Elon Musk. Love him or hate him, the world’s second richest man at the moment (yep, he lost the #1 spot) has become especially unavoidable of late, after his purchase of Twitter has cemented him as the internet main character for the last few months. And while his legion of followers is well known, it appears the tide has fully turned against the SpaceX and Tesla founder (did he really found Tesla though?) if his appearance in San Fransisco is any measure.
Dave Chappelle invited him on stage last night, announcing him as the richest man in the world (he should probably read more Esquire Middle East to keep up with those rankings) which received an initially mixed reaction that trended more towards the negative as the surprise segment went on.
“Elon Musk got booed like I’ve never heard on stage with Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock,” wrote tech founder Ilana Stern on Twitter. “He couldn’t get a word in, the crowd booed for 10 minutes. Not favored on his home turf. He looked stunned, must not get enough feedback IRL,” the tweet continued.
While video was not allowed as phones were put into pouches, some has leaked online.
The video gets worse as it goes on, as both Musk and Chappelle attempted to salvage the reaction, only making things worse.
Watch Elon Musk getting booed with Dave Chappelle below:
James Yu, a science fiction writer, said he “actually felt bad for him” as Musk “withers” and “turns into a corn cob” rather than try to salvage the situation with a joke.
Yu speculated that he “totally came off entitled. Dave gave him so many chances to speak but he just put his hands in his pockets.”
“My only read is that he thought it would be a layup. People feeling good after Cahppelle set. San Fransisco home turf,” says Yu, but goes on to say that Musk ‘misread the vibe’.
Musk has been in headline after headline recently, as his extremely bumpy transition as the head honcho of Twitter dot com has continued to leave people speculating if the app will even survive his tenure.
While it’s unclear if that’s the case, it’s clear that people feel that he needs to move in a different direction.
Musk and Chappelle have been friends for years, pictured together in the past with Joe Rogan and Musk’s ex-wife Grimes.
Hope you’re all having a better day than Elon Musk, everyone.
UPDATE: Musk has now commented on the event, claiming that it was only 10% boos, and that it came from San Fransisco’s “unhinged leftists”.