Elon Musk is itching for a fight—or that’s what he says, at least. Even though he keeps ducking Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the Tesla CEO says he’ll accept a challenge from the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro. No, you’re not having a fever dream.
Venezuela is in the middle of political turmoil stemming from the country’s election results declaring Maduro the winner. On Monday, the National Electoral Council that made the call, which also happens to be composed of members of the country’s United Socialist Party that Maduro leads, declined to release any ballot info. Supporters of Maduro’s opponent, retired diplomat Edmundo González, say they have exit polls and voter tally sheets showing him winning.
Over the course of multiple posts on Monday, Musk took to his platform X to proclaim Maduro committed “major election fraud” and amplified other tweets saying the same. This led to the Venezuelan president talking trash about Musk on national TV and challenging him to a fight on Monday.
‘Social media creates a virtual reality controlled by our new archenemy, Elon Musk, who’d like to come with an army to invade Venezuela. Thank god you showed your face. We knew you were behind all the bots with your money, with your satellite.’ – @NicolasMaduro (paraphrased) pic.twitter.com/wcuVQ4AMhv
— Camila (@camilapress) July 29, 2024
“Social media creates a virtual reality, and who controls the virtual reality? Our new archenemy, the famous Elon Musk,” Maduro said. “Do you want to fight? Let’s do it. Elon Musk, I’m ready. I’m not afraid of you, Elon Musk. Let’s fight, wherever you want.”
Musk tweeted on Wednesday that he accepts the challenge and will even sweeten the deal.
“If I win, he resigns as dictator of Venezuela. If he wins, I give him a free ride to Mars,” Musk tweeted.
If this fight even happens (it won’t), and Musk loses, Maduro will not get that flight to the Red Planet anytime soon.
Musk, eight years younger than the Venezuelan president, is in no shape to compete with anyone physically right now. The Tesla CEO has been saying for years that he has immense neck and back pain stemming from his trying to throw a champion sumo wrestler in 2014.
