The internet is buzzing about that cringey-ass interview between media personality Don Lemon and Elon Musk that was posted Monday.
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It was uncomfortable to watch for a number of reasons. There was obvious tension between the two and even though Lemon was seeking to get the truth from Musk on certain topics, the X (formerly Twitter) owner was extremely defensive.
Originally, the interview was supposed to be the very first episode of Lemon’s debut talk show on X. In a shocking turn of events, Musk canceled the deal a day after filming the interview at Tesla’s Austin, Texas headquarters. Instead, “The Don Lemon Show” was streamed on YouTube and shared on Lemon’s X account.
Lemon inquired about Musk giving money to former president Donald Trump, in which Musk stated that he would not loan Trump money to remedy his legal woes. He also said that Trump never asked for financial help during an exchange the two recently had.
When asked if he would endorse a particular presidential candidate in the upcoming 2024 election, Musk stated “I don’t know yet, I want to make a considered decision before the election.” However, he has publicly stated his skepticism of Biden. “I’ve made no secret of that,” he said. Things got interesting when Lemon pressed the SpaceX founder on his drug use.
Musk said he doesn’t abuse drugs but does have a prescription for ketamine for a “negative chemical state.” “There are times when I have sort of… I don’t know, like a negative chemical state in my brain. Like depression, I guess…Or I guess depression that’s not linked to any negative views. And then ketamine is helpful for getting out of a negative frame of mind.”
Musk also defined the “woke mind virus” as: “when you stop caring about people’s skills and their integrity, and you start focusing instead on gender and race and other things that are different from that.” He claimed that he doesn’t subscribe to the “Great Replacement Theory” but that illegal immigrants just have “a very strong bias to vote Democrat.”
Lemon pushed Musk about the trend of hate speech that has proliferated on X since he has taken over the popular app. “Moderation is a propaganda word for censorship,” Musk stated right before reciting X policy. “If it’s not illegal, we’re not gonna take it down. If it’s not illegal, we’re putting our thumb on the scale and being censors.”
It wasn’t long before Musk became even more irritated by Lemon’s straightforward approach. “I don’t have to answer these questions. I don’t have to answer questions from reporters,” Musk quipped. “Don, the only reason I’m doing this interview is because you’re on the X platform and you asked for it. Otherwise, I would not do this interview.”
Before the clip aired in full, Musk took to X to bash Lemon’s journalism skills. “[Don’s] approach was basically just ‘CNN, but on social media’, which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying. And, instead of it being the real Don Lemon, it was really just Jeff Zucker talking through Don, so lacked authenticity,” Musk wrote.
Musk essentially repeated a bunch of BS he’s been rattling off for years and did his best to shirk any responsibility for the hate speech he’s let run rampant on X. Still, Lemon did his best to have an honest dialogue.
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