The father of Elon Musk made stunning statements knocking his tech billionaire son during an Australian radio hit over the weekend.
Errol Musk, 79, and his son Elon have had a documented tumultuous relationship. The elder Musk made waves last month when it was revealed he had a second child with his step-daughter, Jana Bezuidenhout, three years ago.
“Your offspring is a genius,” Australian host Jackie O told Errol, according to the New York Post. “He’s worth so much money and has created so many things, you can’t take that away from him. Are you proud?”
“No,” Errol responded. “You know, we are a family that have been doing a lot of things for a long time, it’s not as if we suddenly started doing something.”
Mr. Musk said it was actually Elon’s brother, Kimbal, whom he favored, calling him his “pride and joy.”
Elon’s father then took shots at his son for apparently being behind schedule in his career.
“He is frustrated with progress and it’s understandable,” Errol said of Elon. “I know it sounds crazy, but we tend to think like that as a family.”
“He’s 50 now and I still think of him as a little boy,” he continued. “But he’s 50, I mean that’s an old man.”
Errol, who told the host he does not drive a Tesla, then went after Elon’s physical appearance.
“Elon is very strongly built but he’s been eating badly,” Errol said, adding that he’s told his son to use a supplement called garcinia cambogia to help with weight loss.
Elon has been open about his rough relationship with his father. In the past, the SpaceX founder has called Errol “evil” and “a terrible human being.”
“He was such a terrible human being,” Musk told Rolling Stone, Nine.com.au reported. “My dad will have a carefully thought-out plan of evil. He will plan evil.”
“You have no idea about how bad,” Elon said. “Almost every crime you can possibly think of, he has done. Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done.”
Elon also said that his father called him an “idiot” and told him he wouldn’t make it when Elon decided to leave South Africa for Canada to start anew.
“He needs to get over himself,” Errol told the Daily Mail. “I’m not going to hit back. I’m going to wait until he comes to his senses. He’s having a tantrum, like a spoilt child. He can’t have what he wants and now I am apparently an evil monster.”