- Tesla CEO Elon Musk has made another guest appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, this time around attempting to explain some of his recent headscratchers and more bizarre moves of late.
- Those include the strange baby name he and partner Grimes gave to their new son, as well as Elon’s recent tweet that he’s selling almost all of his possessions and “will own no house.”
- Visit BGR’s homepage for more stories.
If you were among those of us wondering what was going through Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s mind when he tweeted out that he’s in the process of selling most of his possessions three days before becoming a father again as his partner Grimes gave birth to a son, he went on the Joe Rogan podcast Thursday to explain himself.
He has plenty to explain regarding this as well as a number of other headscratchers from the billionaire businessman in recent weeks, which have included his rather vocal criticism of the US response to the coronavirus pandemic (including Musk’s belief that the virus’ real mortality rate is lower than what’s been reported).
Let’s start with the houses. Rogan asked about the tweet in which Musk announced his decision to sell his houses right at the top of the episode, which you can check out below:
Following that tweet, Musk actually went ahead and listed two Los Angeles-area mansions in Bel Air, including a six-bedroom, 11-bath, 16,000-square-foot palatial home with a tennis court and library for $30 million. Rogan asked him during the podcast: “Now, you’re in the middle of this strange time, where you’re selling your houses. You say you don’t want any material possessions … Why are you doing that?”
ELON: “I’m slightly sad about it, actually.”
JOE: “Well, if you’re sad about it, why are you doing it?”
ELON: “I think possessions kinda weigh you down. And they’re kind of an attack vector. People say, ‘Hey billionaire, you got all this stuff.’ Well, now I don’t have the stuff — now what are you gonna do?”
Musk goes on to confirm that he’s going to rent a place from now on, and he argues that the word “billionaire” has been co-opted in recent years to become a pejorative, “like it’s a bad thing.”
I have a bunch of houses, but I don’t spend a lot of time in most of them. That doesn’t seem like a good use of assets. Somebody could probably be enjoying those houses and get better use of them than me.
I am selling almost all physical possessions. Will own no house.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 1, 2020
Wishing good vibes for all in 2nd half 2020
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 6, 2020
This comes as Musk has raised eyebrows for many other reasons in recent days, including for another tweet that came out of nowhere to quip that Tesla’s stock price seemed too high, and then an expletive-laced rant he gave during Tesla’s latest earnings call in which he decried stay-at-home orders because of the coronavirus.
There’s also his new baby’s name (X Æ A-12), which CNN is reporting may not even be legal under California law, since names must be limited to only using the 26 letters of the English language alphabet.
“How do you say the name?” Rogan wanted to know. “Is it a placeholder?”
Answered Musk: “First of all, my partner came up with the name. I mean, it’s just X, the letter X, and then the “Æ” is pronounced “ash”. And then A-12 is my contribution” — for the Archangel 12, the precursor to the SR-71. The coolest plane ever,” according to Musk.
