It was uncooked and infrequently tense.
The previous tv anchor Don Lemon’s wide-ranging, testy interview with Elon Musk was launched on-line on Monday morning, touching upon subjects together with politics, notably the billionaire’s current assembly with former President Donald J. Trump; Mr. Musk’s reported drug use; hate speech on X, the social media platform previously often called Twitter, which he now owns; and extra.
The interview was meant to be the debut episode of a brand new speak present in a partnership between Mr. Lemon and X, however Mr. Musk known as off the deal a day after filming the hour-plus interview at Tesla’s headquarters in Austin, Texas. The primary episode of “The Don Lemon Present” was streamed on YouTube and posted to Mr. Lemon’s account on X.
Within the interview, Mr. Musk mentioned that earlier this month he was having breakfast at an unnamed buddy’s house in Florida when Mr. Trump got here by.
When requested what was mentioned, Mr. Musk mentioned that Mr. Trump did a lot of the speaking and that the previous president didn’t ask for cash or a donation towards his marketing campaign. Mr. Musk additionally mentioned he wouldn’t lend Mr. Trump cash to pay his authorized payments.
Whereas Mr. Musk mentioned he wouldn’t donate to any candidate, he mentioned he would think about endorsing one within the remaining stretches of the race.
“I don’t know but, I wish to make a thought-about choice earlier than the election,” he mentioned, and famous that he was leaning away from President Biden. “I’ve made no secret of that,” he added.
If Mr. Musk endorses a candidate, he mentioned, he’ll make an in depth rationalization for his selection.
Elsewhere within the interview, Mr. Musk was adamant that he doesn’t abuse medication, and spoke about his prescription for ketamine for a “adverse chemical state.”
“When you’ve used an excessive amount of ketamine, you possibly can’t actually get work completed, and I’ve a variety of work,” he mentioned. He famous that 16-hour workdays had been “regular” for him, and that he not often took weekends off.
Mr. Musk appeared visibly aggravated by a direct line of questioning about his showing to endorse an antisemitic conspiracy concept on X.
“I don’t should reply these questions,” he mentioned. “I don’t should reply questions from reporters. Don, the one cause I’m doing this interview is since you’re on the X platform and also you requested for it. In any other case, I’d not do that interview.”
Mr. Musk additionally appeared to skirt questions on whether or not he had a duty to average hate speech on the platform, and why sure posts had not been eliminated.
“If one thing is illegitimate, we’re going to take it down,” Mr. Musk mentioned. “If it’s not unlawful, we’re placing our thumb on the size and we’re being censors.”
The present arrived Monday morning after a heavy promotional push from Mr. Lemon, who teased the interview in a number of locations final week, together with “The View,” within the days after Mr. Musk abruptly scrapped X’s partnership with the previous CNN host.
Earlier than its launch, the boys had been at odds over how the interview went.
Mr. Lemon mentioned in a press release final week that his questions had been respectful and coated many topics. “We had dialog,” Mr. Lemon mentioned. “Clearly he felt in another way. His dedication to a worldwide city sq. the place all questions might be requested and all concepts might be shared appears to not embrace questions of him from individuals like me.”
Mr. Musk, however, felt in another way. In a put up on X, Mr. Musk mentioned Mr. Lemon’s present lacked originality.
“His method was principally simply ‘CNN, however on social media,’ which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the truth that CNN is dying,” Mr. Musk wrote.
Whereas X had initially agreed to financially help Mr. Lemon’s present, Mr. Musk’s choice to cancel the partnership blindedsided salespeople at X, and it was the most recent self-inflicted enterprise disruption at X in current months.
In November, Mr. Musk boldly instructed advertisers to not spend on his platform, utilizing an expletive to dismiss them, and accused them of “blackmail” after he appeared to endorse an antisemitic conspiracy concept on X, which Mr. Lemon resurfaced throughout Monday’s present. Mr. Musk’s inflammatory feedback prompted quite a few firms to pause their promoting campaigns on X.