The mother of Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, stopped by Fox Business on Monday to scold those who call her son “wealthy,” claiming it was “degrading” and that she would prefer he be referred to as the “genius of the world.”
With her son now president-elect Donald Trump’s “First Buddy” and in charge of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Maye Musk sat down with Fox Business anchor Stuart Varney to gush over her 53-year-old 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥’s accomplishments.
Besides talking about the younger Musk’s companies SpaceX, Tesla and X (formerly Twitter), she also dished on how well her son and Trump get along, especially since the election.
“I’ve seen them together, but very shortly. I live in New York, and they’re in Mar-a-Lago or at a SpaceX launch, and they just seem to be having fun. A lot of fun,” she declared, adding: “And it’s nice for both of them to have fun, and [Elon] really respects him a lot and is really happy that there’s a future for America now.”
She also claimed that it would be “very easy” for her son and DOGE co-chair Vivek Ramaswamy to slash the federal workforce and cut spending, citing Elon Musk’s severe and immediate layoffs when he purchased Twitter in 2022.
Seemingly parroting her son’s talking points, she absolutely trashed the press. “What they call mainstream media, but I call them dishonest Democrat media, they will be trying to break up the relationship. They will be hating everything,” she said. “And I told that to Elon, he said he expects that because they were dishonest before the election.”
In the end, though, Maye wanted to make sure everyone knew her son was the best at, well, everything. And that referencing his massive wealth was a pejorative.
“I don’t like the word ‘wealthy’ or ‘billionaire’ or things like that because I think it’s degrading,” she exclaimed to Varney. “I think he’s the genius of the world, and people are loving him for that! … They love him because of what he does, and they respect him. And I’m very proud of him.”
Once the clip of Maye’s comments was shared on social media, it didn’t take long for the mockery to start flowing.
For instance, multiple people reacted by sharing the meme of The Simpson’s nebbish character Milhouse van Houten sheepishly saying: “But my mom thinks I’m cool!” At least one person superimposed an image of Elon on top of Milhouse in the cartoon.
“Bet your mom doesn’t go on Fox News to tell everybody what a good and impressive boy you are. (It is because you and your mom have dignity),” Wonkette managing editor Evan Hurst quipped on Bluesky.
One social media account snarked that the “mother of one of the most powerful men in the world going on the ‘News’ to complain about people hating on her kid is North Korean-level dictatorial bulls***,” while another Bluesky user added: “If my mommy had to go on the news to call me the ‘genius of the world’ and to tell people to stop being mean to me, [I] think [I]would die of shame and embarrassment.”
The Independent is the world’s most free-thinking news brand, providing global news, commentary and analysis for the independently-minded. We have grown a huge, global readership of independently minded individuals, who value our trusted voice and commitment to positive change. Our mission, making change happen, has never been as important as it is today.