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Elon Musk has weird 'crash out' after being told he's 'loathed'

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Elon Musk appeared to get rather defensive after a reporter said there are plenty of people who “loathe” him – and he hasn’t stopped reacting since.

Despite his frequent critique of the mainstream media, billionaire Musk recently appeared in an interview with The Economist’s editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes.

But one particular portion of the interview is going viral after Beddoes posited that Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is actually “loathed” by some people.

“I mean some people do loathe you,” Beddoes said, to which Musk agreed and claimed he didn’t care. “But do you understand why? Do you think what you’re doing is helpful for Western democracy?”

Rather than answer her question, the billionaire appeared to get defensive, shifting in his seat, claiming that his large X/Twitter following means people actually like him, and changing the subject from his unpopularity to what he claimed was hers.

Musk said: “Maybe some people do loathe me and that’s probably true. I don’t care. Erm, but the fact that, er, as you pointed out, a quarter billion people follow me, is that I think a lot more people actually like me than don’t.”

“And I think a lot more people hate you, and the media, more than you realise. Do you realise the media is despised? Do you realise that journalists … the view of journalists is, like, a favourable view of journalists is like 15 per cent.

“The shoe is on the other foot. They hate you. They hate you far more than they hate me.”

The bizarre 'crash out' had people suggesting the journalist appeared to have touched a sensitive nerve for Musk.

“It’s pretty cool how it’s abundantly clear that the richest man on earth is living in a hell in his own mind and every day is a new torture for him,” someone argued.

Another mocked: “‘I don’t care’ also ‘um, um, um, actually, um, um people don’t like YOU’ put him in the Jubilee roundtable I wanna see something.”

Someone else suggested: “no amount of money will ever make him happy and i think that’s beautiful.”

Another wrote: “You can see in real time that realises he’s a loser. This is masterful journalism, letting the idiot speak to expose his insecurities. God bless British journalists.”

“ah ah ah actually, you know, it's actually Me, who is, ah, Winning, This Conversation, and it is in fact ah, Hilarious, That. You Do Not Even Realize How Badly You. Are ah. ah. Losing, At. You Know. Us Talking . And so it's funny, That, You don't, Know you are actully. Losing,” another joked.

“He’s in a conversation with someone who can actually articulate their thoughts and all he can come up with is 15 variations of ‘no u’,” someone else pointed out.

Since the interview went public, Musk has been reposting clips from his supporters who are predictably praising him and slamming the journalist.

“All this reporter produces is fake news: selective facts, dishonest framing and propaganda disguised as journalism … X is where truth wears the crown,” someone argued.

One fan wrote: “We love you. We hate her.”

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