In April 2023, a few months after Elon Musk purchased Twitter, now called X, the outspoken billionaire went on a bit of a media tour.
“Am doing interviews across the political spectrum. BBC’s SF division is ‘left wing’, as evidenced by the questions he asked. Tucker is ‘right wing’. Next week, I will do interviews with moderate & slightly left media,” Musk posted at the time.
Two years later, Musk continues to do interviews. But nowadays, Musk sticks with ones that don’t challenge him, often with interviewers who fawn over his accomplishments rather than pushing him to answer important questions about his government work.
Since the inauguration and formally joining President Donald Trump’s administration, Musk has made five appearances on Fox News. He’s chatted with Joe Rogan and Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on podcasts where they lavished praise on Musk and never questioned his work in the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk has also communicated with friendly political groups abroad, including a congress of Italy’s right-wing Lega party or conferences like the Dubai World Governments Summit. He’s also jumped into live X Spaces conversations, most recently for candidates or causes he supports, like failed Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel.
And while he’s occasionally engaged with the White House press pool, Musk has not sat for what could be considered a challenging interview in more than a year. The closest he’s come was with Fox News’ Bret Baier in March, who prodded Musk over calling Sen. Mark Kelly a “traitor”.
Musk’s last tough interview occurred in March 2024 with former CNN anchor Don Lemon, who asked about X’s rightward shift, conspiracy theories and Musk’s controversial statements on diversity, transgender people and more.
But Musk clearly didn’t like how Lemon challenged him. Lemon, who was supposed to launch a new show on X with the Musk interview, learned shortly afterward that the deal was off.
“I’ve interviewed many world leaders, presidents to convicts, and no one has been more sensitive or touchy than Elon Musk,” Lemon told People last year. “He’s not used to being held to account. He’s not used to having to answer to anyone, especially someone like me who doesn’t share his worldview, who doesn’t look like him.”
Musk has long had a contentious relationship with the media.
In the BBC interview in April 2023, Musk said he has a “love/hate” relationship with the media, though noting he leans more heavily on the “hate” side, saying he relished removing the New York Times’ verification badge on X.
He’s been known to slash the communications departments at his businesses, leaving no one to respond to reporters’ inquiries — or in Twitter’s case, to respond with the “poop” emoji.
Stories about Musk nearly always note that neither Musk nor his representatives responded to requests for comment. And reporters say it’s difficult to know who is handling Musk’s media — the White House, his personal staff or Musk himself.
The White House and a representative for Musk did not respond to CNN’s requests for comment about who handles his interviews.
“I don’t have to answer questions from the reporters, Don, the only reason I’m doing this interview is because you’re on the X platform and you asked for it,” Musk told Lemon last year. “Otherwise, I would not do this interview.”
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