'The Onion' Keeps Trolling Elon Musk: A Brief History
"Crust!"
The Onion won’t stop trolling SpaceX founder Elon Musk over his interest in purchasing the satirical news website in 2014.
According to a story published in The Daily Beast on Tuesday, Musk considered purchasing The Onion four years ago but ultimately decided against the acquisition. However, within the last year, Musk began working on a project with the former Editor-in-Chief and Executive Editor of The Onion. This professional relationship has led to speculation perpetuated by Musk himself that he will soon launch a media venture.
True to form, The Onion has seized upon the opportunity, mining the Musk situation to publish a trove of meta-comedy.
February 7
In February, The Onion published a story poking fun at Musk’s propensity for funding ambitious projects. The story, titled, “Elon Musk Offering $1.2 Billion In Grants To Any Project That Promises To Make Him Feel Complete,” implies that Musk’s desire to solve the massive problems in our world stems from his inability to lead a meaningful life.
“He would consider funding any initiative, in any industry, at any scale that might begin to close the ever-widening chasm at the core of his being,” the story says.
March 13
On Tuesday, The Daily Beast published the story detailing Musk’s relationship with current and former staffers of The Onion, sparking a new chapter in the Onion-Musk dialogue.
March 14
Musk took to Twitter early Wednesday to tease the formation of his “intergalactic media company.” Musk began the enigmatic thread with a one-word tweet — “Thud!” — and later teased that the exclamation would be the name of his forthcoming media company. His tweets appear to be a tongue-in-cheek response to the story published in The Daily Beast.
After Musk’s Twitter shenanigans, satirical website Clickhole, a subsidiary of The Onion, published an article entitled, “I Did Everything I Could To Buy ClickHole, But Their Editorial Integrity Won Out Over My Billion-Dollar Offers, And I Respect Them Even More For That.” The article, ostensibly written by Musk, details Musk’s desperate (and fictional) attempts to procure Clickhole in exchange for vast sums of personal wealth.
March 15
The Onion kept up the playful rivalry on Thursday, publishing two more Musk-related stories.
The first story was titled “Elon Musk Embarrassed After Realizing He Proposing Idea For Thing That Already Exists.”
“A sheepish Musk told reporters that he was going ahead with his idea anyway, no matter how many people would perceive it as an obvious imitation of the real thing,” the story says.
Two hours later, The Onion published a story titled, “The Onion Hires Several Pastry Chefs Away From Entenmann’s To Form New Bakery.” It’s a clear parallel of Musk’s interest in purchasing The Onion a few years back — but with some pastry humor sprinkled in.
“The news outlet revealed they attempted to buy Entenmann’s three years ago, but ultimately declined out of disinterest in several of the company’s muffin offerings,” the story says.
Check back tomorrow to see if the saga continues.
