--- title: "Beloved Actor George Takei Absolutely Skewers Elon Musk" description: "Star Trek alum George Takei, handily — and eloquently — eviscerated Twitter CEO Elon Musk's recent dive into far-right conspiracies." date: "2022-12-13" modified: "2022-12-13" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/george-takei-skewers-elon-musk" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "conspiracy theories" - "elon musk" - "george takei" - "the digest" --- # Beloved Actor George Takei Absolutely Skewers Elon Musk ![Star Trek alum George Takei, handily — and eloquently — eviscerated Twitter CEO Elon Musk's recent dive into far-right conspiracies.]() *\Image: Bruce Glikas via Getty / Futurism\* ## Takei Take Down No one — we repeat: *no one* — had a busier weekend than Elon Musk and his ever-feverish thumbs. Between getting [booed off the stage]() during a Dave Chapelle show and *still helming multiple companies*, the Twitter CEO is still making plenty of time to [mock the trans community](), exacerbate COVID-denialism, and call for the prosecution of former US Medical Chief Anthony Fauci — all in one unfortunate, sneering, five-word tweet. "My pronouns," Musk wrote, "are Prosecute/Fauci." This remark, among several other alarmingly regressive outbursts, pissed off a number of prominent netizens. Notable among them? None other than beloved Star Trek alum George Takei, who handily — and eloquently — eviscerated Musk's recent dive into far-right conspiracies. "That red pill rabbit hole is no joke," Takei [wrote]() in is own tweet, published a few hours after Musk's. "Watching what should have been a much smarter man go down it, while unraveling before us in real time, is both startling and disturbing." ## Busy Season Indeed, to Takei's point, Musk's spiral into [far-right activism]() has been sudden and severe — not to mention troubling, given Musk's influence and financial power, and disappointing, given his wild success in the domain of electric cars and rockets. After a slow-burn flirtation with far-right conspiracies over the past few weeks — falsely tweeting, for example, that a brutal attack on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband [was staged](), or [casually engaging]() with noted holocaust deniers who have literally called women's suffrage a "cancer" — went all in by both tweeting and favoriting posts not only on Fauci's alleged criminality but the perceived "[woke mind virus]()," "[activist employees]()," and "[smug, irritating, self-righteous ultra-woke people]()." "The woke mind virus is either defeated," [he tweeted](), "or nothing else matters." Sadly, Musk's busy weekend is likely just a preview of what's to come. Do we all have to agree? Certainly not. The world's richest man, however, is clearly disenchanted with something, and he's reacting with conspiracies, anti-trans vitriol, and more hate. And as Takei so perfectly noted, we all expected just a little bit more. **More on Elon's weekend:** *[Video Shows Elon Musk Wilting as Huge Crowd Boos Him Off Stage]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()