates on multiple occasions, most recently roasting the Microsoft co-founder after Gates seemingly sold Tesla stock short during a tiff about a commitment to fighting climate change.
He posted a tweet likening Gates — in a side-by-side comparison — to an emoji of a pregnant man with the caption, “in case you need to lose [an erection] fast.”
Musk previously mocked Gates after the latter called him out on his views regarding the coronavirus pandemic.
“Elon’s positioning is to maintain a high level of outrageous comments,” Gates told CNBC in July 2020. “He’s not much involved in vaccines. He makes a great electric car. His rockets work well, so he’s allowed to say these things. I hope that he doesn’t confuse areas he’s not involved in too much.”
In response, Musk quipped: “Billy G is not my lover” — a play on the lyrics to the Michael Jackson hit “Billie Jean.”
“The rumor that Bill Gates & I are lovers is completely untrue,” Musk tweeted.
Elon Monk
Musk — who’s worth a cool $240 billion, according to Forbes — confused his Twitter followers after announcing in 2020 that he was “selling almost all physical possessions” and would “own no house.”
“My gf @Grimezsz is mad at me,” he quipped, referencing then-partner Grimes in a follow-up tweet describing his proposed downscaled lifestyle.
The business magnate apparently wasn’t blowing smoke: Earlier this month, Musk said he doesn’t own a home and sleeps in his friends’ “spare bedrooms,” for the most part.
In June last year, Musk tweeted that his primary residence is a rental from SpaceX, worth about $50,000. What’s more, the home was conveniently near the company’s Texas location. In the tweet, he also admitted to owning an “events house” in the Bay Area.
S – – t posting
Perhaps Musk’s off-the-cuff posts are altogether unsurprising given that he has claimed he primarily tweets on the toilet. “At least 50% of my tweets were made on a porcelain throne,” the tech boss boasted in a November Twitter post.
Twittercisms
Some of Musk’s most epic tweets followed his Twitter acquisition, a move that prompted sparking threats of exodus by left-leaning celebs. They claimed that the social media platform would become a cesspool of hate with the Tesla boss at the helm.
Musk was quick to dismiss critics with an allusion to COVID resistance, writing: “The extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all.”
Nonetheless, Musk said he hopes his “worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means.”
Alas, the Twitter head’s principles might not jive with his buyout agreement, which prohibits the tech boss from tweeting criticism about the company.