Elon Musk has gone on a binge of tweets trying to prove that he is a ‘human’ with real human interests after best-selling author Joyce Carol Oates tweeted out about his odd behaviour.
On Saturday morning, Musk shared a video of an AI generated woman, smiling at the camera. By evening, best-selling author Joyce Carol Oates tweeted out an observation about the richest man on earth that got traction on the very platform he owns, X (formerly Twitter).
The 87-year-old writer said, “So curious that such a wealthy man never posts anything that indicates that he enjoys or is even aware of what virtually everyone appreciates— scenes from nature, pet dog or cat, praise for a movie, music, a book (but doubt that he reads); pride in a friend’s or relative’s accomplishment; condolences for someone who has died; pleasure in sports, acclaim for a favorite team; references to history.”
Joyce concluded the tweet with an incisive observation: “In fact he seems totally uneducated, uncultured. The poorest persons on Twitter may have access to more beauty & meaning in life than the ‘most wealthy person in the world.”
Musk’s usual X activity revolves around complaining about trans persons, retweeting anyone who praises him and agreeing with far-right extremists.
Oates’ diatribe, that went viral, got under Musk’s skin. He let off a furious series of tweets, calling her “an angry liar”, “demonstrably false” and “mean”.
Then the billionaire tried to prove Oates wrong by suddenly replying to an account dedicated to movies. He called Edge of Tomorrow a “great movie” and then wrote, “Man on Fire is great!” He also wrote another one liner about Fifth Element, offering nothing more than short sentences to show why he liked the movies.
Musk has previously talked about books, including Douglas Adams’ best-selling A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. But most of social media was in agreement that it seemed like he hadn’t actually read the book.
He also infamously made a faux-pas when he described his Tesla Cybertruck as a vehicle “the Blade Runner would have driven”. There is no character called the Blade Runner in the movie Blade Runner.
Joyce Carol Oates’ tweet has been viewed more than five million times and has received more than 11,000 retweets.