Tesla Inc TSLA chairman Elon Musk said his father Errol ran out of money in the 1990s and was financially supported by the entrepreneur and his brother.
What happened: Musk’s comments came in a Twitter thread that began with the Tesla CEO berating the Berkley professor Robert Reich for alleging that the Musk family owned an emerald mine in apartheid South Africa.
“Errol ran out of money in the ’90s. My brother and I have since supported him and his extended family in South Africa financially on the condition that he doesn’t do bad things. Unfortunately, he did bad things,” Musk said on Twitter.
Errol ran out of money in the ’90s. My brother and I have since supported him and his extended family in South Africa financially on the condition that he doesn’t do bad things. Unfortunately he did bad things 🙁
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 21, 2022
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Why it matters: Musk had stamped Reich an “idiot and a liar” on Wednesday after the former Labor Secretary posted a video questioning the self-made status of billionaires. In the video, Reich claimed Musk came from a “wealthy family.”
In August, Errol said on an Australian radio show that Elon’s brother was Kimbal “Pride and joy.” The senior Musk also shared some insights into the family’s early life, saying he gave birth to his children when they were young.
When asked if he was proud of Elon, Errol said, “We are a family that has been doing many things for a long time. It’s not like we suddenly started doing something.”
Continue reading: Elon Musk will answer Twitter’s questions under oath in court next week
