Elon Musk quizzed over condoms as he admits ‘we all make mistakes’ whilst 4-year-old son is sat on his shoulders
The father of 12 faced some tough questions at the White House
In an era when free speech and misinformation continue to duke it out, Elon Musk has come under fire for his latest appearance at the White House. The world’s richest man is firmly at the side of President Donald Trump, and while he might have failed to secure an office at the White House, he’s wasted no time in showing how much power he has the potential to wield.
The father of 12 was called to task over claims that the Biden administration had earmarked $50 million of USAid aid to distribute condoms to the Gaza Strip.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned the figure as the current administration put a freeze on almost all US foreign aid.
Leavitt said the figure had been discovered by the Department of Government Efficiency, with Musk calling it “the tip of the iceberg” on X.
Elon Musk has been called to task over his fact-checking credentials (Andrew Harnik / Staff / Getty)
It comes after Musk has settled into his position as the head of the DOGE in an attempt to slash $2 trillion from government spending. Even though Musk has admitted it might not be possible, he’s seemingly trying his hardest to make it happen. The National Space Council and USAid have already been gutted, while the Department of Education is also in the firing line and Musk has been accused of a ‘hostile takeover’ of the government.
Speaking to The Times of Isreal, Andrew Miller, who served as deputy assistant secretary for Israeli-Palestinian affairs under former US president Joe Biden, referred to the condom claims as outlandish and reiterated: “It’s possible that $50 million is put aside for sexual health or something of that nature, which would include gynecology and many other services, but definitely not condoms alone.”
Appearing in his first press conference on February 11, Musk sported a black Make America Great Again cap and appeared alongside his son, X Æ A-Xii (who he calls X). With X on his shoulders, Musk was pressed on how his mention of $50 million worth of condoms being sent to Gaza was referring to the Gaza Province in Mozambique, with the aim being to protect against HIV.
Reporter: You said an example of fraud that you have cited was $50 million of condoms was sent to Gaza but after a fact-check apparently it was Gaza in Mozambique meant to protect them against HIV. Musk: First of all, some of the things I say will be incorrect and should be…
The head of the DOGE admitted: “Well, first of all, some of the things that I say will be incorrect and should be corrected. So nobody’s going to bat a thousand. I mean, any, you know, we will make mistakes but will act quickly to correct any mistakes.”
He went on to tell the press at the White House: “I’m not sure we should be sending $50 million worth of condoms to anywhere, frankly. I’m not sure that’s something Americans would be really excited about.”
As President Trump chuckled from the sidelines, Musk concluded: “That is really an enormous number of condoms when you think about it, but if it went to Mozambique instead of Gaza, I’m like, ‘Okay, that’s not as bad.'”
The journalist who asked the original question had quizzed Musk on how we could fact-check everything he says and trust his claims of fraud within the government.
Defending his actions, Musk has since reposted the interaction alongside a caption reading: “$50M of condoms is a LOT of condoms.”
Featured Image Credit: Andrew Harnik / Staff / Getty
Grimes speaks out after Elon Musk ‘unknowingly’ parades their son around Oval Office
She has pushed back against her son appearing in public
Elon Musk’s former partner Grimes has spoken out against her son’s appearance in the Oval Office on social media, expressing her frustration that the billionaire seemingly isn’t respecting her wishes.
Grimes has had somewhat of a complicated relationship with Elon Musk following their decision to separate in September 2021 after parenting their first child together, X Æ A-12, now officially known as just ‘X’.
They have since welcomed two further children despite being separated, albeit via surrogate, and have also engaged in a lengthy custody battle that only reached its resolution in late 2024.
She has recently offered her own perspective following allegations that Musk performed a Nazi salute at the presidential inauguration, has backed up his gaming achievements in the face of cheating allegations, and also slammed ‘power hungry warlords’ in a statement that some implied was targeted at the Tesla CEO.
Following the appearance of X alongside his father in the Oval Office, where he was quizzed over a ‘hostile takeover’ of the US government, Grimes has once again taken to social media to criticize her co-parent.
He should not be in public like this. I did not see this, thank u for alerting me. But I’m glad he was polite. Sigh
“He should not be in public like this,” claimed Grimes. “I did not see this, thank u for alerting me. But I’m glad he was polite. Sigh.”
This came after a follower pointed X’s appearance out to her, remarking that he was “so cute” and “very polite” in his trip to see US President Donald Trump.
What appears to be the most pertinent part of her statement is the notion that her son ‘shouldn’t be in public’, which one can perhaps infer to be a part of the resolution to their custody dispute in November 2024.
As reported by Business Insider, it’s unclear how the court case actually ended, although Grimes revealed in a now-deleted post that she has custody of her children every other week.
Elon Musk brought his son with him to a public address in the Oval Office (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
What appears to have been a common occurrence across the past few months though is Elon Musk with his son upon his shoulders, as he’s taken him to a wide variety of business events including SpaceX launches and political events.
It’s clear that this bothers Grimes, and she has previously claimed that she “didn’t see one of my babies for 5 months” before the end of the custody lawsuit, as the father of her children and so-called ‘love of her life’ “becomes unrecognizable to me.”
Many on social media have claimed that X is a ‘prop’ for Musk to parade around, arguing that it’s ‘inappropriate’ for Musk to parade him around.
“Honestly my heart sank when I saw him in the Oval Office,” reads one comment in reply to Grimes’ original post, adding that “this must be so tough for you.”
Featured Image Credit: Vivien Killilea / Stringer / Getty
Elon Musk has savage response to politician calling for his subpoena
Congress failed to get enough votes to subpoena the tech mogul
Elon Musk has given a savage response to a politician who called for his subpoena.
The tech billionaire has been busy at work dismantling government agencies after taking on the role of head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
This week, he was granted full access to the Treasury’s federal payment system by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, according to reports by The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
Elon Musk is now the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
However, the world’s richest man still found time to shoot a jab over his social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
In Congress, Rep. Gerry Connolly, who is the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, condemned Musk’s recent actions as he moved to subpoena the Tesla boss, saying: “It’s a puzzling role for many people, certainly on this side of the aisle, and I think for some on yours, who is this unelected billionaire that he can attempt to dismantle federal agencies, fire people, transfer them, offer them early retirement and have sweeping changes to agencies without any congressional review, oversight or concurrence.”
However, when the motion to subpoena Musk was put forward, it failed to get enough votes.
In response, Musk wrote on X: “How is this reality? Lmaooo.”
Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna took to X to share why he was missing from the vote.
He said: “I would have voted yes. They called a procedural vote without notice & I like 8 others didn’t make it there on time. Musk’s attacks on our institutions are unconstitutional. He should be subpoenaed & answer to our committee. They should call the vote again with notice.
Congress failed to gain enough votes to subpoena Elon Musk (Tim Graham/Getty Images)
He added: “I was in a meeting with the Ambassador to Mexico discussing the terrible tariffs when they called the vote with no notice and then didn’t make it on time. They should properly notice and call the vote again.”
Musk was quick to respond, saying: “Don’t be a d**k.”
What is Elon Musk’s new role in the Trump administration?
While DOGE isn’t actually a governmental department, it has been said that it will act as an outside advisor on federal spending, with Musk claiming that he will make trillions of dollars worth of cuts.
According to The New York Times, David Lebryk, a top civil servant in the Treasury Department, was removed from his position after refusing to give DOGE access.
It is not yet known what Musk might do with this new power, as fears grow that he could have access to confidential information including social security numbers and Medicare benefit payments.
The billionaire has already been making claims about the department.
Don’t be a dick
The Tesla boss wrote on X: “The @DOGE team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups.
“They literally never denied a payment in their entire career.
“Not even once.”
Lindsay Owens, who is the executive director of economic think tank Groundwork Collaborative, shared her thoughts on the possible routes Musk could go down.
In an op-ed for MSNBC, she said: “Musk could also get his hands on the ‘Do Not Pay’ system that lists individuals or contractors the government has blacklisted, theoretically granting him control over whom the government does business with.
“Government contracts have been central to Musk’s $400 billion net worth; his companies have signed billions of dollars’ worth of government contracts.
Featured Image Credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Elon Musk fires shots at Reddit following fallout with Wikipedia owner
Musk has hit back against a ban on X links in many Reddit communities
Elon Musk has finally offered his reaction to the banning of X links in many of the most popular subreddits, seemingly waging another war just shortly after his public spat with Wikipedia’s owner.
It’s been a clear fact for years that Elon Musk is no stranger to conflict on social media, having had spats with countless celebrities, infamous hacking groups, and even foreign governments.
He even recently pushed back publicly against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman after US President Donald Trump announced a $500,000,000 AI-powered program, despite holding a powerful position adjacent to government himself as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
What was most surprising about his recent comments regarding Reddit was simply how long it took him to speak out, as it has been nearly two weeks since many of the largest subreddits on the platform enacted a blanket ban on content from X within their communities.
It all stems from Musk’s alleged Nazi salutes at the presidential inauguration, which also spurned on another spat with Wikipedia owner Jimmy Wales, after Musk’s page was updated to include reference to these gestures.
Musk advised his followers to “defund Wikipedia until balance is restored,” while Wales responded, outlining that he hopes Musk’s “campaign to defund us results in lost of donations from people who care about the truth,” reiterating that “Wikipedia is not for sale.”
Following on from this, Musk then responded to a post on X where someone was banned from the r/comics subreddit after declaring that Tesla CEO’s gesture at the inauguration was not a Nazi salute, stating: “This is insane.”
This is insane
Reddit continues to be anti-free speech. I just got a lifetime ban from the “comics” subreddit. Yesterday I posted a humor comic that got over 5,400 upvotes. Then I noticed that there was a pinned post from the moderators saying that comics linked from X could no longer be…
The story, posted by Cedric Hohnstadt, involved him posting an image to the subreddit, then realizing that the moderators had made the community one of many that has banned posts from X.
Hohnstadt commented underneath this post: “Respectfully, Musk is not a Nazi and it was not a Nazi salute,” leading him to a lifetime ban for ‘Nazi apologia’ with no appeal possible.
Many in the replies to Musk’s quoted post have decried these actions, implying that X is now the only place to have ‘free speech’. How much you believe this appears to depend on what side you land on, as journalists have been banned under Musk’s ownership at the same time as the reinstating of users who had been banned for posting child sex abuse on the platform.
There also appears to be a larger misunderstanding in regards to what Reddit is as a platform, as while it does have an overarching ownership team – who have asserted, as per Newsweek, that “Reddit Inc. has no ban on X links,” and the company “also has no ban against the particular user mentioned in the X post,” – most of the content and user control is performed by individual subreddit moderators.
Reddit is by definition a hub of communities that have their own rules, it just so happens that many agreed upon banning links and content from X at the same time.
It was Musk’s alleged Nazi salute that caused many subreddits to ban content from X (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
While Musk was previously somewhat of a darling for the site, many users have since turned on the richest man in the world as he has pushed into the politically far right.
“Dude won’t be happy until he owns everything and everyone,” argues one user on r/technology, adding that “he won’t be happy then either, but that’s his aim.”
Another outlines: “Actually Elon, Reddit is NOT banning X links. THE PEOPLE of Reddit are banning X links. Usually after VOTING. That’s how democracy works.”
With Musk’s seemingly growing influence in US politics it’s unlikely that many subreddits will change their stance any time soon, so he’ll either have to accept that others have their own rules and opinions or continue a social media tirade as usual.
Featured Image Credit: Antonio Masiello / Contributor / Getty
Reddit community banned after Elon Musk claims users were breaking the law with comments about his employees
The interim US Attorney has told Musk to help him keep DOGE employees safe
A Reddit community was banned this week after Elon Musk claimed the participants of the subreddit had broken the law.
Not content with being the world’s richest man, CEO of SpaceX, and head of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency in Washington, Elon Musk is now flexing his power on Reddit.
While Musk has already had a pretty public spat with the founder of Wikipedia, he’s continuing to put another online community in his crosshairs. Reddit is currently in the Top 10 most-visited sites worldwide, with over 100,000 active subreddits reported as of January 2025. Sadly, it’s currently down to at least 99,999 as one popular subreddit has been slapped with the ban hammer.
As reported by Engadget, Elon Musk’s complaints have seemingly led to the r/WhitePeopleTwitter subreddit being temporarily banned.
While it’s only a 72-hour ban, Redditors have been warned to cool it with their vitriol toward Musk and his DOGE employees.
The r/WhitePeopleTwitter is currently offline (Reddit)
If you currently head to the r/WhitePeopleTwitter subreddit, you’re greeted by a message that reads: “This subreddit has been temporarily banned due to a prevalence of violent content. Inciting and glorifying violence or doxing are against Reddit’s platform-wide Rules.”
The outlet says it comes after identities of those who reportedly helped DOGE take over federal government systems began to leak and the Reddit community turned against them. With the names revealed, there were comments that included the likes of, “Drag their f**kin bodies, cuz,” “This Nazi stooge needs to be shot,” and, “Pink mist them all’ – referring to the act of obliterating someone with a rocket or an IED.
One post on X shared screenshots and wrote: “r/WhitePeopleTwitter is now calling for the public execution of the DOGE software developers.”
This was then reshared by Musk himself, with the tech billionaire adding: “They have broken the law.”
They have broken the law.
r/WhitePeopleTwitter is now calling for the public execution of the DOGE software developers.
There’s been much controversy online amid reports that a largely young group of engineers, some fresh out of college, has helped Musk take control of secure systems in the likes of USAid and the Treasury Department.
While Engadget says that revealing the names of DOGE employees is not a crime, Reddit is clearly taking these threats of violence seriously.
It comes after interim US Attorney Ed Martin wrote a letter to Musk and vowed to keep DOGE staff ‘safe’. Sharing a screenshot of the letter, its content reads: “We must keep all of our American government employees safe and we must protect the American people’s property.”
Martin asks Musk to utilize him and his staff to keep the DOGE workers safe, throwing shade at the Biden administration and calling out its handling of the Atifa and BLM movements.
Despite r/WhitePeopleTwitter’s ban being temporary, Reddit has apparently permanently pulled the plug on the r/IsElonDeadYet subreddit for breaking conduct rules on violence.
Musk remains an unpopular figure on Reddit, with the aftermath of his accused ‘Nazi salute’ leading to numerous subreddits saying they were banning links to X.
