Elon Musk's Surprise BBC Interview Gets a Little Weird

He swung from the serious to the bizarre
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 12, 2023 6:29 AM CDT
Elon Musk Gives Surprise BBC Interview
Elon Musk departs the Phillip Burton Federal Building and United States Court House in San Francisco on Jan. 24, 2023.   (AP Photo/Benjamin Fanjoy, File)

Elon Musk sat down for a surprise interview with the BBC on Tuesday night, during which he addressed a wide range of topics related to Twitter. He swung from the serious to the bizarre:

  • The pain: Musk acknowledged that he went through with his purchase of Twitter only because a judge forced him to. Among the terms he used to describe his experience since October: "quite painful," a "rollercoaster," "quite a stressful situation over the last several months," and "the pain level has been extremely high—this hasn't been some kind of party."

  • The dog: Multiple times during the interview, Musk insisted that he had named his dog Floki CEO of the company, notes Business Insider. “I said I would appoint a new CEO, and I did, and it’s my dog,” he said at one point. When Musk said Floki had a black turtleneck, interviewer James Clayton asked whether that was in reference to Steve Jobs or Elizabeth Holmes. "I guess more Elizabeth Holmes," said Musk. "He's got a husky voice."
  • Testy: When Clayton asserted that Twitter now had more hate speech, Musk demanded a specific example. “You said you see more hateful content, but you can’t even name a single one,” Musk said, per the Washington Post. “You just lied!” And later on the same topic: “Give me one example! You literally can’t name one,” he said. “You literally said you experience more hateful content and then couldn’t name a single example, that’s absurd.”
  • Big picture: Musk said despite the pain, critics predicting the end of Twitter have been proven wrong. He said most advertisers had returned and the company was "roughly breaking even."
  • Personal goal: Musk also addressed his own famous tweeting habits. “Have I shot myself in the foot with tweets multiple times?” he asked. “Yeah." He added that he should probably not tweet after 3am anymore.
(Musk recently ditched the "w" from the company's headquarters sign.)

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