Elon Musk ‘smokes weed’ as he teases electric plane design on Joe Rogan podcast

Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk drank whisky and “smoked weed” live on the web today as he discussed developing his own electric aeroplane.

The tech billionaire was appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience, a podcast hosted by the US comedian that attracts more than 3.2 million subscribers on YouTube.

“I already have a design for a plane,” Musk told Rogan, after the show host asked why he hadn’t entered the aerospace industry yet.

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“The exciting thing to do would be some sort of electric vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) supersonic jet of some kind,” Musk said.

The entrepreneur played down suggestions that a electric plane may be imminent, however, saying that the futuristic concept “isn’t necessary right now”.

“Electric cars are important, solar energy is important,” he added.

The conversation took a bizarre turn when Rogan started smoking cannabis towards the end of the interview.

“It’s legal, right?” asked Musk, before taking a drag of the joint.

The BBC reports that smoking cannabis for recreational use is legal in only nine of the 51 US states. Fortunately for Musk, one of those states is California, where the podcast was recorded.

The interview comes less than a month after the billionaire posted a tweet claiming that he would take Tesla private when share prices reach $420 - a number commonly used as code for cannabis.

Responding to speculation about the tweet, Musk told The New York Times that it had nothing to do with the drug and had simply been rounded up from $419 to $420.

“I was not on weed, to be clear. Weed is not helpful for productivity,” he said.