From social media spats to international incidents, Elon Musk's confrontational nature has made headlines. Join us as we count down the most explosive moments when the tech mogul locked horns with politicians, celebrities, and even entire nations. Buckle up for a rollercoaster ride through Musk's most contentious encounters!
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00I'm not just MAGA, I'm dark, gothic MAGA.
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the biggest feuds and confrontational
00:09moments Elon Musk was involved in.
00:11I'm happy to fight him in a house, on a mouse, with a louse.
00:15We'd like go full Dr. Seuss here.
00:19Number 10.
00:20Challenging Putin.
00:21Crazy tweet!
00:22Crazy tweet!
00:23Poison sushi!
00:24Poison sushi!
00:25At one point, Elon Musk liked issuing fighting challenges to others, knowing nothing would
00:30really come of it.
00:31In 2022, with the Ukraine and Russia war in full effect following the latter invading
00:35the former, Musk decided to challenge Russia's leader Vladimir Putin to, quote, single combat.
00:41Issuing the offer on X, formerly known as Twitter, Musk partly addressed Putin in Russian
00:46and deemed that Ukraine would be at stake for the fight.
00:49Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the Chechen Republic and Putin's ally, went to bat for the Russian
00:53leader and called Musk Ilana.
00:55The Tesla CEO fired back, saying he could use his left hand and still win, before ending
01:00the tweet by signing off as Ilana.
01:14Number 9.
01:15The AOC arguments.
01:16You know, I don't know AOC.
01:19Since Musk bought Twitter and turned it into X, one person he's regularly clashed with
01:30has been US House of Representatives member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known as AOC.
01:36In 2022, she posted a thinly-veiled insult at Musk on X.
01:41Rather than address her comments, Musk joked that she was hitting on him.
01:45Months later, AOC stated her X account was having technical difficulties.
01:50In 2023, Musk began leaning into the uncomfortable comment that AOC is romantically interested
02:04in him.
02:05He later called AOC, not that smart, causing her to respond with her impressive background.
02:10This caused a chain reaction of insults being swapped between the two as well as from their
02:15supporters, with no end to the animosity in sight.
02:18We must reject that division in order to accept the prosperity that can come when we stand
02:24together.
02:25Number 8.
02:26The Azealia Banks feud.
02:33Azealia Banks has a history of feuding with folks.
02:36However, in 2018, no one was expecting it to be with Musk.
02:39At the time, she was invited to his home by his then-partner Grimes to create music together.
02:45However, Banks posted on Instagram that she had been waiting for the Canadian musician
02:48for days at their house.
02:50The rapper issued various accusations against the pair, including implying Musk was using
02:54substances that affected his intention to take Tesla private, quote, at $420, leading
03:00to legal issues.
03:01In 2024, Banks returned by publicly pleading with people not to vote for Donald Trump for
03:13the election to make sure Musk doesn't get power.
03:15However, she then backtracked and voted for Trump herself.
03:19Number 7.
03:20Cave rescue insult.
03:27In 2018, the world was gripped by the news that a youth football team and their assistant
03:32coach had become trapped in the Tam Luang Nang Nong cave system in Thailand after water
03:37rapidly rose while they were inside.
03:39As scientists collaborated to work out how to save them, Musk got his companies to create
03:44a mini-submarine, despite the leader of the rescue mission stating it wouldn't work and
03:49Thai officials rejecting it.
03:51After the stranded players and coach were saved, one of the rescuers, Vernon Unsworth,
03:56criticized Musk for his PR attempt.
03:58The billionaire responded by using an insult implying Unsworth was interested in children,
04:03which he later deleted.
04:05On Twitter, Musk says he doesn't need to see that video.
04:08He says he'll bring the sub to where the boys are found.
04:11He can test it himself.
04:12And then he wrote, sorry, pedo guy, you really did ask for it.
04:16So the diver issued a defamation lawsuit.
04:18In 2019, the court deemed Musk wasn't liable.
04:21The tech billionaire hit back, calling him a pedo guy.
04:25Mr. Unsworth has been seeking $190 million in damages, but wasn't successful, but was
04:31unsuccessful.
04:32Number 6.
04:33AI feud.
04:34Ultimately, I think we have the same goal.
04:37We know that there's going to be a lot of benefits to AI technology, otherwise we wouldn't
04:40be working on this.
04:41In a world where the debate about appropriate use of artificial intelligence has divided
04:46many, Musk, with his business and personal interest in technology, has spoken about the
04:51tool many times.
04:52I tried to convince people to slow down, slow down AI, to regulate AI.
05:00This was futile.
05:01I tried for years.
05:04In 2024, his ambitions with the tech led him to clashing with one of the AI godfathers,
05:10Meta's Yann LeCun.
05:11As Musk was searching for workers to join his AI start-up, XAI, LeCun, who's battled
05:17him since 2017, took the opportunity to mock the SpaceX founder for spreading conspiracy
05:22theories, being a bad boss, and his, quote, vengeful politics.
05:27Musk retorted by insulting LeCun's scientific work over the past five years… until the
05:32French-American dunked him by stating he'd written nearly 80 technical papers in two
05:36years.
05:38Number five, refusing Ukraine aid.
05:40The president even invited him to the country after the war is over.
05:45So if you'll have time after the war, you're very welcome.
05:49I invited him.
05:50Sounds good.
05:51Well, I look forward to visiting.
05:54In 2022, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, Musk accepted the country's request to activate
06:00SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet so their civilians, government, and military
06:04could keep in contact.
06:06Starlink was the easiest and most available solution that met the need to provide broadband
06:12in these areas, when no other options from the ground were available.
06:16However, not all of Ukraine has been able to use this.
06:19Some of the Russian-occupied territories, including Crimea, don't have Starlink access
06:24– something which frustrated Ukraine.
06:27However, it couldn't be done due to US sanctions on Russia.
06:30In 2024, Musk was accused of letting Russians use Starlink, which he denied.
06:35In 2022, after Musk put a poll on X for his suggestion to ending the war, Ukrainian diplomat
06:41Andriy Melnik went viral for his very blunt response, which Musk used when responding
06:46to reports that SpaceX was looking for the Pentagon to take over funding Starlink.
06:51How has your ego and ignorance cost Ukrainian lives?
06:55A senior war official says it has.
06:58Number 4.
06:59Attacking Advertisers
07:00I'll tell you, so, actually, what this advertising boycott is going to do, it's going to kill
07:07the company.
07:08It didn't take long for Musk and the X platform to be called out for spreading hate and conspiracy
07:13theories.
07:14In 2023, after promoting an account that spread antisemitism, more companies stopped advertising
07:20on X.
07:21Shortly after, while attending the Dealbook Summit, after apologizing for spreading antisemitism,
07:27Musk was asked about companies stopping advertising.
07:29If somebody's going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money,
07:33go f**k yourself.
07:35He responded that they were blackmailing him for money, and uttered a sweary insult at
07:39the groups, addressing Disney CEO Bob Iger in particular.
07:43Go f**k yourself.
07:47So with that, organizations responded in kind by also leaving X.
07:52In 2024, Fidelity estimated that the site's valuation had fallen nearly 80% since 2022.
07:59Some companies have reportedly returned to advertising on X following the U.S. election
08:04to appease Musk.
08:06We've lost some advertisers on Twitter because community notes applies to advertising too.
08:11And so if somebody advertises something that isn't perhaps a bit inaccurate, then it gets
08:18community noted.
08:19Number three, misgendering his daughter.
08:22They call it deadnaming for a reason.
08:25The reason it's called deadnaming is because your son is dead.
08:31In 2022, Musk's transgender daughter made headlines by legally requesting her gender
08:36and name be changed on her birth certificate.
08:38Now going by Vivian Jenna Wilson, she wanted to associate herself more with her mother's
08:43maiden name, Justine Wilson, and distance herself from her father.
08:47Rather than take any responsibility, the billionaire has publicly blamed the woke mind virus for
08:52causing a rift between him and Vivian, as well as deadname her.
09:04After Musk's infamous interview with Jordan Peterson, where he restated these beliefs,
09:09Vivian publicly responded that she hadn't spoken to him in four years and was subjected
09:14to cruelty from him in her childhood.
09:15I'm just going to come on here and say that I'm doing well, I'm doing fine, actually.
09:22And I am formulating a response and whatnot.
09:28Following Trump's election win and Vivian's posting online about leaving the country,
09:32Musk attacked her online again.
09:342.
09:35Challenging Zuckerberg
09:36At the end of the day, I'll fight you any place, anywhere, under any rules.
09:41Oh!
09:42In 2016, Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and Musk teamed up to release a satellite.
09:47However, it ended in disaster.
09:50This sparked a rivalry between the two billionaires that spilled out into the public consciousness
09:54as they took shots at each other.
09:57In 2023, this resulted in Musk challenging Zuckerberg to a cage fight to settle their
10:02beef, which he seemingly accepted, but…
10:04How much time do you need to prepare?
10:07I don't need any time.
10:08No time at all?
10:09No.
10:10How's your cardio?
10:11No, it's not… that will not be a factor.
10:14However, considering Zuckerberg is younger, trained in jiu-jitsu, and has won competitions,
10:19it wasn't looking great for Musk.
10:21The duo then released promo videos of them training.
10:24After getting UFC involved, Musk later stated that his and Zuckerberg's foundations would
10:29manage the bout that could be hosted in Italy.
10:31However, nothing came of it, and people moved on.
10:34I often think that some of the discourse around us would be, could be better if there was
10:42more kind of space for acknowledging that there's certain things that we're seeing
10:47internally that guide what we're doing.
10:49Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified
10:53about our latest videos.
10:55You have the option to be notified for occasional videos, or all of them.
10:59If you're on your phone, make sure you go into settings and switch on your notifications.
11:05Number 1.
11:06Battling Brazil
11:07Musk has heavily criticized Brazil's Supreme Court for this decision.
11:11He's called Alexandre de Moraes, the Supreme Court judge who made the decision, and Brazil's
11:15Darth Vader, referring to his cloak that he wears in court.
11:19In 2024, the animosity between Brazil and Musk peaked.
11:24The South American nation was furious that X hadn't helped in removing accounts that
11:28Brazil believed had spread misinformation, leading to a wave of violence.
11:33Judge Alexandre de Moraes threatened to arrest X's legal representative in the country,
11:38causing the company to remove them from Brazil and close their offices.
11:42Backed by the country's law, de Moraes stated that unless the company hired a new representative
11:47and paid their fines, X would be banned in Brazil, which he followed through with in
11:52August.
11:53Earlier this month, X had claimed that the judge had threatened our legal representative.
11:57But rather than comply with government requests, X closed its office in Brazil.
12:02Musk referred to de Moraes as a dictator.
12:04In October, Musk paid millions in fines and appointed a new representative in Brazil,
12:09leading to X being unbanned in the country.
12:12Mr. Musk calls himself a free speech absolutist, as he told the BBC's James Clayton last year.
12:18Free speech is meaningless unless you allow people you don't like to say things you don't like.
12:24If all of the world's billionaires had to survive by themselves on isolated islands,
12:29who would be the first to give up?
12:31Elon Musk?
12:32Bill Gates?
12:33Rupert Murdoch?
12:34Or someone else?
12:35Let us know below.
12:36Check out these other clips from WatchMojo, and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell
12:40to be notified about our latest videos.