Elon Musk has revealed that his father Errol Musk had run out of money in the 90s and the Tesla CEO and his brother had agreed to help senior Musk out financially on one condition -- that he doesn't do "bad things".
"Unfortunately, he did do bad things," Elon Musk revealed in a tweet without specifying what the "things" were.
"Errol ran out of money in the 90s. My brother and I financially supported him and his extended family in South Africa since then on condition that he not do bad things," he tweeted.
Musk was responding to a Twitter thread on how billionaires are rarely self-made. In a video posted by Berkeley professor Robert Reich, he claimed that it's the children of rich families who end up being "richer" and that for most "self-made" billionaires, it's rarely a rags-to-riches story.
In the video Reich stated, "Elon Musk came from a wealthy family that owned an emerald mine in apartheid South Africa."
He added, "If your safety net to joining the billionaire club is remaining upper class -- it's not pulling yourself up by your bootstraps."
Elon Musk's initial reaction to the video was: "You both an idiot and a liar (sic).
He then proceeded to disclose the incident about helping his father financially.
Both the Musks often make headlines because of their comments on one another.
Errol Musk had in August said that he’s not proud of his billionaire son alone because the whole Musk family has achieved remarkable things. According to him, in fact, the Tesla and SpaceX chief is unhappy with his own career progress.
Senior Musk even criticised him for "eating badly".
Following it, Elon Musk had said, “I gotta work out and be in better shape,” Musk said. “I actually don’t really like working out, but I gotta do it.”
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