Tech billionaire Elon Musk appeared for a conversation on Real Time With Bill Maher on Friday.
Musk, who purchased Twitter last year, discussed with the host his acquisition of the company, free speech, censorship and what he calls the woke mind virus.
I think we need to be very cautious about anything that is anti-meritocratic and anything that results in the suppression of free speech, Musk said to Maher. So those are two of the aspects of the woke mind virus that I think are very dangerous. you cant question things, even the questioning is bad. Almost synonymous would be cancel culture. And obviously people have tried to cancel you many times.
Maher responded, And its interesting, you and I are both in that little group of people, maybe its a bigger group now, who are called conservative who havent really changed. I dont think of you as a conservative.
Musk said he at least thinks of himself as a moderate.
Ive spent a massive amount of my life energy building sustainable energy, electric vehicles and batteries and solar and stuff to help save the environment, Musk said. Its not exactly far-right.
When Maher asked Musk what he thinks the root of the so-called woke mind virus is, Musk pointed to the indoctrination thats happening in schools and universities.
The experience that we had in high school and college is not the experience that kids today are having, and hasnt been for 10 years, maybe 20 years Parents are generally not aware of what their kids are being taught, or what theyre not being taught, Musk said. Let me give you an example that a friend of mine told me. His daughters go to high school in the Bay Area and he was asking them, Who are the first few presidents of the United States. They could name Washington, so he said, What do you know about him? That he was a slaveowner. What else? Nothing. Like okay, maybe you should know more than that. Slavery is obviously a horrific institution, but we should still know more about George Washington than that.
The conversation then turned to Twitter, with Maher mentioning that the mob of mean girls on the platform has caused him not to tweet as much. Its so easy to get canceled, and I dont even know what pisses them off, these kids, he said.
Though Musk did not specifically address his controversial Twitter Blue program, which recently took away legacy verification except for users who subscribed for $8 a month, he said the platform was close to bankruptcy when he acquired it and so he had to take drastic action.
I think things are reasonably stabilized right now. It was on the fast-track to bankruptcy after acquisition so I had to take drastic action, there was no choice, Musk said.
He also mentioned censorship within the platform, saying: My concern with Twitter was that it is somewhat of the digital town square and its important that there be both the reality and perception of trust for a wide range of viewpoints. And there was a lot of censorship going on, and I uncovered a lot of that with the Twitter Files, including a lot of government-driven censorship, which it seems thats gotta be a constitutional violation, what was going on there.
The interview ended with Maher telling Musk, Id love to get high with you.
The Real Time appearance represents a new major stop for Musk on a media tour this month. Last week, the Twitter CEO appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight for a two-night interview on Fox News. The pairs conversation touched on the implications of artificial intelligence and Musks justification for purchasing Twitter, which has since been evaluated at roughly half of the value he purchased it for.
Six days after Carlsons interview with Musk aired, Fox News announced that the longtime anchor would exit the network. Rupert Murdoch, chairman of Fox News corporate parent, had decided that he would no longer support the conservative pundit.
A longtime controversial figure, Musks spotlight became more intense last fall after his purchase of Twitter. Acquiring the company for $44 billion, Musk later described his takeover as facing a constant attack from the media.
Its not like I have a stone cold heart or anything. If youre under constant criticism or attack and that gets fed to you including through Twitter its rough, you know, Musk told the BBC earlier this month. Now at the end of the day I think if you do lose your feedback loop thats not good so I think it is important to get negative feedback. I dont turn replies off and I removed my entire block list so I dont block anyone either. So I get a lot of negative feedback.
The billionaire has come under fire for restoring Donald Trumps account, which was previously banned, and eliminating Twitters legacy verification program, amongst many other issues.