--- title: "Elon Musk: Some of My Tweets “Were Definitely Extremely Dumb”" description: "Musk took the time to reflect on a bizarre and intense number of weeks in an interview with Bloomberg, noting that some of his tweets were \"extremely dumb.\"" date: "2020-05-22" modified: "2020-05-22" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/elon-musk-tweets-extremely-dumb" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "SpaceX" - "tesla" --- # Elon Musk: Some of My Tweets “Were Definitely Extremely Dumb” ![Musk took the time to reflect on a bizarre and intense number of weeks in an interview with Bloomberg, noting that some of his tweets were "extremely dumb."]() *\Image: USNORTHCOM/Victor Tangermann\* For entrepreneur Elon Musk, it's been a strange couple of weeks leading up to what could be the first time a private space company [launches humans to orbit](). And now, mere days before his space company SpaceX is set to [ferry two NASA astronauts]() to the ISS on board the company's [Crew Dragon]() spacecraft, Musk took the time to reflect on the bizarre twists and turns in an [interview with *Bloomberg*](), noting that it's been a number of "pretty intense days." "It’s not like I stand by all the tweets I’ve ever done," he told *Bloomberg*'s Ashlee Vance, a Musk biographer. "Some of them were definitely extremely dumb. On balance, the good outweighs the bad." The lockdown, intended to keep people safe from a pandemic of unprecedented proportions, slowed production at Musk's electric car company Tesla to a grind — something he was willing to risk the jobs and even lives of his employees to undo. "FREE AMERICA NOW!" a frustrated Musk [tweeted]() late last month. He even called shelter-in-place orders "[fascist]()" during a late April earnings call with investors. Not a good look, especially considering he's [been wrong]() about the coronavirus before. And Musk isn't backing down. "I think the statistics became unreliable at the point at which they included those who weren’t actually tested for COVID but simply had COVID-like symptoms," he told Vance. "The statistics became bogus probably around mid-April. There’s about a hundred COVID-like symptoms. Basically anything." "The data is no longer valid. That said, I would say I was off by maybe three or four weeks," he admitted. As of today, that is if you're willing to entertain the validity of data collected by some of the brightest minds on Earth, [more than 337,000 people]() have died from the coronavirus worldwide. Soon, the United States will likely account for 100,000 of those deaths. So why tweet at all? To Musk, it's about cutting out the middle man and establishing a straight line of communication with the people. "It’s hard to make everyone happy, especially on Twitter," Musk said in the interview. "Look, you can either say things that are not controversial at all, and then you’re boring, and nobody cares. Some of the things I say, I would like to retract them." **READ MORE:** [Elon Musk Is the Hero America Deserves]() \[*Bloomberg*\] **More on Musk:** *[THIS 7-STORY STATUE OF ELON MUSK LOOKS ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()