Elon Musk traded jabs with the Twitter account of satirical magazine Hard Drive on Monday, resulting in a back-and-forth that saw the billionaire repeatedly insulted.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO, 50, unwittingly started the war of words when he shared the headline to a Hard Drive article about a notorious serial killer titled “Zodiac Killer Letter Solved by Opening It With VLC Media Player.”
Musk, who recently launched a controversial bid to purchase Twitter, added the caption “Nichememe,” a term normally used to indicate a meme that resonates with just the person who read it.
While many of Musk’s almost 96 million followers interacted with the since-deleted tweet, a message was sent to the entrepreneur from the Hard Drive account that read: “hey i’ll give u a horse if u stop cropping our name off our articles.”
The comment appeared to reference Insider’s recent report that Musk was accused of sexual misconduct after he allegedly offered a flight attendant a horse for an erotic massage in 2016. It led to a $250,000 settlement, according to Insider. Musk has previously denied the allegations, calling the report a “politically motivated hit piece.”
Not backing down, Musk responded: “Well, if you make something that looks like a meme & someone (not me) crops off your name, so it goes.
“Also, this is only a 6/10 meme, so maybe step down from that high horse! The selfless art of anonymous meme creators is something to be admired.”
Hard Drive shot back: “ok well lemme know what you think about this one,” sharing a link to another of its satirical articles bearing the headline “Elon Musk Admits He Wants to Travel to Mars Because No One Hates Him There Yet.”
“Less funny than SNL on a bad day,” Musk wrote back. “This could make a drunk person sober. Try harder!”
Without missing a beat, the Hard Drive account shared a picture of Musk in costume during his Saturday Night Live appearance back in 2021, writing: “well you’re the expert on SNL’s bad days.”
