. And I was too scared to tell anyone [about his violence]," Maye told Harper's Bazaar in 2019. Here's what to know about Elon Musk's estranged father, Errol Musk. He said that they stopped in Djibouti to avoid pricey airport fees, and there happened to meet some Italian merchants who offered to buy the plane from him then and there. Move over, Elon theres another Musk hitting the headlines. Regardless of your opinion of him, he is aself-made billionaire. Errol and a co-pilot were flying a plane from South Africa to England to sell the aircraft but when they couldn't make a scheduled stop in Saudi Arabia, he pivoted his plan and changed his life. 2021, https://www.quora.com/Is-it-true-that-Elon-Musks-family-got-their-wealth-from-apartheid-emerald-mining. Elon Musks family wealth has once again resurfaced as a talking point. Errol Musk was born in Pretoria South Africa to Walter Henry James and Cora Amelia Robinson. I couldn't find my passport so I ended up grabbing my brother's which turned out to be six months overdue! In December 2019, Elon denied the emerald mine-and-lavish-lifestyle story on Twitter, saying it was a lie. "Elon Musk Tells Me His Secret Of Success (Hint: It Ain't About The Money)." Shame on you, Onion. The Onion, a satirical publication, shared. You have no idea. Copyright Blue Sky Publications Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Or they'd take the plane to Lake Tanganyika [in Zambia], where Errol had a stake in an emerald mine. In the meantime, Musk continues to make waves on multiple technological fronts, all while raising concerns about workers' rights and income inequality. In South Africa, my father had a private plane we'd fly in incredibly dangerous weather and barely make it back. Though Errol has made headlines in recent years after the births of his two youngest children, he seemingly avoids the spotlight. The Twitter account no longer exists. Jeff Bezos' garage-based start was funded by a quarter . Meanwhile, Elon has himself admitted that his father has a very high IQ and is brilliant at engineering. In 2017, he also told Rolling Stone that Errol was the youngest person to get a professional engineers qualification in South Africa., Im naturally good at engineering thats because I inherited it from my father, the worlds richest man stated. Elon, 51, was brought to tears discussing his dad in a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, describing him as evil and a terrible human being.. Clearly, Elon Musk doesn't like being mocked. Musk replied, linking to Jeremy Arnolds article, which gave Musks side of the story. He was such a terrible human being. I couldnt even afford a second [computer] at [web software company] Zip2, so [I] programmed at night and the website only worked during the day. An avid pilot and sailor, as well as an electrical and mechanical engineer, he made his money consulting and developing properties and retired early. These tweets from December 2019 appeared to have stemmed, at least in part, from a since-deleted tweet from a user with the handle @1aprildaniels. To add to the truth, we went to Boston Chicken in Philadelphia for Thanksgiving because we couldnt afford a turkey. Instead, we will concentrate on the two Business Insider South Africa articles mentioned by Arnold that appeared to provide the roots of the "apartheid emerald mine" rumor. Note: The reference to Zip2 concerned Elon's "first enterprise" in 1995. ---. In Errol's case, we sent a message to his Facebook profile. In a 2019 . "He didn't own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt. We also reached out to media relations personnel at SpaceX, where he is the founder and CEO, as well as Tesla and Twitter. "One thing he claims is he gave us a whole bunch of money to start, my brother and I, to start up our first company. People.Com, 7 Nov. 2022, https://people.com/human-interest/who-is-errol-musk-elon-musk-father/. Imgur, 5 Dec. 2019, https://imgur.com/SHGhIY2. Theyd seen I was sleeping in one morning, and they said, Oh lets just try, lets go.. Elon Musk's father, Errol Musk, remains a mysterious figure, and there is still no common consensus how his work or his wealth during Elon's childhood. In 2019, a Twitter user claimed that Musk's father Errol owned an emerald mine. A post on Reddit mentioned a theory that said Elon "convinced these publications to remove the articles," but there's no evidence to support that. Rumor is Errol Musk owned an emerald mine. The child, a boy named Elliot Rush, is now 5 years old. His parents divorced. Instead, they focus on describing how hard he worked in his teenage years and early adulthood, how much debt he accrued by attending college and his disdain for his father. To me, he sure is trying to make the world better right now, and that's the best thing he could do with his father's money. Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done. There was a shooting in the living room, and I guess his father shot them dead. He attended Queens University in Canada. He talks about the risk factors for Bitcoin as an investment asset including origin risk, speculative market structure, regulatory, and environment. He said, They just walked into Tiffanys and said, Do you want to buy some emeralds? And they sold two emeralds: one was for $800, and I think the other one was for $1,200. While he has given a few rare interviews, much of the publicly known information about him has come from his estranged son Elon or his ex-wife Maye Musk, neither of whom have had complimentary things to say about the engineer and onetime emerald mine owner. This is a pretty awful lie. According to the Twitter flag, Musk claimed in 2014 to Forbes that he had an emerald mine in Zambia. The patriarch confirmed the shootings to the publication in 2017, saying manslaughter charges were later dropped because he acted in self-defense. On Aug. 17, 2009, The New Yorker printed one of the earliest known searchable records of an emerald mine being tied to the Musk name. I couldn't even afford a 2nd PC at Zip2, so programmed at night & website only worked during day. The article was republished in several other newspapers around the U.S. As Arnold noted, the headline for this story was later corrected more than two years after it was published, sometime around late July or early August 2020,according to page captures from the Internet Archive. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Elon Musks bid to implant chips into human brains shot down by feds, How the feds spend $74M a year to try to censor Americans, US government-funded research tagged Americans for Twitter ban: report, Tesla stock slumps as Master Plan 3 event falls flat with investors, after confirming he fathered a second secret love child, once rumored to be the co-owner of a Zambian emerald mine, an outspoken advocate for abolishing apartheid, Ashlee Vances 2017 biography of the Tesla founder, that he welcomed twochildren with an executive, second child with his ex-girlfriend, Grimes. @Keewa tweeted on May 9, 2020, Remind: Elon Musk inherited money from his fathers apartheid emerald mine, that doesnt mean hes clever. We were going to fly into Jeddah and there was a religious holiday and they said if we come in now we have to pay $2,000 but if we wait 10 days we can come in at no charge. It was a lucrative decision. In times of uncertainty you need journalism you can trust. Invest in the future today. He told The New York Times that as a member of the Progressive Party, he opposed apartheid. According to a Facebook post from Errol, the Zambian emerald mine he held a stake in "collapsed in 1989. "Errol also quoted a lower number to me over the phone," Arnold wrote. He added that Elon left the country as "a clear indication of his willingness to not support the political suppression in the country. Get down!'. Elon Musk addressed the recent social storm when claims related his family's emerald mines in apartheid-South Africa resurfaced online. Here's a summary of our findings: We located reporting from as far back as 2009 and 2014 that said when Elon Musk ("Elon" hereafter) was a child in South Africa in the 1980s, his father ("Errol" hereafter) at some point owned "a stake in an emerald mine" near Lake Tanganyika in Zambia, not South Africa. Errol has long since retired from the engineering business and now lives a quiet life in the Western Cape in South Africa. At the conference, Elon talked to some professors who told Errol, This boy needs to get his hands on one of these computers. "'His Family Stole an Emerald Mine.'" So we had this planeload of contraband and an overdue passport from another person. The billionaire, who was born in South Africa, took to Twitter to answer claims made by The Onion about how his family made their money in apartheid South Africa. The constant resurfacing of the story is probably what spurred Musk into replying on Twitter. SASSA: Here are your March 2023 grant payment dates. The gist of the claim was that Elon's father, Errol Musk, who reports say has been estranged from his son for some time, owned an emerald mine during apartheid in South Africa, and that it. Not all the tweets were supportive of Elon. According to reporting we reviewed, the stake his father had in the emerald mine appeared to have both started and ended in the 1980s. As well as providing links, people started commenting Musk's own words back at him under his tweet. "We went to . Errol also added that his children were keenly aware of the country's government-sanctioned racial segregation. Jump to Main content Search Account Menu icon A vertical stack of three evenly spaced horizontal. Worked on my Moms cousins farm in Saskatchewan & a lumber mill in Vancouver. Kaizer Chiefs to sign more Swallows players. This is a pretty awful lie, Elon tweeted. Bridges to Italy tweeted, Yeah, hes not that bright, just like the guy who started this thread. So I became a half owner of the mine, and we got emeralds for the next six years., When the Tesla CEO was around 16 years old, he and his brother Kimbal sold two emeralds to Tiffany & Co. on Fifth Avenue in New York City while Errol snoozed, according to what Musk's father told Business Insider South Africa. ", According to the story, Errol said that Elon "once walked the streets of New York with emeralds in his pocket." Bill Gates' mom helped Microsoft get a deal with IBM. The story made no further mention of the mine. And thats when Musk's father was offered half an emerald mine in return for half of his earnings. Elon, by his father's recollection then probably 16 years old, and his brother Kimbal, decided to sell emeralds to Tiffany & Co. on Fifth Avenue in New York . Not for 'At Least' a Few Weeks, Says Elon Musk, Elon Musk's Ex Justine Calls Twitter Employees' Letter Protesting Reported Staff Cuts a 'Very Bad Idea', Elon Musk Says He's Buying Twitter to 'Help Humanity' And Doesn't Want It to Be 'Free-for-All Hellscape', Elon Musk Says Kanye West's Twitter Was Reinstated Before He Took Over the Company, Elon Musk Plans to Cut 75 Percent of Twitter's Workforce If He Takes Over the Company: Report. Its unclear how old Elon was at the time and whether he was even present is in dispute. "Bezos' Comments on Workers after Spaceflight Draws Rebuke." "Tesla, Inc."Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tesla-Motors. Elon Musk has a wild story!" he captioned it. [15][16] At the time of their marriage, Jana Bezuidenhout was only four years old and lived together with them. Below we have provided a small sampling of the many different ways the rumor has been framed in past years. The 76-year-old is most notable for being Elons estranged father, with the pair famously falling out several years ago. Where is this bs coming from? Elon called the story "actually accurate." In the past, the Tesla CEO hasrespondedseveral times on Twitter about the emerald mine rumors. Errol told Business Insider South Africa that he once owned half of an emerald mine in Zambia, which he claimed to have purchased on a whim. Elon Musk was highlighted as the wealthiest resident of Texas, Americas second-biggest state. Went to Queens Univ with scholarship & debt, then same to UPenn/Wharton & Stanford. Related stories Making better AI is Elon Musk's new object of . He has also dismissed rumors that his father co-owned a Zambian emerald mine, writing on Twitter in 2019: He didnt own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt. Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future. After the end of the article, a note was added that read, "BI SA reached out to Elon for confirmation of the tale, but he did not respond. In the mid 1980s, Elon Musks father Errol and a copilot were on their way to England aboard a plane they hoped to sell when they landed there. But that's more or less where the good fortune ended. Arnold paraphrased his answers, publishing that he said "it was a handshake deal with a Panamanian man that resulted in something like 110 emeralds up front and then a semi-regular trickle of rough stones over a few years following," and that "there was never formal ownership.". [11] The family lived in Pretoria,[10][12] where Maye worked as a dietician and a model. "Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done It's so terrible, you can't believe it. . ERROL IS A RETIRED SOUTH AFRICAN ENGINEER. He seemed very sad and lonely by himself. As a child, Elon had a close relationship with his father and grew up prosperous in Pretoria. Note: Less than two weeks after Arnold's piece was published in 2021, the satirical website The Onion printed a story with the headline, "The Richest Person In Every State And How They Made Their Money." Errol met Maye Haldeman the lady who would become his wife at Clapham High School. But little else is known about Errol outside of his native South Africa, where he has made a name for himself as a high-powered engineer, property developer and political advocate who vehemently opposed apartheid. "The Man Who's Revolutionizing The Future Of Driving -- And The Universe." The emerald mine story, reported in 2018 in Business Insider, tells how, in the mid-1980s, Errol acquired a half-share in a Zambian emerald mine, which would help to fund his familys lavish lifestyle of yachts, skiing holidays, and expensive computers.. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, grew up in South Africa and made his way via Canada to the U.S. as a transfer student before attending the Wharton School and becoming the billionaire tech founder he is today. Elon Musk's father, Errol Musk, remains a mysterious figure, and there is still no common consensus how his work or his wealth during Elon's childhood. Headded, also on Dec. 28, "We started Zip2 with ~$2k from me plus my overclocked home-built PC, ~$5k from my bro & ~$8k from Greg Kouri (such a good guy he is greatly missed). Ask him." Musk's defenders have also pointed out that Errol's alleged trade took place in the mid-1980s, at which point Zambia was independent. I left South Africa by myself when I was 17 with just a backpack & suitcase of books. Curiously, Errol has said nothing more about the controversial emerald mine story in the years since, even in recent interviews like his discussion with Forbes last year. Are you prioritizing your cable entertainment bill over protecting and investing in your family? In a 2017 Rolling Stone cover story, the Tesla CEO described his childhood and revealed that he moved in with his father at eight years old after his parents split. In 2018, Musk also told Business Insider that his father Errol purchased a 50 per cent share in the mine after selling a plane. Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done., He was such a terrible human being. "The Richest Person In Every State And How They Made Their Money." "Everybody I knew called him 'the Pig' because he treated me so badly in public. Musk's revelation about his father's financial situation in the '90s comes after a Berkeley professor and former Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, claimed on Twitter that 'self-made billionaires' are a myth and Musk came from a family that owned an emerald mine in Apartheid South Africa. [20] At the time of their daughter's birth, according to The Times, Musk was 72 and Jana Bezuidenhout was 30 years old. At some point after the shooting, the relationship between dad Errol and son Elon soured. So I became a half owner of the mine," he told the outlet. ", Inoneof the tweets from Elon in which he refuted the emerald mine rumor, he linked to an article that had been published on March 9, 2021. Errol Musk says teenage Elon Musk once casually walked around with emeralds in his pocket. But I've been in physical danger before. Twitter, https://twitter.com/elonmusk/. The article was titled, "I Talked to Elon Musk about Journalism and the Blood Emeralds Story.". How much of a Momentum Proteas Womens cricket fan are you? Copyright 2023 Market Realist. "[4][8], In 1972, he was elected to the Pretoria City Council as a representative of the anti-apartheid Progressive Party. One thing most of us can agree on is that there is a more nuanced conversation to be had about how Musk specifically and South Africas white population in general, even those who didnt own mines benefitted from apartheid. Several decades ago, Errol allegedly shot and killed three armed intruders who broke into his Johannesburg home. We've received your submission. Jana was 4 years old when Errol married her mother, Heide Bezuidenhout though he claims that he didn't consider Jana his stepdaughter, as she primarily grew up separate from the Musks. Errol talked about Elons fascination with computers when they first came out in the mid-80s, during an interview on radio station 702 in Johannesburg, as reported by Forbes. Almost every crime you can possibly think of, he has done. We had so much money at times we couldn't even close our safe," Errol said, explaining that one person would hold the money down while a second would slam the safe door shut. The rumor of the "apartheid emerald mine" received a spike in shares around the time that Elon Musk completed his takeover of Twitter in late 2022. Almost every crime you can possibly think of, he has done, he continued. Esquire, 5 June 2015, https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a35508/elon-musk-college-years-canada-u-penn/. Musk, Elon. While the story merely pointed to the facts that apartheid existed at the time and the Musk family made money from emerald mining, Musk to his frustration has found it hard to brush off the narrative of his wealth being linked to apartheid. "Is It True That Elon Musk's Family Got Their Wealth from Apartheid Emerald Mining?" It was also shared on Reddit.com. Black Americans Have the Highest Mortality Rates But Lowest Levels of Life Insurance People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. "Exploring the Otherworldly Ambitions of Elon Musk." Musk, who is never shy of saying his say online, took to Twitter to show his disappointment with The Onion and took the opportunity to shout-out the publications competition, The Babylon Bee. The funding we raised for our first company came from a small group of random angel investors in Silicon Valley. This article is actually accurate: https://t.co/eVpCX9V1NB. Errol Musk is a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, and sailor. It was kind of weird for them to walk into Tiffanys. A recurring theme on social media is the claim that Musks father owned an emerald mine and paid for his sons privileged upbringing and education. Musk has denied that story. CEO Elon Musk said his father Errol ran out of money in the '90s and was provided financial support by the entrepreneur and his brother. Market Realist is a registered trademark. [11][5] Maye has stated that Errol beat her. - February 10, 2021 02:34 pm EST. ---. 2021, https://www.theonion.com/the-richest-person-in-every-state-and-how-they-made-the-1846312073. Meanwhile, Musk's defenders often say that the mogul has denied this story, though that is not precisely true either. [22] He is estranged from his son Elon. And we spent three weeks making our rent-controlled apartment livable in Toronto, Maye tweeted. Photo: Cyrus McCrimmon/The Denver Post/Getty Images; Anthony Harvey/Getty Images, Elon Musk and Amber Heard's Relationship Timeline, Elon Musk Claims He Had 'No Choice' But to Make Mass Layoffs at Twitter, Elon Musk Buys Twitter for $44B Following Legal Battle with Company, Fires Top Execs: Reports, Twitter Founder Jack Dorsey Apologizes Following Layoffs at the Company After Elon Musk's Takeover, Twitter to Lay Off Several Employees Over Email amid Elon Musk Takeover: Reports, Employees Suing Twitter In Response to Elon Musk's Plans for Mass Layoffs, Elon Musk Goes to Heidi Klum's Halloween Party as Stars Vow to Leave Twitter Over Controversy, When Will Donald Trump Return to Twitter? Kaizer Chiefs to sign more Stellenbosch players? Errol and Elons feud has reportedly been exacerbated by the patriarchs eyebrow-raising relationships. He was such a terrible human being, Musk told the magazine. To summarize Arnold's story would be difficult, as it contained a considerable amount of data and analysis. Thereafter you will be billed R75 per month. We sent these messages on Nov. 16, but did not receive responses before publishing this story on the following day. While His Dad Was Sleeping." He will plan evil. Elon has himself admitted that his father has a very high IQ and is brilliant at engineering.. In an interview with Business Insider South Africa, Errol admitted that, at one point, he literally made more money than he could physically handle. Father and son have a complicated history. In the mid-1980s, the family profited handsomely from Errol Musk's purchasing of an emerald mine, after selling their airplane for 80,000 (the equivalent of 320,000 today). But by many accounts, the issues at the Tesla factory go beyond the need for a thick skin, New York Times reported. Instead, Musk has sought to dispel the general belief that he comes from wealth. There were AK-47s all over the place and I'm thinking, "Man, this could really go bad.". The interview is no longer available on the Forbes website. "They didn't like it.". The Onion, 22 Mar. He continued: He grabbed some weapons, as you could see on the cameras there were some intruders that were coming over the walls, and they were also armed. "'We Had so Much Money We Couldn't Even Close Our Safe': Elon Musk's Dad Tells BI about the Family's Insanely Casual Attitude to Wealth." "Nothing, nothing. ", Five days later on Feb. 28, Business Insider SA published a second article with the headline, "Elon Musk's family owns an emerald mine in Zambia here's the fascinating story of how they came to own it.". Aside from that hes just dumb. I wish. "In my experience, there is nothing you can do," he added. By email, Clash told us he had no idea why it was no longer hosted by Forbes. Errol Musk, an engineer, owned a small percentage of an emerald mine and had a couple of good years before the mine went bust and wiped out his investment. He just had a rich dad and a got lucky. I tried threats, rewards, intellectual arguments, emotional arguments, everything to try to change my father for the better, and he no way, it just got worse. Elon also denied that Errol invested in the company. The funny thing is I've not actually been that nervous. This is not true," Elon told Rolling Stone in 2017. [2] In 1969, he became a 50% owner of an emerald mine on Lake Tanganyika,[2][5] that he bought for 40,000, funded by selling an airplane for 80,000 (the equivalent of 320,000 today). His grandmother broke barriers of her own, becoming the first-ever chiropractor in Canada. I said, Oh, all right. This article forms part of the archives of Business Insider South Africa, which was published as a partnership between News24 and Insider Inc between 2018 and 2023. The emerald mine was not mentioned in that interview. Has even greenlit racism by saying those on receiving end need thick skin.https://t.co/DhpANcrqNp https://t.co/OESO1BJTtE, Can he be held responsible for his dad's ethics tho? Below, we have laid out all of the data that we found, including examples of the rumor, as well as stories from newspaper archives and blogs. Elon Musk (~16 years old) & Kimbal Musk sold gems from the Zambian emerald mine to world-famous "Tiffany & Co." on Fifth Avenue in New York - one of the world's most famous jewelers. Former Tesla employee Marcus Vaughn, who worked in the Fremont, California, factory in 2017, alleged that the companys production floor was a hotbed for racist behavior. Supervisors regularly used the N word around Black workers and he said he was fired after complaining to human resources about workplace harassment. The most direct address was a tweet that said his father "didn't own an emerald mind [and] I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt.". Where is this bs coming from? Heres his story. On Feb. 23, 2018, Business Insider SA published a story with the headline, "'We had so much money we couldn't even close our safe': Elon Musk's Dad tells BI about the family's insanely casual attitude to wealth." Elon Musk's father planned to fly a plane from South Africa to England and sell it once they got there. This is going to sound slightly crazy, but my father also had a share in an Emerald mine in Zambia. It was not a good idea.. With his new riches, Errol also bought half of an emerald mine. Moneycontrol.com, 21 Sept. 2022, https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/elon-musk-hits-out-at-us-professor-over-emerald-mine-claims-idiot-and-liar-9208281.html. Their plane got diverted, which led to a chance meeting with Italians who wanted to buy the plane in cash. He was bullied at school. However, in the recent Channel 4 documentary Elon Musk: Superhero or Supervillain, co-founder of SpaceX, Jim Cattrell, claimed Elon was home at the time. "She wasn't planned," Errol said of his youngest child. By some accounts, Elon is reported to have witnessed the attack, with Errol later telling Rolling Stone that he acted in self-defense; he was never convicted of any crime. "Elon Musk Is the Hero America Deserves." We did not receive a response before this story was published. Regardless of your opinion of him, he is aself-made billionaire." Soon after Elon left for Canada, his mother, Maye, moved there too, along with Elons brother, Kimbal, and sister, Tosca. The eccentric billionaire once again attempted to set the record straight about his familys emerald mines to respond to Twitter user @howlpolitically. After Maye and Errol divorced in 1980, Elon mostly lived with his father, who says he owned thoroughbred horses, a yacht, several houses and a Cessna. It spoke of the divorce of Elon's parents, Errol and Maye Musk, and also contained a quick mention of an emerald mine. After the divorce, Elon lived with his father in Pretoria, where he attended Pretoria Boys High. ", In the post, he claimed that his family stood in opposition to apartheid, saying he went so far as to be elected as a Pretoria city councillor to aid that opposition. [9], Errol Musk's claims that he invested in Elon Musk's software company Zip2 have been rejected by Elon Musk. "We went to this guy's prefab [home] and he opened his safe," Errol said. "I paid my own way through collegethrough student loans, scholarships, working jobsand ended up with $100,000 of student debt," Musk says. Inside the fabulous Dior couture world of 'Mrs. Errol Musk bought 50% of the emerald mine in 1969 for about 40,000, which is equal to about 160 000 today. Jordan Liles is a Snopes reporter with expertise in investigating misinformation, inauthentic social media activity, and scams. The billionaire, who was born in South Africa, took to. Forbes, 1 Oct. 2016, https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimclash/2016/10/01/can-elon-musk-really-get-us-to-mars-within-10-years/. The 51-year-old has refuted claims that he grew up rich amid statements that his father Errol owned an emerald mine in . In a February 2018 interview with Business Insider South Africa, Musk's father said he did own half share in an emerald mine in Zambia. It was that lifestyle, Errol says, that turned Elon into the kind of merchant adventurer who would laterbreak the rules of the motoring businesswith Tesla, then go on tochange spaceflight with SpaceX, BI reported. Almost every crime you can possibly think of, he has done," Elon said. AskMen, 2 Jan. 2015, https://www.askmen.com/entertainment/right-stuff/elon-musk-interview.html.
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