As billionaire Elon Musk continues to buddy up with President-elect Donald Trump, he is losing face with celebrities, with some taking to social media to criticize him.
Newsweek has emailed Musk, through Tesla, for a comment on Friday.
Since Musk acquired Twitter—and renamed it X—in 2022, users dissatisfied with his platform changes have explored alternatives, and his involvement in the 2024 presidential campaign has encouraged some to leave X altogether.
The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla was a prominent backer of Trump's successful presidential election campaign, after which the incoming president announced the South African billionaire would co-lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), along with fellow business tycoon Vivek Ramaswamy.
Multiple celebrities have slammed Musk for his political involvement as well as the changes he's made to X since purchasing it.
Azealia Banks
Rapper Azealia Banks shared her frustration with Musk after he announced an "algorithm tweak" on X in response to "too much negativity" being pushed on the platform.
"Algorithm tweak coming soon to promote more informational/entertaining content. We will publish the changes to @Xeng [X Engineering]," he wrote earlier this month. "Our goal is to maximize unregretted user-seconds. Too much negativity is being pushed that technically grows user time, but not unregretted user time."
Banks reshared Musk's post and wrote: "N**** YOU are the regret. I hope this means you are gonna f***ng mute yourself because we REAAAAAALLLY don't wanna smell ur hot ass breath on this app every damn day. Just give Tom from MySpace and be everyone's first follower and don't tweet AT ALL. Pleeeeease we didn't need to know u were really a cornball like that."
At the time of writing, the post had been viewed more than 235,000 times.
Banks also slammed how often Musk's posts have appeared in her X feed, writing on January 5: "How come I don't follow Elon musk and he is always on my timeline. Like what kind of bulls***."
Mark Cuban
Fellow billionaire Mark Cuban has also taken to his X account to criticize Musk. When Musk asked people on the platform to "please post a bit more positive, beautiful or informative content," Cuban challenged him and wrote: "You first."
His post has since been viewed 4.5 million times.
The Shark Tank alum came for Musk once again when he responded to a political post that he shared on X.
"There are still people like Sam Harris who think that ANY lie, no mattter [sic] how depraved, is justified to prevent @realDonaldTrump from being democratically elected or, if elected, to remove from office. Is TDS curable or does the brain turn into irreparable melted goo?" Musk wrote on Thursday.
TDS is short for "Trump Derangement Syndrome." Urban Dictionary says the term refers to "a mental condition in which a person has been driven effectively insane due to their dislike of Donald Trump, to the point at which they will abandon all logic and reason."
Cuban reshared Musk's post and responded: "From the man who said anything to get him elected."
His post also went viral and received over 1.9 million views.
Stephen King
Author Stephen King has often been critical of Musk and on December 12, 2024, he commented on Musk and Trump's close friendship in a post on the social media platform Bluesky. The critically acclaimed author claimed that it was Musk, not the president-elect, who was in charge of American politics.
"You can't call Elon Musk the President-elect, because he wasn't elected. In fact, having been born in Pretoria, he is ineligible to become president. Nonetheless, he is running the show. You know that, but it bears repeating," he wrote.
King announced in November that he had left X for good, with a pinned post on his profile reading: "I'm leaving Twitter. Tried to stay, but the atmosphere has just become too toxic. Follow me on Threads, if you like."
Musk and King have often butted heads on X in the past, including King's refusal to acknowledge the platform's name change.
Piers Morgan
After journalist Piers Morgan said Tommy Robinson—one of the United Kingdom's most prominent far-right, anti-immigrant activists—was Islamophobic, Musk wrote on X on January 6: "Piers's brain hasn't received its software update yet."
The British broadcaster responded the following day and wrote: "Maybe we could do that interview you promised and you can upgrade me during it?"
The post has been viewed more than 505,000 times.
Musk recently called for the release of Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who was convicted of defying a court order by repeating false claims about a 15-year-old Syrian refugee who successfully sued him. Robinson is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence.
Martin Brundle
British former racing driver Martin Brundle slammed Musk for being a "globally interfering d***."
"I'm conflicted. I like Twitter/X and it has served F1, Sky, me, and people around me, very well for a good while. But @elonmusk is such a daily globally interfering d*** I feel the need to go somewhere else," he wrote on X on January 6.
His post has been viewed more than 488,000 times.
Two hours later, Brundle responded to the feedback he received from his followers in the comments and shared his decision about whether he was leaving the platform.
"I've thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated the diversity to my last post, including the negativity. That's what keeps you alive and motivated, and in touch. I'll stick with Twatter/X and keep my mind open. Opinions are like noses, everybody's got one and they all count," he wrote, which received 1.1 million views.
Brundle's posts are in response to that Musk has recently been interfering in global politics. Remarks by Musk on the affairs of European countries with left-leaning governments have increasingly provoked responses since Trump's election victory in November 2024.
Andy Murray
Retired Tennis star Andy Murray has also claimed to have noticed an uptick of posts from Musk appearing on his X feed.
"The top 17 posts on my Twitter [sic] feed are from Elon Musk," Murray wrote on January 8. "Interesting algorithm he's created."
At the time of writing, his post has been viewed 1.3 million times.
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