Billionaire Elon Musk fired back at comedian John Oliver following a no-holds-barred takedown on his HBO show over the weekend.
Oliver, in the grand finale of “Last Week Tonight” for 2023, turned his comedic spotlight on Musk, serving up a buffet of humor and cautionary tales about the tech titan’s Twitter escapades, political pivot to the right, and occasional dalliances with antisemitic conspiracy theories. The 30-minute roast didn’t spare Musk’s rollercoaster year, from rocket launches to a massive car recall – all while challenging Mark Zuckerberg to a cage fight.
Elon’s misadventures on Twitter, now rebranded as X, took center stage, with Oliver highlighting Musk’s affinity for the platform and the fallout from an ill-fated tweet endorsing an antisemitic post. Advertisers jumped ship, prompting Musk to defiantly declare, “Go. F—. Yourself” to those trying to sway him with money.
Oliver’s comedic climax? Musk’s breakup tactic with advertisers likened to a marathon victory after running 200 miles in the wrong direction – all while sporting a jacket from Ralph Lauren’s midlife crisis collection.
Oliver played a clip from an interview in which Musk said that he didn’t want those advertisers on his platform.
”If somebody is going to try to blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go f— yourself,” Musk said in the interview. “Go. F—. Yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is.”
But it wasn’t all laughs. Oliver voiced concerns about Musk’s increasing radicalization, cautioning that a lot hinges on how the tech mogul feels on any given day. Musk, true to form, hit back on X, claiming Oliver lost his comedic mojo when he “sold his soul to wokeness” – where humor apparently becomes “illegal”.
“Oliver was great several years ago, but stopped being funny when he sold his soul to wokeness where humor is basically illegal,” Musk wrote.
Musk, known for criticizing mainstream media, had previously sued Media Matters for America over a report linking X to advertising alongside hateful content, triggering a mass advertiser exodus.
Watch Oliver’s segment below:
