Tesla and SpaceX’s CEO Elon Musk. (Photo by Kirsty Wigglesworth – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
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Billionaire Elon Musk and author Joyce Carol Oates are clashing on Musk’s own social media platform, X, formerly known as Twitter.
What Happened Between Elon Musk and Joyce Carol Oates?
Fierce criticism of Elon Musk is a regular occurrence on X, as Musk has made many unpopular changes to the platform.
There is a possibility that Musk might become the world’s first trillionaire, a position of wealth that was once considered the stuff of science fiction.
After Musk responded defensively to a post criticizing his Tesla pay package, Joyce Carol Oates made a simple observation.
Out of the blue, Oates delivered a devastating takedown, pointing out that Musk never seems to post about the joys of life.
Oates wrote:
“So curious that such a wealthy man never posts anything that indicates that he enjoys or is even aware of what virtually everyone appreciates— scenes from nature, pet dog or cat, praise for a movie, music, a book (but doubt that he reads); pride in a friend’s or relative’s accomplishment; condolences for someone who has died; pleasure in sports, acclaim for a favorite team; references to history. In fact he seems totally uneducated, uncultured. The poorest persons on Twitter may have access to more beauty & meaning in life than the ‘most wealthy person in the world.'”
The post quickly went viral, and Musk couldn’t bring himself to ignore it.
First, Musk called the post “demonstrably false” and described Oates as a “lazy liar.” Then, Musk wrote, “Oates is a liar and delights in being mean. Not a good human.”
Next, Musk tried insulting Oates’ writing, stating, “Eating a bag of sawdust would be vastly more enjoyable than reading the laboriously pretentious drivel of Oates.”
Musk shifted direction, replying under a movie account posting about Edge of Tomorrow, describing it as a “Great movie.”
Minutes later, Musk returned to the topic of Joyce Carol Oates, proposing that she “must be a real downer at parties.”
Perhaps in an effort to appear well-read, Musk then wrote a post recommending the audiobook of Homer’s The Iliad (at 1.25 speed), but included a link to Homer’s The Odyssey by mistake. Musk soon deleted the tweet, but the internet never forgets.
Many X users watched the drama unfold in delight, adding their own commentary and posting memes about the feud.
Oates is known to be a prolific and quick-witted poster on X, and she swooped back in for the kill with another post mocking the world’s richest man, writing “whatever club he’s invited to join has been devalued by the invitation.”
Oates also made a post complimenting Vivian Wilson, known as Elon Musk’s estranged daughter, writing, “A normal parent would be very proud.”
Mercilessly mocking Elon Musk is an incredibly common activity on X—the world’s richest man can buy an entire social media platform and bend it to his will, but he can’t force the site’s userbase to like him.
Oates’ commentary about Musk’s appreciation of art echoes the critical commentary that arose after the world’s richest man was suspected of pretending to be extremely good at video games.
Notably, Musk praised the best-selling FromSoft videogame Elden Ring “as the most beautiful art I have ever seen.”
Unfortunately, Musk greatly diminished his credibility in the gaming community after posting his Elden Ring build, which proved so bafflingly inept that it became a meme.
After the feud had died down, Musk resumed his usual X activity, posting positive commentary about Tesla and Grok.
Thanks to Oates, we might well see more literary and film recommendations from the world’s richest man in the future.