Did Elon Musk Really Just Go There? The Long History Behind His Bawdy Humor
The man has devoted much of his life to building giant rockets. So, perhaps, it should be no surprise that it has come to this: Elon Musk resorting to phallic barbs in his online feud with fellow billionaire Mark Zuckerberg. “I propose a literal dick measuring contest," Musk tweeted last Sunday night, topping even himself for a new level of blatant crassness.
His coarse banter on a very public stage stands in stark contrast to much of corporate America’s current state of heartburn over possibly triggering any offense. After watching Bud Light fumble with transgender issues, c-suite executives have increased trepidation over being associated with social topics—even ones that may have recently been seen as promoting social good—out of concern about falling within someone’s crosshairs. Not Musk.
He has built a following with wink-wink high-jinks at the companies he runs, from Tesla, the car company; to SpaceX, the rocket maker; and, as of late October, Twitter, the social-media platform. Some Twitter users found his Zuckerberg zinger out of bounds, such as Emmet Peppers, a hedge-fund manager, who responded: “Come on man…probably should delete this one." For many others—more than 55,000 users liked the tweet as of Friday evening—the jab appealed to a certain sophomoric sensibility, helping explain the unusual populism that Musk, as the world’s richest man, has cultivated after more than a decade of unusual tweeting. Over the years, his jokes have only grown edgier.
Years ago, it was about naming Tesla’s vehicles so the ending characters on the model monikers spelled out S.3.X.Y. Today, he automatically responds to press inquiries at Twitter with poop emojis. His antics, even if off-putting to some, have helped endear him to
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