AUSTIN, Texas (LifeSiteNews) — Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk on Tuesday defended his recent criticism of globalist political donor George Soros, as well as the central ideal of free speech, saying he won’t be cowed into hiding his opinions even if it costs him money. Musk also responded to a question about whether he regretted voting for Joe Biden in 2020, joking he would prefer if America could elect “a normal human being as president.”
Musk made the remarks in an interview with CNBC host David Faber in Austin, Texas, during Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting. The interview, which aired Tuesday, touched on myriad topics ranging from artificial intelligence, the upcoming 2024 presidential election, and Musk’s often-controversial tweets.
“Let’s talk about your tweets, because it comes up a lot,” Faber said, suggesting that some of Musk’s tweets appear to support “conspiracy theories.”
“Well, yes, but sometimes conspiracy theories have turned out to be true,” Musk responded, pointing as an example to the Hunter Biden laptop story which had been denounced by legacy media outlets and government officials as “Russian disinformation” and censored on social media platforms before it was proven to be authentic.
“That was a pretty big deal,” Musk said, arguing that the “suppression of the information that was relevant to the public” amounted to “election interference.”
UPDATE (04/22/23): Twitter has inexplicably removed its ‘government-funded media' label from Canada’s CBC and NPR, with neither using their accounts despite Elon Musk seeming to backtrack on his decision to promote transparency around their funding.
That means, after what appeared to be a victory, our campaign is far from over.
Please sign and share the petition today!
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UPDATE (04/18/2023): The CBC — Canadian Broadcasting Corporation — is reeling after Elon Musk finally applied the 'Government-funded Media' label to its Twitter page on Sunday in a welcome victory for people like you who used LifePetitions.com to call for this transparency.
The CBC, which receives about $1.24 billion in public funding every year, lashed out at the move yesterday, announcing it would 'pause' its use of Twitter and insisting that the government provides less than 70% of its funding.
Elon Musk has wryly inserted “69%” beside the “Government-funded Media” Twitter label in response.
Canadian Broadcasting Corp said they’re “less than 70% government-funded”, so we corrected the label pic.twitter.com/lU1EWf76Zu
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 18, 2023
The broadcaster denys that the Canadian government wields any influence over its editorial decisions, but this claim may have been undermined by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's remarkably swift and public defense of the CBC in the wake of Twitter's decision.
Trudeau claimed yesterday that the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) leader Pierre Poilievre was trying to “attack a foundational Canadian institution” when, like you, he petitioned Elon Musk to label the CBC appropriately.
The Prime Minister appeared inconsolable yesterday, which speaks volumes for how useful the CBC was and is to his office.
Thank you for taking part in this LifePetition to Elon Musk - this victory shows once again that people-power matters.
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Elon Musk is taking unprecedented steps for free-speech advocates by exposing state-sponsored media for their lies and agendas — including the BBC and NPR.
The time is NOW while the trend is hot to ask that Elon Musk also label Canada’s CBC for what it is: state-sponsored media and a propaganda machine of the radical left.
Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre this week informed Musk that the public broadcaster receives the “vast majority of its funding” from the federal government.
CBC/Radio Canada received a whopping $1.24 billion in government funding in 2021-2022.
Now that Elon Musk is taking massive swings at the leftist mainstream media outlets like BBC and NPR it is time for Canadians to remind him of what's happening up here.
In fact, Musk just DESTROYED a BBC reporter live on air in a widely televised “Twitter Spaces” interview.
Will Elon Musk also take aim at the CBC? WE MUST LET HIM KNOW THAT THE CBC IS A CORRUPT STATE-SPONSORED ARM OF THE ANTI-FREEDOM TRUDEAU GOVERNMENT.
War has been waged by Elon Musk against the mainstream media — we cannot let Canada’s biggest propaganda machine operate unnoticed!
Look at just some of the headlines in these agenda pieces proudly published by the CBC:
CLIMATE ALARMISM: “Researchers need help to determine which birds are most at risk from climate change.”
PRO LGBT AGENDA: “These kids' books depicting 'joyful, queer stories' are being censored in Hungary and Russia.”
PRO TRANSGENDER AGENDA: “Two-spirit, trans, non-binary, gender diverse people face 'exceptional barriers to overcome': Manitoba artist”
ANTI-FREEDOM: “Conservative opposition to mandatory vaccinations is 'irresponsible' and 'dangerous,' says Trudeau.”
PRO EXPERIMENTAL VACCINE: “Here’s a science-backed approach to timing your next dose.”
AND SO MUCH MORE REPORTED BY LIFESITENEWS!
Now is the time to act — tell Elon Musk, owner of Twitter, to EXPOSE the CBC for the pro-Trudeau agenda-carrying propaganda machine that it is.
***SIGN: TWITTER MUST LABEL THE CBC AS STATE-SPONSORED MEDIA NOW***
Asking Musk how he decides what to comment on and what not to, Faber highlighted a recent post by Musk in which he blasted far-left political financier George Soros, saying the Democratic mega-donor reminded him of mutant Marvel villain Magneto.
Soros’ Open Society Foundation has notably provided massive funding for Democrats, including backing soft-on-crime progressive district attorneys and funneling millions of dollars into pro-abortion efforts.
Reading Musk’s May 15 tweet aloud, Faber noted that Musk said Soros “wants to erode the very fabric of civilization” and “hates humanity.”
You assume they are good intentions. They are not. He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 16, 2023
“Yeah, I think that’s true,” Musk told the CNBC interviewer. “That’s my opinion.”
“Okay, but why share it?” Faber asked. “Why share it when people who buy Teslas might disagree with you? Advertisers on Twitter may not agree with you?”
“I mean, this is freedom of speech, I’m allowed to say what I want,” Musk said.
Affirming Musk’s right to do so, Faber continued to try to ascertain the reasons why Musk would share controversial opinions, especially if his tweets might “hurt the company.”
“Are there Tesla owners who say ‘I don’t agree with his political position, and I know it because he shares so much’?” he suggested. “Or are there advertisers on Twitter that Linda Yaccarino [Twitter’s new CEO, a World Economic Forum executive] will come and say, ‘You gotta stop, man, you know, I can’t get these ads because some of the things you tweet.’”
After a lengthy silence, Musk said the issue reminded him of a scene from the 1987 movie “The Princess Bride” in which Spanish swordfighter Inigo Montoya, played by Mandy Patankin, finally comes face-to-face with the man who killed his father and urges him to beg for his life before Montoya carries out his revenge.
“He says, ‘offer me money. Offer me power. I don’t care,’” Musk recounted.
“So you just don’t care?” Faber asked.
“I’ll say what I want to say and if the consequence of that is losing money, so be it,” Musk said.
RELATED: Twitter reverses ban on ‘misgendering, deadnaming’ gender-confused people
The controversial billionaire also gave his thoughts about U.S. politics, arguing that the president of the United States should at least be competent as a chief executive 0fficer (CEO) of the country.
Asked whether he regrets casting his vote for Biden in the 2020 presidential election, Musk responded, laughing, “man, I wish we could just have a normal human being as president, that’s what I want.”