- The owner of X has had an ongoing online beef with the president of Venezuela
- Sparked by the controversial election results in Venezuela, which saw president Nicolas Maduro re-elected
- Stakes for the fight, which will be televised, if it happens, are high
We have got used to Elon Musk having beefs on social media with a variety of people in recent years, but now he’s picked on the president of Venezuela, who appears to be up for the challenge in a physical sense.
Challenge
After a series of exchanges on X (formerly Twitter) President Nicolas Maduro appeared on national television to seemingly challenge the billionaire owner of X and Tesla to a fight. When Musk saw this on X, he simply replied ‘I accept’.
The beef between the two started after the results of the Venezuelan election were announced last week, with incumbent president Maduro’s party winning 51% of the vote, while the opposition won 44%. While Maduro was declared as re-elected president, detailed data of the results was not released, which sparked violent protests in the country.
Hearing this news, Musk took to X, saying that the election was a “travesty” and calling Maduro a “dictator”, as well as other comments.
Maduro hit back, accusing Musk of orchestrating attacks against Venezuela and saying he was involved in “computer” hacking at the National Electoral Council.
That escalated quickly
Matters escalated when, in a public speech, Maduro said: “Social media creates a virtual reality, and who controls the virtual reality? Our new archenemy, the famous Elon Musk. Do you want to fight? Let’s do it. Elon Musk, I’m ready. I’m not afraid of you, Elon Musk. Let’s fight wherever you want.”
After accepting the fight, Musk set some terms for the fight: “If I win, he resigns as dictator of Venezuela. If he wins, I give him a free ride to Mars.”
Whether the fight happens remains to be seen, or if it is just two powerful people butting heads online. But if it does, it will be box office.
