'Please forgive me': Why Elon Musk 'apologised' to Indian-American billionaire Vinod Khosla

Tech billionaires Elon Musk and Vinod Khosla have been trading barbs on X for months. (Image credit: AFP, LinkedIn)

The richest person in the world, Elon Musk, has locked horns with Indian-American billionaire Vinod Khosla over a land battle in California and an allegedly AI-generated image of a beach sign. Musk attacked Khosla on Saturday for restricting public access to a beach in California. The X owner shared a seemingly altered image of a sign on a beach that read "No plebs allowed" and claimed that Khosla had put it up on his property.

But Khosla vehemently denied putting up any such sign and demanded an apology from Musk after his "lie" resulted in negative press for him. "You owe me an apology for spreading falsehoods," the Silicon Valley billionaire wrote on X. "I think this post of yours needs a community comment for being a fraudulent photo. I have never put up this sign or anything even remotely like this. I presume it is AI generated but you can verify that."

You owe me an apology for spreading falsehoods. I think this post of yours needs a community comment for being a fraudulent photo. I have never put up this sign or anything even remotely like this. I presume it is AI generated but you can verify that. It will help X if we can https://t.co/5PVE8uxDpH
Vinod Khosla (@vkhosla) September 22, 2024

Musk responded to it in his trademark style. "Sorry I made a sign about you restricting access to a public beach. That was so extremely terrible. Please forgive me," he wrote. The sarcasm was not lost on his 198.8 million followers.

Sorry I made a sign about you restricting access to a public beach.That was so extremely terrible.Please forgive me Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 22, 2024

Vinod Khosla's 16-year-long property dispute regarding public access to a beach in California

The Silicon Valley billionaire has been fighting a 16-year-long legal battle to restrict the use of his private property to access the public Martins Beach in California. The 69-year-old, who bought a plot in 2008 that previously served as a paid parking lot for the beach, has said he no longer wants the privately owned property to be publicly accessible and has been battling with the state government over it for almost two decades, Forbes reported.

Musk, however, used this to fuel a longstanding dispute between them that has seen them trade barbs over several matters including the 2024 election, development of artificial intelligence, and immigration issues.

Elon Musk backs Donald Trump for US President, Vinod Khosla supports Kamala Harris

Khosla is a self-proclaimed political independent and has publicly backed Kamala Harris for the upcoming presidential election. Musk, who has publicly supported Donald Trump for US president, called Khosla a hypocrite for allegedly supporting a plan to send "tens of thousands of unvetted migrants to small towns throughout America, but he didn’t even want to let the public walk on his beach."

The Indian-origin billionaire hit back at Musk calling him a "hypocrite" for his stances on immigration. Khosla said he is against illegal immigration and feels "legal, vetted immigration is a huge advantage that America has over many other nations," Forbes reported.

In recent months, Khosla called a conversation between Musk and Donald Trump “dumb” while Musk claimed Khosla was “deranged about Trump”. Both the tech billionaires also drew daggers on X over Trump’s false claims about Haitian immigrants.