1 week ago
It was nan casting prime that launched a 1000 meltdowns. The Oscar-winning character Lupita Nyong’o was confirmed arsenic Helen of Troy successful Christopher Nolan’s movie adjustment of Homer’s The Odyssey, and nan accustomed suspects instantly started squealing that nan autumn of occidental civilization was nigh.
Elon Musk, a man successful possession of nan world’s thinnest tegument and fattest slope account, is evidently among nan aggrieved. Musk started moaning about The Odyssey successful January, erstwhile it was rumoured that Nyong’o had nan role. Since a 12 May question and reply pinch Nolan successful Time mag made this casting official, Musk hasn’t stopped whining; he’s spent astir a week attacking Nyong’o connected X and amplifying different angry bigots. His main arguments look to beryllium that this is simply a historically inaccurate rendering of a mythological poem; Nyong’o, who was named People magazine’s “Most Beautiful Woman” successful 2014, is not sufficiently beautiful; and nan casting of a Black female successful a movie cipher is forcing him to watch is inextricably intertwined pinch a leftwing crippled to undermine occidental society.
I will not massacre your encephalon cells by subjecting you to a blow-by-blow relationship of nan world’s richest man’s astir inane opinions connected The Odyssey. But to springiness you a small flavour, Musk replied “true” to a station connected X by blimpish commentator Matt Walsh calling Nolan a “coward” for not giving “the astir beautiful woman” domiciled to a achromatic woman. “Not 1 personification connected nan satellite really thinks that Lupita Nyong’o is ‘the astir beautiful female successful nan world,’” Walsh said.
Musk besides replied “true” to a station by a blimpish X relationship called C3 pinch 323,000 followers, which proclaimed: “The demolition of nan Odyssey by Nolan and nan Left isn’t conscionable astir a movie.” Rather, this anonymous relationship said: “It’s astir occidental Civilization. The Greeks were its foundation. From Democracy to Art to Philosophy to Culture. The Left wants to destruct occidental Civilization and everything that helped create it.”
Thanks for nan basking take, C3, but kindly get a grip. This is really conscionable a movie astir an imaginary female featured successful a poem written by a dormant man. As Jimmy Kimmel joked: “If you really want to get into it, Helen of Troy was half bird. Helen was nan girl of Zeus, who disguised himself arsenic a swan truthful he could mate pinch a quality female who past laid an ovum and retired hatched Helen of Troy … This is made up … So it makes nary quality to anyone but crazy angry group what colour she was.”
What pinch each nan lawsuits, state trips to China, managing aggregate companies and siring scores of kids, you’d deliberation Musk wouldn’t person nan clip aliases power for this nonsense. But, increasingly, it’s each he has clip for. The Tesla CEO is obsessed pinch race; convinced that achromatic group are, to use his ain words, “a quickly dying minority”. And he spends an bonzer magnitude of clip posting astir his fixation connected X. A Guardian study found that he “posted astir really nan achromatic title was nether threat, made allusions to title subject aliases promoted anti-immigrant conspiracy contented connected 26 retired of 31 days successful January”.
“If you stripped Elon Musk’s sanction disconnected of these [posts] and showed them to me, I would deliberation that this was a achromatic supremacist,” Heidi Beirich, co-founder of nan Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, told nan Guardian aft reviewing a action of Musk’s utterances.
For reasons that see not wanting to walk hours negotiating pinch nan ineligible department, I americium not going to explicitly telephone Musk a achromatic supremacist. But I will telephone him a very sad and bitter man who cannot look to execute contentment. Over nan years, he appears to person bought himself a caller caput of hair and reinvented his wardrobe, but his makeover hasn’t fulfilled him. In 2021, Musk wormed his measurement connected to Saturday Night Live, wherever he made Wario jokes successful an effort to get group to for illustration him. That didn’t look to bring him peace. Then successful 2022, hopeless to beryllium loved, he bought Twitter for $44bn and reportedly assembled a squad of 80 engineers to tweak nan algorithm truthful much group would spot his tweets.
Even that wasn’t enough. After buying an audience, Musk bought an election: he spent much than $290m getting Trump and different Republicans elected successful 2024. Since then, he’s had an fantabulous return connected his investment. In October 2024, Musk was worthy around $270bn; little than 2 years later, he is worthy about $800bn and will astir apt go nan world’s first trillionaire. Will that make him happy? I uncertainty it.
Want to cognize what Musk is doing connected X erstwhile he isn’t being profoundly weird astir Nyong’o? According to a new analysis by nan Washington Post, he’s spent much clip successful 2026 interacting pinch an anonymous relationship called “XFreeze” than pinch immoderate different user. It’s unclear who is down XFreeze, though it appears to person ties to India, but nan relationship spends a batch of clip heaping praise connected Musk, which the tech mogul adores.
“Musk loves to beryllium glazed, and this personification is nan doughnut factory,” Joan Donovan, adjunct professor of publicity and emerging media studies astatine Boston University, told nan Post.
God, it’s tragic isn’t it? Musk has each those children he could beryllium hanging retired with, and present he is posting astir celebrities not being achromatic capable for him, and engaging successful an online bromance pinch an obsequious anonymous account. He whitethorn emotion to beryllium glazed, but intelligibly thing is going to capable that gaping spread successful his soul.
-
Arwa Mahdawi is simply a Guardian columnist
