Elon Musk and The Economist Editor Clash in Interview: "Many Hate You," "Even More Dislike You"

ME News reports that on July 26 (UTC+8), a video of Musk’s interview with The Economist, released on July 23, showed The Economist’s editor-in-chief, Beedos, accusing Musk of being out of touch and abusing his influence to spread false panic and far-right rhetoric about Europe. “You described to me extraordinary, civilization-altering events that will unfold over the next decade. Yet you are also a constant participant in the worst cesspool of tribalism on social media,” Beedos said. In response to Beedos’s sharp criticism, Musk replied, “My partner—Shivon Zilis from Neuralink—is half Indian, and we have four children together. One of them is named after a renowned Indian physicist. So I don’t consider myself a racist. And if you look at the employees at my companies, you’ll find our executives come from every race. I don’t believe there is any racial discrimination there.” During the interview, Musk warned Beedos that the media, including The Economist, falsely and misleadingly labels so-called “far-right” views. Beedos countered by pointing out that Musk claimed “civil war in the UK is only a matter of time,” which is untrue: “The UK’s domestic security situation is better than that of any city in the United States.” Finally, Beedos bluntly told Musk, “You’re out of touch, and many people dislike you.” Musk responded, “I don’t care. I have 250 million followers—I believe far more people like me than dislike me. And I think far more people dislike you and the media than you realize.” (Source: BlockBeats)