Elon Musk's most controversial moments

Tesla founder Elon Musk has built himself quite the reputation for controversy. The scandals have only increased since the tech mogul and billionaire magnate purchased Twitter in 2022.

Purchasing Twitter

Musk controversially acquired Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022, handing him control of one of the world's largest social media brands. Immediately after his purchase, there were major concerns over a few changes he made to the platform, which he rebranded as X.

Antisemitic and racist tweets spiked after Musk's acquisition; in the first 24 hours after his purchase, "over 1200 tweets and retweets" had spread antisemitism, the Anti-Defamation League said. Hateful rhetoric towards Black people also increased, with The Washington Post finding a 500% increase in the use of the N-word on X just half a day after Musk's purchase.

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Musk himself also used the platform to spread hate, and tweeted a link to an article spreading conspiracy theories about the attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. While Musk deleted the tweet hours later, his message "echoed a wider effort by far-right influencers and some conservatives to downplay and spread baseless theories about the attack," Insider said.

Attacking advertisers

Another widely criticized aspect of Musk's X takeover has been his handling of how he generates money for the company — or rather, how he doesn't. A recent valuation from Fidelity "implies that it believes X is now worth just $9.4 billion — a far cry from the $44 billion Musk paid," said CNN. This represents an 80% decline in value in the platform since Musk's purchase. Part of this decline in value has been an exodus from advertiser spending after Musk endorsed another antisemitic conspiracy theory.

Musk likely didn't do himself any favors with these advertisers when asked about the incident, either. During a summit with The New York Times, Musk accused advertisers of trying to blackmail X by pulling funding. He told them to "go f--k themselves" and seemingly admitted that it would "kill the company," bizarrely saying they should "see how Earth responds to that."

The slew of bad press was X's "final final goodbye to big advertisers," Digiday said. Despite this, Musk seemingly "couldn't care less."

'Funding secured' post

Aside from X, Musk has faced legal battles surrounding the company that put him on the map: Tesla. One of the most notable involves a 2018 tweet in which Musk wrote that he had "funding secured" to take the company private at $420 per share.

Shareholders sued, however, when it was discovered that Musk had not secured the necessary financial backing at the time of this post. A U.S. District Judge said "there was nothing concrete" in Musk's tweet, per Reuters, and Musk had "[acted] recklessly" in posting about the funding. Tesla investors "lost $12 billion over 10 days as a result" of Musk's tweet, according to witness testimony from the trial obtained by Bloomberg.

Musk was eventually found not liable for any losses experienced by the shareholders.

Mocking pronouns

Musk has made his opinions on self-selected gender pronouns clear on multiple occasions. This includes posting that he was not a fan of self-identifying pronouns "when someone is giving every possible visual cue for he or she, but then still insists on telling you exactly what you expect." Another notable instance occurred when he mocked the situation by posting, "My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci," a jab at the nation's top infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci, who has been targeted by conservatives for his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Both of these tweets generated significant backlash. Musk shouldn't "mock and promote hate toward already marginalized and at-risk-of-violence members of the LGBTQ+ community," said retired astronaut Mark Kelly. Dr. Fauci is a "dedicated public servant whose sole motivation was saving lives."

Musk's former partner, singer Grimes, also weighed in. Following the tweets, she asked him "to turn off his phone or to give her a call," NME said, adding, "I cannot support hate. Please stop this. I know this isn't your heart."

His children's names

Musk has 10 children, and has generated a lot of media buzz for some of their more unusual names.

In 2020, Musk and Grimes welcomed a son who they named X Æ A-12. This created a stir because in California, where Musk was living at the time, names can only use the 26 letters of the English alphabet, The Washington Post said. His name was eventually changed to remove the '12.'

The ex-couple also has a daughter originally named Exa Dark Sideræl. Her name has since been changed to Y, Why, or ?, USA Today said. In 2022, another one of Musk's daughters, who is transgender, legally dropped Musk as her last name, saying she did not want to "be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form."

Connection to Trump

Musk has also generated controversy for his alleged use of X to promote former President Donald Trump's presidential campaign, and has stumped on the trail himself for the GOP candidate. This includes participating in a solo town hall for Trump, where Musk "promoted several debunked conspiracy theories about the 2020 election," said CNN.

These comments were "consistent with much of the billionaire's factually challenged commentary" on X, where he "regularly promotes pro-Trump conspiracy theories," said CNN. Forbes additionally reported that Musk has given at least $75 million of his own money to a pro-Trump super PAC, and his "financial support for Republican causes has been much more extensive and started earlier than previously known," said The Wall Street Journal.

Musk has also participated in activities on X for the aforementioned pro-Trump super PAC, America PAC. This includes offering $100 to Pennsylvania voters who sign a petition supporting the organization.