Elon Musk hits back at author Joyce Carol Oates' post calling him 'uneducated' and 'uncultured'

Billionaire Elon Musk isn't very happy with what award-winning author Joyce Carol Oates had to say about him, as the two have indirectly exchanged some choice words about each other in a new internet feud.

It all started when Musk took to his platform X (formerly Twitter) to slam Texas Democrat state senator, Roland Gutierrez, over his criticism of a $1 trillion pay package for Musk being approved by Tesla shareholders if he meets various company targets.

"You are a taker, not a maker. All you’ve done your whole life is take from the makers of the world. The zero-sum mindset you have is at the root of so much evil. Once you realize that civilization is not zero-sum and that it is about making far more than one consumes, then it becomes obvious that the path to prosperity for all is just let the makers make," Musk responded.

"Regarding Tesla, the reality is that I have been given nothing. However, if I lead Tesla to become the most valuable company in the world by far and it stays that way for 5 years, shareholders voted to award me 12% of what is built. Anyone who wants to come along for the ride can buy Tesla stock. If Tesla “merely” becomes a $1.999 trillion dollar company, I get nothing. This is a great deal for shareholders, which is why they voted so overwhelmingly to approve this, for which I am immensely grateful. And they did so by a margin far more than you won your political seat."

From there, Oates quoted a post sharing Musk's rant towards Gutierrez and had some thoughts she wanted to share.

What did Oates say?

Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images

Well, Oates has some strong opinions about Musk, as she thinks "he seems totally uneducated, uncultured."

In her post Oates wrote: "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. 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."

Ouch.

How did Musk respond?

Photo by Allison Robbert-Pool/Getty Images

Soon enough, the post reached Musk, who hit back at Oates, saying her remarks about him are "demonstrably false" and called her a "lazy liar."

"Everything she says in her post about me can be shown to be demonstrably false with a simple search," he responded. "Oates is a lazy liar and … an abuser of semicolons!"

Clearly, there's no love lost between the two - but will Oates reply to Musk? We'll have to wait and see...

Elsewhere from Indy100, Elon Musk compares Brits to hobbits in bizarre anti-immigration rant, and Elon Musk has bizarre reaction to mysterious Comet 31/ATLAS.

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