Errol Musk, father of billionaire Elon Musk, recently defended his son against accusations of racism by highlighting the family’s relationship with Black domestic staff during apartheid-era South Africa.
Speaking to The Washington Post, the 79-year-old claimed his children were uninterested in “political nonsense” despite being raised under a system of racial segregation. “We had several black servants who were their friends,” Errol Musk told the newspaper, in response to questions about Elon Musk’s opposition to workplace diversity and equity programs.
The elder Musk portrayed South Africa during his children’s upbringing as a “well-run, law-abiding country with virtually no crime at all.”
Errol Musk also acknowledged importing emeralds from an unregistered Zambian mine during the apartheid era, telling The Washington Post that the operation “helped me and my two boys sustain ourselves during the collapse of Apartheid” in South Africa. While Elon Musk initially referenced the family’s involvement with the mine in a 2014 interview, he later sought to distance himself from it. In a 2021 tweet, he denied the mine’s existence, claiming he arrived in Canada in 1989 with only $2,500 Canadian dollars, took on $100,000 in student debt, and independently built his first business using his personal computer.
Biographer Walter Isaacson and reporting from Business Insider claimed that Errol Musk did not own the mine but did profit from emerald imports. Errol justified the use of an unregistered mine by saying, “you would wind up with nothing because the Blacks would take everything from you,” according to Isaacson.
Critics argue that Musk’s privileged background shielded him from the realities of apartheid. Rudolph Pienaar, a former schoolmate, described Elon’s childhood as a “bubble of entitlement,” telling The Washington Post, “I am not sure if Elon can conceive of systematic discrimination and struggle because that’s not his experience. His life now in some ways is how it was under apartheid—rich and entitled with the entire society built to sustain him and his ilk.”
Elon Musk’s public image has faced further scrutiny since his 2022 acquisition of Twitter (now X), particularly as the platform’s policy changes have allowed the spread of extremist content. NBC News alleged that verified accounts on X were able to share pro-Nazi material, including Adolf Hitler’s speeches. Musk’s right-wing associations have drawn increasing attention, particularly after he was seen making a gesture during Donald Trump‘s second-term inauguration that some interpreted as a “Nazi” salute—though his supporters argued it was a “Roman” salute. Musk dismissed these accusations on X with a post that included wordplay referencing Nazi officials’ names.
Musk is facing accusations of hostility toward diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, calling them the “woke mind virus.” His recent criticism of DEI job listings in the UK’s NHS sparked backlash and raised concerns among US educators.
At the World Governments Summit in Dubai, Musk urged the US to “delete entire agencies” under President Trump to cut spending and reshape government priorities, arguing that merely scaling back would allow them to regrow.
Musk’s influence in Washington is growing, particularly within the Department of Government Efficiency, where he has reportedly sidelined career officials and gained access to sensitive federal data. He also supports Trump’s isolationist foreign policy, questioning agencies like USAID.
Musk further stirred controversy by linking DEI to artificial intelligence, suggesting AI focused on “diversity at all costs” could eliminate men in power. Meanwhile, he announced new projects, including X’s AI chatbot Grok 3 and a “Dubai Loop” transportation system.
