Elon Musk Flips The Script On Leftist Editor-In-Chief Who Says He Is ‘Loathed’

Elon Musk lit the fuse and didn’t look back.

In a blistering face-off with The Economist Editor-in-Chief Zanny Minton Beddoes, the world’s richest man brushed off claims he’s widely despised and flipped the script, insisting it’s the media that’s truly hated.

After Beddoes criticized him for his involvement in European politics, saying, “Why should you be able to shape European politics? You don’t even live there,” Musk responded mildly, “I think of it as sort of the West collectively.”

“But do you see why this makes people think that this man who has all this power, he’s the world’s richest man, he thinks he has a right to influence our politics,” Beddoes pressed. “It makes people, it’s why, you know, we started this conversation saying superlatives. It’s why people loathe you. I mean, some people do loathe you.”

Musk then took the gloves off: “Yes, some people do. … Maybe some people do loathe me, and that’s probably true. I don’t care. But the fact that as you pointed out, a quarter billion people follow me is that I think a lot more people actually like me than don’t. And I think a lot more people hate you and the media more than you realize. Do you realize the media is despised?”

“The shoe is on the other foot,” Musk said, citing rock-bottom trust in journalism. “They hate you far more than they hate me.”

Beddoes had challenged Musk over his vocal support for what she described as far-Right parties across Europe. Musk rejected the label outright, arguing he’s simply backing “normal people” and mainstream policies like border security, safe cities, and controlled spending.

“What you call the far-Right falsely … these were completely normal positions 10 or 15 years ago,” he said, accusing critics of rewriting the political center.

He also took direct aim at journalists, warning that their portrayal of Right-leaning movements as extremist is “false and misleading and nonsense.”

The clash intensified over Musk’s repeated warnings about the United Kingdom — including his claim that “civil war in Britain is inevitable.” Beddoes pushed back hard, citing falling crime rates and her own experience living in London, calling Musk’s depiction exaggerated and harmful.

Musk stood firm.

“If current trends continue, it is,” he said, pointing to what he described as a growing population with values “antithetical to the West,” which he believes will inevitably spark conflict.

The two also sparred over free speech, with Musk condemning European governments for prosecuting social media posts and warning that censorship is a growing threat.

“That’s the sort of thing that I think is bad,” he said, while accusing the media of ignoring these issues.