Don Lemon
Tough questions and an offended Elon Musk: This interview cost X’s new star journalist his job
Elon Musk actually wanted to welcome Don Lemon to X with the interview
© The Don Lemon Show / PR
An interview with Elon Musk was intended to establish Don Lemon as a new star at X. Now it has been published. You can literally see Musk regretting his decision.
At the beginning the conversation is quite friendly. Both address each other by their first names, although Lemon asks questions critically, he manages the balancing act of contradicting Musk but also brushing his stomach. But when the topic of Musk’s political views comes up, the mood changes. Musk becomes visibly irritable. And finally he actually snaps at Lemon.
Musk wants to talk about X, Lemon wants to talk about Elon Musk
“I don’t have to be asked questions by journalists,” he blurts out to the astonished Lemon. “The only reason I’m having this conversation with you, Don, is because you’re on platform X. Otherwise I wouldn’t be doing this interview,” he explains condescendingly. “I don’t care what the media thinks of me.”
The trigger for Musk’s anger is the so-called “Great Replacement Theory”, which is very popular in right-wing circles. Left-wing politicians would primarily bring immigrants into the country so that they would vote for them – and use them to replace the existing population. This myth, which is also popular on the German right, was also repeatedly fueled by Musk. He also reiterates this opinion in a conversation with Lemon. When he finally asked him whether a little restraint might be better in order to avoid this question from journalists, he finally blurted it out.
17 images
Hard questions
Even though the conversation quickly calms down after the outburst, Lemon remains tough. He confronts Musk about the lack of moderation at X – and is promptly asked whether he would like censorship. The two also do not come together when it comes to questions about hate speech, racist attacks at X and discrimination in American society. Musk doesn’t want to see an increase in racist posts, saying that hardly any users see them. Then Lemon addresses the lack of advertising revenue. And this obviously hits a sore point again.
“You say: The advertisers could break X’s neck. But isn’t the responsibility yours?” Lemon asks very directly. Musk is speechless for a moment. “Don, you should ask your questions very carefully now. You still have five minutes,” he growls, visibly upset. But Lemon remains firm: “The same question again: You are the boss of the company. Doesn’t the responsibility lie with you?” Musk clearly has to pull himself together. He stands up for freedom of expression, he explains. “I’ll stick with it, even if the company then makes less money.”
Lemon doesn’t want to leave it like this. “I ask this because you are responsible. Why do you blame others when the company fails?” he explains in a particularly calm manner. And check again. “Why does this question make you angry? You seem angry. I didn’t mean to upset you.” Musk looks stunned for a moment. “You’re pissing me off,” he says. “The way you ask questions is not convincing.”
No questions about the family
The most tense moment of the conversation comes shortly afterwards. “Conversations with you are very intense, tense. Where do you think that comes from?” Lemon asks. “I was born this way,” Musk tries. “And I had a difficult childhood.” When Lemon tries to address this point, you can see Musk’s discomfort. “It’s in Walter Isaacson’s book,” he tries to block the topic (here you can find the excerpts from the book). Then he ends the topic: “We really only have a few minutes left.”
Lemon continues to ask about the family, about Musk’s father, about his own children. Whether his workaholism is harmful to the family. But the tech giant continues to evade the issue, preferring to talk about humanity’s path into space. Lemon asks what mistakes he personally made. “If I had a time machine, I would correct my mistakes, but I don’t have one,” Musk ends the conversation. Just hours later, Lemon’s deal was off the table.
Source: The Don Lemon Show