New 'Musk' documentary labeled a "hit piece" as Elon Musk erupts on social media
Elon Musk isn’t thrilled with the latest documentary about him — and he’s letting people know.
Less than a day after Alex Gibney’s new, roughly four-hour documentary about him premiered at the Venice Film Festival, Elon Musk lit up X with insults for both the film and its director. In a string of replies under a clip from the movie ’s press conference, Musk labeled the project a “hit piece” and took aim at Gibney personally.
“Dog**** is worth more respect.”
Musk also wrote, “He has ZERO integrity. Horrible human,” and slammed the film as “dull for four hours.” He had called the project a “hit piece” back when it was first announced in 2023. The documentary — titled Musk — reportedly earned a four-minute standing ovation at its Venice debut.
Inside the doc
Gibney’s film sets out to explain Musk’s influence and the controversies around it, digging into his shift toward supporting MAGA politics, the “Occupy Mars” push, questions around Tesla’s self-driving program, and his strained relationships with the mothers of several of his 14 children.
Interviewees featured in the film include:
- Justine Musk — Musk’s first wife
- Errol Musk — Musk’s father
- Ashley St. Clair — mother of Musk’s thirteenth child
- Geoffrey Hinton — the “godfather of AI ”
- Martin Eberhard — Tesla co-founder
- Reid Hoffman — LinkedIn co-founder
At the film’s Venice press conference, St. Clair said that after their son, Romulus, was born last year, Musk offered her a $40 million NDA — a claim Musk has not publicly confirmed. She explained why she refused:
“I want to set the example for my kids that we should never take being materially comfortable that we’re speaking the truth.”
Musk, for his part, dismissed the participants en masse on X, saying those who spoke either hold grudges against him or don’t know him well enough to comment.
Gibney’s approach
Gibney told reporters he sought an interview with Musk, but Musk declined. The filmmakers instead created an AI avatar of Musk that “speaks” during the movie — one of the documentary’s more unusual storytelling choices.
Bleecker Street will release Musk in U.S. theaters on October 16.