“This will probably get me into trouble, but I feel I have to say it”, SpaceX founder Elon Musk announced on Twitter, immediately drawing the attention of his 35.7-million audience.
“Is it something racist?”, someone asked cautiously, potentially hinting at controversies surrounding the ongoing riots in the United States, following the death of black American George Floyd in police custody last week.
Some noted that Musk’s announcement might have really freaked out his Tesla shareholders.
However, many were left with a sense of relief when several minutes later, Musk went on with a monologue about marijuana dealing. The SpaceX CEO said that he found it puzzling that people were still incarcerated for selling weed while in many US states drug-related businesses were permitted and even deemed “essential” during the pandemic.
“Doesn't make sense, isn't right”, Musk argued.
Selling weed literally went from major felony to essential business (open during pandemic) in much of America & yet many are still in prison. Doesn’t make sense, isn’t right.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 6, 2020
“Legality is not always a good guide for morality!”, someone rushed to respond to the entrepreneur’s query.
Previously, Musk publicly argued that marijuana did not help to maintain one’s productivity, but shortly after that he publicly shared a tobacco-mixed joint with Joe Rogan during the latter’s live-streamed podcast show. And few of Musk’s followers were ready to let that image go.
— jina will (@jinawill12) June 6, 2020
One day... pic.twitter.com/Bq8ctHmnFm
— Roman Tkachenko (@_RomanTkachenko) June 6, 2020
The engineer’s tweets come following news that some marijuana businesses were dubbed “essential” in several states, including California, Michigan and Colorado, according to the Washington Post, and were allowed to remain open during the pandemic.
Despite the sensitivity of the topic, many of Musk’s followers were happy to find out that it was marijuana-related business that so deeply occupied his thoughts, and not something more extravagant.
Thank God I thought it was gonna be something crazy. Ok Elon. Thank you for your hot take on legal weed. pic.twitter.com/pRzZSZ19g8
— Milquetoast (@BlueRobotDesign) June 6, 2020
I've just heard a million Tesla shareholders sigh simultaneously in relief
— Toby Li (@tobyliiiiiiiiii) June 6, 2020
Tesla stock after reading this pic.twitter.com/clzRnrzKCM
— Sara✨ (@sarasspacee) June 6, 2020
I know you love a good challenge, Elon. I challenge you to find a way to free all prisoners wrongfully incarcerated. Thanks!
— ethan (@CrankGameplays) June 6, 2020
— Arsalan K (@Arspk24) June 6, 2020
But some still noted that they were expecting to get some more profound insights from the powerful billionaire, especially in relation to the unfolding anti-racist movement in the United States, an issue the South African-born entrepreneur still has not quite touched upon, unlike many other tech industry moguls.
Please note how he purposely dipped days ago so as to stay silent on #BlackLivesMatter. Comes back to talk about cannabis prohibition (not so controversial when majority says legalize) to look like he cares about something other than himself, all the while avoiding talking about
— MarijuanaModels (@MarijuanaModels) June 7, 2020
Neither is systemic racism and those who don’t acknowledge it 🤔
— Paper Route (@InTheWordsOfX) June 6, 2020
