'Troll,' 'Prankster,' 'Edgelord',…these are some common names for the 50-year old
billionaire Elon Musk. From lighting up rumors saying that he is an alien
to smoking weed on the Joe Rogan podcast, Elon has been known for his straightforward satire.
As a matter of fact, his habit of posting hysterical jokes on Twitter
was the reason he met his ex-wife, Grime. Whether you love him or hate him,
you have to admire his quirky sense of humor for sure.
Join us today as we recap on Elon’s top 10 moments in 2021.
Let’s start off with the incident when Elon named SpaceX's starship catcher "The Mechazilla."
https://phys.org/news/2021-08-musk-mechazilla-starship-super-heavy.html
Musk has always been a movie fanatic. His love for the 'Kaiju-verse' was showcased
when he named SpaceX's starship catching tower "The Mechazilla."
SpaceX has constructed this 400-foot robotic tower after years of effort.
The company aims to catch its heavy starships using this tower.
It is not the first time that Elon has been seen being sly with the naming.
As many of you might know, Tesla rolled out three car models previously,
which were called Model S, Model 3, and Model X.
They then posted an image on Twitter along with the caption "S.3.X on the bridge,"
in which all the three cars were parked together on a bridge.
At number nine we have Elon’s parting story with bitcoin
https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/technology/bitcoin-slides-after-elon-musk-tweets-broken-heart-emoji-for-token-1.1235013?outputType=amp
Musk, who has been a long-term proponent and follower of the developments in the crypto-space,
posted an image of a couple breaking up along with a quote "#Bitcoin - heartbroken emoji💔."
After this, Bitcoin's price fell by more than 7%. He had previously stated that Tesla would not sell
its bitcoin. However, his tweet left readers with unsettling thoughts regarding the cryptocurrency.
"He is trolling the community,'' said Bobby Ong, co-founder of analytics website CoinGecko.
Regardless, being influential enough to tumble the
price of one of the biggest cryptocurrencies is no joke.
It is also worth noting that Musk also helped Dogecoin, a currency that started as a joke,
reach a multi-billion dollar valuation just because he liked the meme.
Number 8 : Lending a helping hand to the e-commerce company, Etsy
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/01/26/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-tweeted-on-tuesday-i-kinda-love-etsy.html
It turns out; even billionaires love to wander through different
online stores looking for products of their liking!
The stock price of Etsy moved up by 8% when Elon posted a tweet saying, "I kinda love Etsy."
He then went on to add, "Bought a hand-knit wool,
Marvin, the Martian helmet for my dog.", which explains why he appreciated the online store.
More than a joke, we can also see it as Elon supporting a good cause.
This is because Etsy is a brand that supports small-scale businesses without
any online presence to reach customers and earn a living.
Many thought that sharing such snippets from his daily life bought Elon much closer to the masses,
unlike many other billionaires who seldom interact with people directly.
Then at number 7 we have the time when Elon defended Tesla with humor in court
https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/elon-musk-said-his-weird-jokes-like-naming-himself-technoking-get-tesla-free-press-i-think-im-funny-/articleshow/84374109.cms
Back in July, Musk stated that his sense of humor gave Tesla a free pass while he was fighting
against Tesla's acquisition of SolarCity in 2016. There's no doubt in the fact that Elon's funny
behavior is good for Tesla and is indeed helpful to generate sales and gather some free press.
Musk also said that "If we are entertaining people, they will write stories about us,
and we don't have to spend on advertising which would reduce the price of our cars."
These are some bold words to be said on national television.
Many individuals admire the humorous personality of Musk, but there are still
a lot of people out there still criticizing him for his overtly open attitude.
Number 6: Mocking Jack Dorsey and Parag Agrawal with a funny Soviet-era meme
https://www.indiatoday.in/amp/trending-news/story/elon-musk-mocks-jack-dorsey-parag-agrawal-with-funny-soviet-era-meme-viral-post-1883284-2021-12-02
Recently, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and ex-CEO Jack Dorsey were both poked by Space CEO Elon
Musk with a Soviet Union-inspired joke. The meme was posted to Musk's official Twitter account.
Joseph Stalin's visage was Photoshopped onto the face of Parag Agrawal in a two-part meme.
Next to him was a photo of Jack Dorsey's face over a replica of Nikolay Yezhov.
Here are some historical facts about the meme to help folks who aren't sure what
it's all about—Stalin's former close associate Nikolay Yezhov orchestrated a number of crimes,
including mass arrests, executions, and more.
Yezhov, on the other hand, was killed in 1940 after falling out of Stalin's good graces.
How's that for dark humor?
Number 5 : Calling the planet Mars "Babe."
https://techstory.in/elon-musks-reply-to-a-mars-tweet-has-everyone-stunned/
While many billionaires on social media take themselves too seriously,
Twitter is lucky to witness Elon's quirky sense of humor.
At times, Elon Musk's wacky comedy is self-aware and chaotic.
As seen in his recent post, which had a picture of Mars along with the caption
"Hey Babe," Elon Musk is aware of how his name is linked to everything related to Mars.
At number 4 we reminisce the incident when Elon
suggested imposing an age limit for those running for political offices
https://www.republicworld.com/amp/world-news/us-news/elon-musk-proposes-age-limit-for-political-office-seekers-a-number-just-below-70.html
"Let's set an age limit after which you can't run for political offices,
perhaps a number just below 70," suggested Elon in one of his recent statements.
This could be a way of him dissing Senator Bernie Sanders, who is over 80 years old. As a matter of
fact, even the current president Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are both over 70.
For decades, the topic of having older presidential candidates has been a hot-button
issue. Candidates for the presidency of the United States must be at least 35 years old, but
there is no maximum age restriction in place. If Sanders had won the election, he would have been
the oldest president in history to take charge of the office on the day of his inauguration.
Number 3: Destroying the Infrastructure Bill
https://wap.business-standard.com/article-amp/international/america-doesn-t-need-biden-s-1-trillion-infrastructure-bill-elon-musk-121120700277_1.html
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that the United States does not need a $1
trillion infrastructure plan proposed by US President Joe Biden's administration.
"We've spent so much money... The federal government's debt is out of control.
Can the entire (infrastructure) bill, is what I'd say. My suggestion is that you do not pass it."
"Delete them all," he said.
After months of delay due to democratic arguments over a social spending package,
Biden signed a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure measure in November.
Infrastructure projects including roads, bridges, passenger railroads, drinking water, and
wastewater systems would get an additional $550 billion in funding as part of the legislation.
He went on to say that the US government should also not be providing subsidies for the
expansion of EV charging infrastructure despite knowing that this would impact Tesla negatively.
Number 2 : When Elon asked his Twitter followers if he should sell Tesla shares
https://news.sky.com/story/amp/elon-musk-asks-twitter-followers-if-he-should-sell-10-of-tesla-stock-12462640
On November 7th, 2021, Tesla investors were put in a pickle when Elon dropped a poll on Twitter
asking whether or not he should sell Tesla stock. The tweet read,
"Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance,
so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock. Do you support this?"
He followed up by saying that he would abide by the results even if they weren't in his favor.
As per a CNBC report, the taxes he owed were even more substantial,
reaching more than $15 billion in total.
It should come as no surprise that Elon has caught himself into legal spats before.
In 2018, a report by ProPublica stated that Musk had paid zero federal income taxes.
When asked about this, Musk said that this was nothing but 'misleading stuff' and 'trickery.'
And at number 1 we have the infamous incident when Elon trolled US Senator Bernie Sanders
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/11/15/tesla-ceo-elon-musks-twitter-fight-with-bernie-sanders-on-tax-policy.html
Elon's latest online brawl with Bernie Sanders received a lot of buzzes online.
In a recent tweet posted on November 13th, Bernie Sanders stated,
"We must demand that the extremely wealthy pay their fair share. Period."
In response to this, Elon replied, "I keep forgetting that you are still alive."
The Tesla CEO, who had already sold around 7 billion worth of Tesla shares earlier that week,
taunted Bernie by adding another tweet that read,
"Want me to sell more stock, Bernie? Just say the word.."
This tweet which was intended to mock the Senator received a lot of hate from netizens.
Many also said that this was one of the most vile and offensive tweets in the history of Twitter.
Outro Elon is famous for teasing critics,
sharing business ideas and snippets from his personal life. Many believe that this is just
a clever business tactic to garner the attention of the masses. His bizarre and erratic tweets
have even led to Tesla investors telling him to 'shut up' so that they do not lose money.
That said, his spontaneity and funny nature are what made him one of the most beloved
billionaires of the 21st century, with the upcoming wave of Tesla products
like the Cybertruck and the Roadster, who knows what he might have in store for us.
What was your favorite thing that Elon did in 2021? Let us know in the comments below. Lastly,
don't forget to subscribe and like the video if you liked our content.