# Elon Musk
Elon Musk became one of the internet's most heavily meme'd public figures through a stream of chaotic tweets and viral 2018 incidents. His posts about "funding secured," Thai cave submarines, dank memes, and unicorn mugs turned the Tesla and SpaceX CEO into a running character across Twitter and Reddit.
## Overview
Elon Musk is a South African-born entrepreneur whose Twitter feed pushed him into internet meme culture starting in the mid-2010s. Publicly known as CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, his posts drew more attention than most corporate press releases, with individual tweets triggering their own news cycles and joke formats within hours[8].
The meme identity is built on chaotic tweeting: crude jokes sitting next to Tesla news, references to unicorns and Teletubbies, and statements that produced actual legal exposure. The LA Times observed in 2018 that Musk's public statements had increasingly outrun the reality of Tesla's production numbers, a gap the internet turned into content[5]. He was one of the few tech billionaires openly participating in the same meme platforms as his audience, replying to fans and asking outright for their best posts.
## How It Spread
The persona hardened across a run of 2018 incidents. In an April 13 CBS interview about Model 3 "production hell," Musk showed off the office couch he had been sleeping on, describing it as too narrow and admitting he sometimes slept on the floor instead[2]. Three days later, fan Ben Sullins launched a "Buy Elon Musk a Couch" GoFundMe that pulled more than $4,900 from over 450 donors within 48 hours[1]. TechCrunch flagged the absurdity of crowdfunding furniture for a man worth around $20 billion, though donors kept giving anyway[3].
Musk kept feeding the cycle. In May 2018 he floated "Pravda," a proposed site letting the public rate journalist credibility, a pitch the LA Times noted came from a CEO whose own production timelines had slipped by years[5]. On August 7, 2018, he posted the "funding secured" tweet claiming he was considering taking Tesla private at $420, immediately spawning a joke format where users applied the phrase to random absurd purchases[8]. Former SEC chairman Harvey Pitt warned on CNBC that a false statement of that kind carried both civil and criminal risk[7], and by September 27 the SEC had sued Musk, ending in a $20 million fine and his resignation as Tesla chairman[6].
July 2018 produced the darkest chapter. After British diver Vern Unsworth called Musk's Thai cave mini-submarine attempt a "PR stunt," Musk fired back in a since-deleted tweet calling Unsworth "pedo guy," as recapped by New York Magazine[9]. He apologized within days, then reopened the fight in late August, which led Unsworth to file a defamation suit reported at $75,000. On October 25, Musk tweeted asking followers for their "dankest memes," and the flood of jokes at his own expense was compiled into a Twitter Moments page titled "Elon Musk's call for 'dank memes' might have backfired"[6].
## How to Use
The Musk tweet format typically follows one of three patterns: a bewildering out-of-context reference (Teletubbies with bee emojis, unicorns), a legally risky statement dressed up as a joke (Pravda, funding secured), or an unprompted heel turn against a specific person or outlet. People remix the format by writing fake Musk tweets in a similar cadence, often ending in a random number, an emoji, or an oddly formal sign-off. "Funding secured" specifically became a suffix that users appended to plans that clearly had no financing at all[8].
## Cultural Impact
News coverage of individual Musk tweets became its own beat. CNBC and Mashable both devoted real reporting to a single sign-off, "funding secured," and the SEC lawsuit that followed treated a joke tweet as material securities disclosure[7]. His involvement in real-world events like the Thai cave rescue drew serious coverage from outlets like New York Magazine alongside jokes on Twitter, mixing news and meme cycles into one feed[9]. By the end of 2018 his account was being tracked as a live entertainment channel as much as an investor relations one.
## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Elon Musk?
In meme terms, Elon Musk is the Tesla and SpaceX CEO whose Twitter feed became a running source of viral tweets, joke formats, and controversies from 2015 onward[8].
### Where did Elon Musk come from?
The @elonmusk Twitter handle dates to June 2009, but his meme profile built through his 2013 TED talk and January 2015 Reddit r/IAmA AMA[6].
### What does Elon Musk mean as a meme?
It refers to the pattern of chaotic billionaire posting: joke tweets that move markets, unprompted feuds, and open requests for dank memes from his own followers[8].
### How do you use Elon Musk memes?
The most reused format is appending "funding secured" to unrelated plans, mimicking Musk's August 7, 2018 tweet about taking Tesla private at $420[8].
### Is Elon Musk still popular as a meme?
The 2018 wave of Musk memes like funding secured, pedo guy, and the couch GoFundMe still get referenced when he tweets something new, though the format has shifted as his public role has changed[6].
### What was the "funding secured" tweet?
On August 7, 2018 Musk tweeted he was "considering taking Tesla private at $420" with financing supposedly in place, which the SEC later called misleading and used as the basis for a $20 million fine[7].
### Why did Musk call someone "pedo guy"?
During the July 2018 Thai cave rescue, British diver Vern Unsworth called Musk's mini-submarine attempt a "PR stunt," and Musk replied in a now-deleted tweet calling him "pedo guy"[9].
### Why did Elon Musk build a submarine for the Thai cave?
In July 2018 Musk had a SpaceX team build a mini-submarine out of Falcon rocket parts to help extract the trapped soccer team, but the on-site rescue lead said it was not practical for the mission[9].
### What was Musk's "Pravda" plan?
In May 2018 Musk proposed a site called "Pravda" where the public would rate journalist credibility, a plan the LA Times noted came from a CEO whose own production timelines had slipped repeatedly[5].
### How did Elon Musk and Grimes meet?
Page Six reported in May 2018 that they connected online after Musk tried to tweet a "Rococo Basilisk" AI joke and found Grimes had already made a version of the same joke for her 2015 "Flesh Without Blood" music video[4].
### What was the couch GoFundMe?
After an April 13, 2018 CBS interview where Musk said he slept on a narrow office couch, fan Ben Sullins launched a GoFundMe that pulled more than $4,900 from 450+ donors in 48 hours to buy him a new one[1].
## References
1. [https://mashable.com/2018/04/18/elon-musk-sofa-gofundme-page/]()
2. [https://www.cnet.com/news/the-internet-wants-to-buy-elon-musk-a-couch-tesla-model-3/]()
3. [https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/17/the-internet-just-crowdfunded-billionaire-elon-musk-a-new-couch/]()
4. [https://pagesix.com/2018/05/07/elon-musk-quietly-dating-musician-grimes/]()
5. [https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-musk-credibility-20180524-story.html]()
6. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/people/elon-musk]()
7. [https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/08/ex-sec-chair-musk-tweet-puts-him-at-risk-of-civil-criminal-penalties.html]()
8. [https://mashable.com/2018/08/08/elon-musk-funding-secured-meme/]()
9. [https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/07/elon-musk-apologizes-for-calling-rescue-diver-a-pedophile.html]()
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Source: https://meme.com/memes/elon-musk
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