High there: Reaction to Elon Musk smoking pot is snarky, blunt
Tesla founder's single legal puff set Twitter jokesters on fire.
Elon Musk, shown at SpaceX's Hyperloop Pod Competition in July, said of his puff, "I don't actually notice any effect."
It was the single puff felt 'round the world.
Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk took one puff of a marijuana cigarette Thursday on comedian Joe Rogan's podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience. The podcast was two and a half hours long, but social media quickly focused on the brief second of smoking. Recreational marijuana is legal in DC and nine US states, including California, where the podcast was recorded, but is still illegal at the federal level.
Musk didn't exactly go full Spicoli with his lone puff, saying "I don't actually notice any effect," and "I don't find that it is very good for productivity." It's not clear if the toke played any role in Tesla stock taking a hit Friday after both the company's chief accounting officer, Dave Morton, and its head of human resources, Gabrielle Toledano, announced they're leaving the electric carmaker.
Many people on social media found comic value in a billionaire CEO pulling a Big Lebowski.
the look on elon musk's face as he's smoking weed looks like he's thinking about inventing weed
— chris (@BassoonJokes) September 7, 2018
Elon Musk is like if Kevin Spacey's character from "American Beauty" had a billion dollars.
— Josh Gondelman (@joshgondelman) September 7, 2018
Just smoked a blunt of this new strain called Elon Musk and now I’m paranoid that my cat is a pedophile.
— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) September 7, 2018
Congrats to Elon Musk on inventing the most public way to have a mid-life crisis
— Jess Dweck (@TheDweck) September 7, 2018
Slowly inching closer to the “Woman Calls Police after finding Nude Elon Musk in her Koi Pond” story. “‘I am Neptune, Lord of the Oceans!’ the Tesla founder insisted prior to being tased.”
— Molly Hodgdon (@Manglewood) September 7, 2018
You’ve gotta hand it to Elon Musk, who is somehow the most embarrassing CEO of 2018 in a year where one of his competitors used the N-word on a conference call about pizza
— Jason O. Gilbert (@gilbertjasono) September 7, 2018
someone is going to make $70k selling Elon Musk ditch weed and that person is a hero
— Brandy Jensen (@BrandyLJensen) September 7, 2018
"so the dogs of Paw Patrol, they can talk and drive cars and fly planes ... but the cats ... they're just, like, cats ..." pic.twitter.com/Txs93s9ivo
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) September 7, 2018
Elon Musk is such an innovator he created a way to look lame smoking a blunt pic.twitter.com/dM7Ndd99QA
— Jess Dweck (@TheDweck) September 7, 2018
Elon Musk coming out of his Tesla after that podcast ... pic.twitter.com/X3I0tvj4e7
— Joe Martin (@joeDmarti) September 7, 2018
I wasn’t sure how I felt about Elon Musk before. I totally back him now. pic.twitter.com/skGEzSfsHX
— John Nolan (@JohnNolanMusic) September 7, 2018
*Elon musk takes a long drag on a joint*
— TechnicallyRon (@TechnicallyRon) September 7, 2018
"If you really think about it, all divers are paedophiles"
What if we sent the cave kids... to Mars? pic.twitter.com/kLxS9tWepS
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) September 7, 2018
Hey if you’re wondering what it would look like if Principal Skinner got Stockholm syndrome after being taken hostage by a UFC fighter, check out Elon Musk on Joe Rogan
— Dan O'Sullivan (@Bro_Pair) September 7, 2018
"A rocket ship.... but for cats." pic.twitter.com/k82sc26AM7
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) September 7, 2018
Just did heroin with Elon Musk
— Jake Weisman (@weismanjake) September 7, 2018
'elon musk' sounds like something the French thought would bring them instant victory in world war i
— Alexandra Petri (@petridishes) September 7, 2018
has anyone noticed the stock was down $4.20 in pre-market trading? pic.twitter.com/7JIDTcdDsn
— Ryan Mac (@RMac18) September 7, 2018
Some saw Musk's smoke break as a way to make a more serious point.
Black kids are still being arrested for smoking weed in many of America’s cities, but Elon Musk and Joe Rogan are sitting here smoking blunts on camera in California. Marijuana should be legal in all 50 states. pic.twitter.com/VZ1yh1MUHT
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) September 7, 2018
The reaction to Elon Musk & weed is so childish. It's also a good time to recall that Steve Jobs (along with other key Silicon Valley visionaries) credits LSD with some of his most critical insights, without which he believes Apple would not have happened https://t.co/EITgWws4C1 https://t.co/TL4VCbcdgX
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) September 7, 2018
There's nothing wrong with Elon Musk smoking weed on TV.
— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) September 7, 2018
What's wrong here is that hundreds of thousands of black man are currently rotting in jail for far less.
The Musk story took another turn later on Friday, when Charles Gasparino of Fox Business Network reported that a source said the US Air Force was looking into Musk's brief smoke.
"SpaceX is a government contractor and marijuana use is prohibited for people with government security clearance," Gasparino tweeted. An Air Force source also confirmed the news to CNBC, though Reuters said an Air Force representative had called the reports inaccurate.
SCOOP: After inquiries by @FoxBusiness i am told that the @usairforce has begun to look into @elonmusk's pot-smoking during @joerogan interview. at issue: @SpaceX is a government contractor and marijuana use is prohibited for people w govt security clearance -- stay tuned
— Charles Gasparino (@CGasparino) September 7, 2018
Some thought the Air Force's involvement was going too far, but others disagreed.
That is not a joke. For the company to keep their DD254, which is their security clearance authorization form, the company's senior leadership must have active clearances. Human colonization of Mars ruined by a joint.
— Buck Clemons (@williamclemons) September 7, 2018
Not that surprising these days for some reason.
I’m sorry but is Elon flying the rocket ships now??
— Thanos (@ThanKnows) September 7, 2018
We still have a long way to go. Our war on drugs did many things ... none of them good. Our science and knowledge have been updated, however people still have to catch up. Let's see where the AF leadership stands.
— Frank Gilbert (@PFGilbert) September 7, 2018
Just get over it! The guy is a genius. Let him live his life and enjoy it.
— Joan (@psychicWindow) September 7, 2018
Right, because they have so many SpaceX competitors to pick from.👌
— Saeed (@theleetmachine) September 7, 2018
Resources well used. What a joke.
— Some Guy (@SomeDude580) September 7, 2018
THIS...THIS is what it takes to get the government to be outraged at this point?! I would request that every WH employee be tested then. 🤦🏼♀️
— Just a drop in a blue wave (@nh_felicia) September 7, 2018
And at least one Twitter user suggested President Trump's proposed future branch of the military might have something to say about this, tweeting, "Just wait until the Space Force comes after him."
Just wait until the Space Force comes after him.
— Russ (@26point2FoCo) September 7, 2018
First published Sept. 7, 12:57 p.m. PT.
Updated at 3:51 p.m. PT: Adds Twitter response to news of Air Force looking into Musk's smoking.