Elon Musk’s father caused a whirlwind of controversy this week after telling Australian radio hosts he’s not proud of his billionaire son.
Errol Musk, 76, told Daily Mail Australia that his three daughters were so upset by the comments about Kyle and Jackie O that they refused to talk to him for days.
But the retired electrical engineer said the comments were misunderstood and he misheard the question.
“Elon knows it’s not true, so he’d never get mad about it. He just laughs things off,” Musk said.
“But the last message Elon sent me was ‘Dad, the press is playing you like a fiddle, so shut up’.”
While the two have had a somewhat strained relationship over the years, Mr Musk said he was proud of Elon from “the day he was born.”
Errol Musk (right) said his billionaire son Elon (left) knows his comments to Kyle and Jackie O are ‘not true’ – ‘he would never get mad about it. He just laughs at these kinds of things’
The media storm follows last month’s revelations that Mr. Musk has fathered two children with his stepdaughter Jana Bezuidenhout, 34.
It also comes on the heels of Elon’s ongoing tensions with US President Joe Biden — as well as his bitter legal battle to pull out of the $44 billion ($63 billion AUD) Twitter buyout, something his father says. he is partly responsible for it.
The Australian radio interview
During Monday’s radio interview on KIIS FM, Jackie O said, “Your progeny are a genius. He is worth so much money and has created so many things, you can’t take that away from him. Are you proud?’
But Mr. Musk shocked listeners by answering “no.”
“You know, we’re a family that’s been doing a lot of things for a long time, it’s not like we’re suddenly going to do something,” Errol replied.
He cleared up the awkward confusion by saying, “I didn’t really notice her question about pride? I thought she was asking “did you expect this to come?”
‘It wasn’t until I listened to the recording afterwards that I realized that.’
Mr Musk, calling from South Africa, said he was simply lost in the conversation of the energetic hosts.
“It was a little more confusing because the other guy (Kyle), who was a nice guy, laughed a lot, so I never quite understood what she (Jackie O) was saying while I was talking,” he said.
“If you ask one of the parents if they are proud of their son, you will be proud of them from the day they were born.”
Errol imagined he was holding his son Elon as a baby. He denies telling Kyle and Jackie O that he was ‘not proud of his son’, telling Daily Mail Australia that he misheard their question because Kyle Sandilands ‘laughed a lot’
Kyle and Jackie O were joined by the billionaire’s father on Monday for a candid interview in which Errol Musk revealed why he wasn’t proud of his son
But while he knows that Elon is far too busy to worry about the way his comments were reported, he revealed that his daughters were very upset.
“I still fly planes, but my kids think I should go to a retirement home after that,” he joked.
“All three of them got hold of me and said, ‘What’s the matter with you, how can you say such a thing?’
“Alexandra wouldn’t even talk to me. I kept sending her messages, but she refused to speak.’
Musk has since explained his mistake and he and his daughters are back on good terms.
Backlash After Having Kids With His Stepdaughter
Kyle and Jackie O also asked Musk about his relationship with 34-year-old stepdaughter Jana Bezuidenhout – with whom he was married and shares two young children.
He was married to her mother Heide Bezuidenhout in the early 1990s two years before they divorced and Jana was placed in foster care.
‘I never saw her much after that, but then, around 2014, she wrote to me saying she was in a desperate situation living in a storage room with some guy and they had no food and her eight-year-old daughter had been placed in care,” Mr Musk said.
“The next day I went to her and settled her with some money. She was so skinny – I couldn’t believe someone could be as skinny as her.
‘She’s a real princess, but she was dressed in rags, so I took her with me [shopping] for clothing and food.’
Mr. Musk continued to provide her with money for several years and the two grew closer.
Errol Musk has two children with his 34-year-old stepdaughter Jana Bezuidenhout
“She left her boyfriend and came to me at one point when she was about 30 years old,” he said.
‘Of course there was a big generation gap, but we liked each other very much and enjoyed each other’s company.
“We had a little boy, Elliot Rush, who is now five, and I can’t imagine a world without him.”
Jana also welcomed a girl, Asha Rose Musk, in 2019.
“She’s since gone back to that boyfriend, and he’s more her age, but I’ll provide them with an apartment and medical care, a car and everything they need,” he said.
“We’ve never had DNA tests done because we love her no matter what. Most importantly, we all love her.
“They both have their lives and I don’t interfere. I get on well with her boyfriend. And Jana’s mother loves them too.’
Elon Musk in the picture with his son X AE A-Xii, who was born in May 2020 from his relationship with singer Grimes
Errol Musk’s children Elon, Kimbal and Tosca (on lap) with his first wife and Elon’s mother, Maye
Elon’s battle with Biden and the Twitter deal
Mr Musk said he has never had any doubts about Elon when it comes to his work ethic or scientific spirit.
The 51-year-old is the world’s richest person after amassing a fortune of US$242 billion, following his incredible success with payment service platform PayPal, solar car company Tesla and rocket-building company Space X.
But his father is “concerned” about his recent political statements and the immense pressure he is facing.
“Early this year, Elon started making a lot of political statements because of this Biden situation in the United States,” Musk said.
“There’s something very strange about a man who can’t put two sentences together and who is supposed to be the president.
“I told Elon, you’re getting into the political side now. How is your security? You have to be careful, because the political situation is very dangerous.’
Errol Musk said his son messaged him after his comments on the Kyle and Jackie O show: ‘Dad, the press is playing you like a fiddle, so shut up’
Tesla CEO Elon Musk watches as he visits the 2021 construction site of Tesla’s gigafactory in Gruenheide, near Berlin, Germany
The US president confused Elon earlier this year by ignoring Tesla and naming rival manufacturer GM – the nation’s leader in electric cars.
Mr Musk said Elon’s growing interest in politics coincided with his ambition to buy the social media platform Twitter for $44 billion ($63 billion AUD).
“Elon felt that both sides get a chance to express their views, not just one side,” his father said.
Then he decided he was going to go after Twitter with a plan to make it a neutral platform — that’s all he wanted. But in my experience that was a bit naive.’
Now the tech billionaire and Twitter will go to court after Elon blew up the deal, accusing the company of drastically underestimating the number of fake accounts.
“A while ago I tried to join Twitter and it told me I already had a profile with over 400 posts,” said Mr. Musk.
“It was a fake account. It had bad language and things like that. It was not me.
“I mentioned that to Elon recently and told him to keep it in mind – and Elon has now realized that and he’s said, ‘I’m not going to buy this platform if it’s full of a bunch of fake accounts.’”
“I told Elon, you’re getting into the political side now. How is your security? You have to be careful because the political situation is very dangerous,” Errol Musk told his son Elon
Elon Musk, 51, is the world’s richest man after amassing a US$242 billion fortune following his incredible success with payment service platform PayPal, solar car company Tesla and rocket-building company Space X (photo, Tesla staff)