How the BBC got the last-minute Elon Musk interview

Elon Musk said he would change BBC's label on Twitter to 'publicly-funded'.

After labeling BBC as "government-funded media", tech billionaire Elon Musk on Wednesday agreed to be interviewed by the publication. He had but one condition -- the interview had to be streamed live on Twitter.

The Twitter boss's approval for the interview happened quite unexpectedly, the BBC stated. "These kinds of interviews - ones that are high-profile and will cover a wide range of topics - are usually organised well in advance. But Elon Musk is notoriously unpredictable," it said.

BBC journalist James Clayton sent an email to the Twitter boss asking the "government-funded media" label. Usually, reporters receive a statement from the company's media team, but this time, Elon Musk replied personally. Clayton then seized the opportunity to request him an interview.

And Musk responded with: "Let's do it tonight."

This gave the BBC team only a few hours to prepare for an interview that was to be live-streamed to three million people online on Twitter and the BBC's audience.

Later in the day, Musk tweeted, "I said BBC could come (to) Twitter, then, to my surprise, a reporter shows up." He also posted a few tweets making fun of the interview.

I said BBC could come Twitter, then, to my surprise, a reporter shows up

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 12, 2023

In the interview, Elon Musk also confirmed he would change the label on the BBC's account from "government-funded media" to "publicly-funded". Twitter's website defined "government-funded media" as a media house involving "varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content".

Musk told the BBC journalist that he always wanted to be as "truthful and accurate as possible". "I think we're adjusting the label to be publicly-funded, which I think is not too objectionable. We're trying to be accurate," he said.

Read more: Elon Musk acknowledges 'many mistakes' made since Twitter takeover