Top 10 Confrontational Elon Musk Moments

At one point, Elon Musk liked issuing fighting challenges to others, knowing nothing would really come of it. In 2022, with the Ukraine and Russia War in full effect following the latter invading the former, Musk decided to challenge Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin, to “single combat.” Issuing the offer on X, formerly known as Twitter, Musk partly addressed Putin in Russian and deemed that Ukraine would be at stake for the fight. Ramzan Kadyrov, Head of the Chechen Republic and Putin's ally, went to bat for the Russian leader and called Musk “Elona.” The Tesla CEO fired back, saying he could use his left hand and still win before ending the tweet by signing off as "Elona."

Since Musk bought Twitter and turned it into X, one person he’s regularly clashed with has been US House of Representatives member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known as AOC. In 2022, she posted a thinly veiled insult at Musk on X. Rather than address her comments, Musk joked that she was hitting on him. Months later, AOC stated her X account was having technical difficulties. In 2023, Musk began leaning into the uncomfortable comments that AOC is romantically interested in him. He later called AOC “not that smart,” causing her to respond with her impressive background. This caused a chain reaction of insults being swapped between the two, as well as from their supporters, with no end to the animosity in sight.

Azealia Banks has a history of feuding with folks. However, in 2018, no one was expecting it to be with Musk. At the time, she was invited to his home by his then-partner Grimes, to create music together. However, Banks posted on Instagram that she had been waiting for the Canadian musician for days at their house. The rapper issued various accusations against the pair, including implying Musk was using substances that affected his intention to take Tesla private “at $420,” leading to legal issues. In 2024, Banks returned by publicly pleading with people not to vote for Donald Trump for the election to make sure Musk doesn’t get power. However, she then backtracked and voted for Trump herself.

In 2018, the world was gripped by the news that a youth football team and their assistant coach had become trapped in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave system in Thailand after water rapidly rose while they were inside. As scientists collaborated to work out how to save them, Musk got his companies to create a mini-submarine, despite the leader of the rescue mission stating it wouldn’t work and Thai officials rejecting it. After the stranded players and coach were saved, one of the rescuers, Vernon Unsworth, criticized Musk for his PR attempt. The billionaire responded by using an insult implying Unsworth was interested in children, which he later deleted. So, the diver issued a defamation lawsuit. In 2019, the court deemed Musk wasn’t liable.

In a world where the debate about the appropriate use of artificial intelligence has divided many, Musk, with his business and personal interest in technology, has spoken about the tool many times. In 2024, his ambitions with the tech-led to him clashing with one of the “AI godfathers,” Meta’s Yann LeCun. As Musk was searching for workers to join his AI startup xAI, LeCun, who’s battled him since 2017, took the opportunity to mock the SpaceX founder for spreading conspiracy theories, being a bad boss, and his “vengeful politics.” Musk retorted by insulting LeCun’s scientific work over the past five years until the French-American dunked him by stating he’d written nearly 80 technical papers in two years.

In 2022, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, Musk accepted the country’s request to activate SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet so their civilians, government, and military could keep in contact. However, not all of Ukraine has been able to use this. Some of the Russian-occupied territories, including Crimea, don’t have Starlink access, something which frustrated Ukraine. However, it couldn’t be done due to US sanctions on Russia. In 2024, Musk was accused of letting Russians use Starlink, which he denied. In 2022, after Musk put a poll on X for his suggestion to ending the war, Ukrainian diplomat Andriy Melnyk went viral for his very blunt response, which Musk used when responding to reports that SpaceX was looking for the Pentagon to take over funding Starlink.

It didn’t take long for Musk and the X platform to be called out for spreading hate and conspiracy theories. In 2023, after promoting an account that spread antisemitism, more companies stopped advertising on X. Shortly after, while attending the DealBook Summit, after apologizing for spreading antisemitism, Musk was asked about companies stopping advertising. He responded that they were blackmailing him for money and uttered a sweary insult at the groups, addressing Disney CEO Bob Iger in particular. So, with that, organizations responded in kind by also leaving X. In 2024, Fidelity estimated that the site’s valuation had fallen nearly 80% since 2022. Some companies have reportedly returned to advertising on X following the US election to appease Musk.

In 2022, Musk’s transgender daughter made headlines by legally requesting her gender and name be changed on her birth certificate. Now going by Vivian Jenna Wilson, she wanted to associate herself more with her mother’s maiden name, Justine Wilson, and distance herself from her father. Rather than take any responsibility, the billionaire has publicly blamed the “woke mind virus” for causing a rift between him and Vivian, as well as deadname her. After Musk’s infamous interview with Jordan Peterson, where he restated these beliefs, Vivian publicly responded that she hadn’t spoken to him in four years and was subjected to cruelty from him in her childhood. Following Trump’s election win and Vivian's posting online about leaving the country, Musk attacked her online again.

In 2016, Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and Musk teamed up to release a satellite. However, it ended in disaster. This sparked a rivalry between the two billionaires that spilled out into the public consciousness as they took shots at each other. In 2023, this resulted in Musk challenging Zuckerberg to a cage fight to settle their beef, which he seemingly accepted. However, considering Zuckerberg is younger, trained in jiu-jitsu, and has won competitions, it wasn’t looking great for Musk. The duo then released promo videos of them training. After getting UFC involved, Musk later stated that his and Zuckerberg’s foundations would manage the bout that could be hosted in Italy. However, nothing came of it, and people moved on.

In 2024, the animosity between Brazil and Musk peaked. The South American nation was furious that X hadn’t helped in removing accounts that Brazil believed had spread misinformation, leading to a wave of violence. Judge Alexandre de Moraes threatened to arrest X’s legal representative in the country, causing the company to remove them from Brazil and close their offices. Backed by the country’s law, de Moraes stated unless the company hired a new representative and paid their fines, X would be banned in Brazil, which he followed through with in August. Musk referred to de Moraes as a “dictator.” In October, Musk paid millions in fines and appointed a new representative in Brazil, leading to X being unbanned in the country.


If all the world’s billionaires had to survive by themselves on isolated islands, who would be the first to give up? Elon Musk? Bill Gates? Rupert Murdoch? Or someone else? Let us know below!