Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has criticized ‘wokeness’ and mocked CNN in an interview with the conservative satire website the Babylon Bee, calling political correctness one of the greatest threats to civilization.
In the fiery interview, which aired on Tuesday evening, Musk protested attempts to cancel comedian Dave Chappelle and said the “woke mind virus” is “arguably one of the biggest threats to modern civilization.”
“It should be OK to be humorous. Wokeness basically wants to make comedy illegal, which is not cool,” the billionaire said, questioning, “Do we want a humorless society that is simply rife with condemnation and hate?”
“At its heart, wokeness is divisive, exclusionary, and hateful. It basically gives mean people… a shield to be mean and cruel, armored in false virtue.”
During the interview, Musk also took aim at CNN amid news that one of the network’s producers – John Griffin – was charged with a series of shocking underage sex crimes this month.
After one of the hosts suggested that Musk “could be on CNN right now,” which is “a real news organization” unlike the Babylon Bee, Musk responded, “I’m not perverted enough, I guess.”
Griffin was arrested just days after CNN fired host Chris Cuomo amid sexual misconduct allegations and a probe into his attempt to defend his brother from similar harassment accusations. CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin was also placed on leave last year after he was caught masturbating during an online New Yorker company meeting.
The Babylon Bee mocked CNN's string of scandals this month with the headline, “CNN HR Department Considers Adding 'Are You A Creepy Pervert?' To Employment Application.”
On Tuesday, Musk also threw shade at fellow technology CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse, commenting, “I think we’re far from disappearing into the Metaverse. It sounds just kind of buzzwordy.
“I don’t want to be like some old codger dismissing the internet,” Musk said, adding, however, that he is currently “unable to see a compelling Metaverse situation.”