Are broader financial markets in a massive speculative bubble? Errol employed a cutter in Johannesburg and sold the stones wherever his travels as an engineer or family holidays took him. "She wasn't planned," Errol said of his youngest child. Curiously, Errol has said nothing more about the controversial emerald mine story in the years since, even in recent interviews like his discussion with Forbes last year. Musk responded about the time when the photo was clicked. All rights reserved. Bloomberg.com, 22 May 2020. www.bloomberg.com, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-05-22/elon-musk-speaks-frankly-on-coronavirus-spacex-and-rage-tweets. The article attributed the source of Elon Musks wealth to apartheid. Chromatica Warrior @DebbieTweeted Can he be held responsible for his dads ethics tho? Business Insider South Africa, 22 Feb. 2018, https://www.businessinsider.co.za/elon-musk-sells-the-family-emeralds-in-new-york-2018-2. And thats when Musk's father was offered half an emerald mine in return for half of his earnings. In addition to Elon, Errol is dad to son Kimbal Musk and daughters Tosca, Alexandra and Asha Rose Musk. "Elon Musk: The College Years." Forbes, 28 July 2014, https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimclash/2014/07/28/elon-musk-tells-me-his-secret-of-success-hint-it-aint-about-the-money/. The same story appeared to have also been published the day before with the headline, "A teenage Elon Musk once casually sold his father's emeralds to Tiffany & Co. while his dad was sleeping. While the story merely pointed to the facts that apartheid existed at the time and the Musk family made money from emerald mining, Musk to his frustration has found it hard to brush off the narrative of his wealth being linked to apartheid. Elon may have been 6 or 7 years old at the time and begged his dad to get him a ticket to a very early computer conference in South Africa. Below we have provided a small sampling of the many different ways the rumor has been framed in past years. "'We Had so Much Money We Couldn't Even Close Our Safe': Elon Musk's Dad Tells BI about the Family's Insanely Casual Attitude to Wealth." Nothing, nothing. ", The Tesla founder also said there was no way to repair his relationship with his father. Elon was a witness to this, bullets flying around, Cattrell further claimed. We also reached out to both men for additional comment and to ask if they could potentially provide any evidence that would support their statements, even though they didn't start the rumor. In the mid 1980s, Elon Musks father Errol and a copilot were on their way to England aboard a plane they hoped to sell when they landed there. Elon Musk: The Truth About His Dad and Emerald Mines, Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes Should Remain On-Air Couple After ABC Exit, According to TV Host, King Charles' Reported Reason for Evicting Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Revealed, Hoda Kotb Makes Brief 'Today Show' Appearance Amid Family Health Matter, 'Creed III': Why Sylvester Stallone and Rocky Balboa Are Missing From Latest Film, Disney World Brings Back 'Beauty & the Beast' Experience for First Time Since COVID-19 Pandemic Began, QVC Hosts Call it Quits After Nearly 20 Years, Florida Residents Urged to Use Caution With Tap Water After Man Dies From Brain-Eating Amoeba. According to reporting we reviewed, the stake his father had in the emerald mine appeared to have both started and ended in the 1980s. 2014, https://www.newspapers.com/image/878211644/. His father, Errol Musk, had a casual attitude towards the family's considerable wealth, including the stones that came from the Zambian emerald mine in which Errol owned a half share. We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred. And then thered still be all these notes sticking out, and wed sort of pull them out and put them in our pockets.. He is the father of Elon Musk, the CEO of 'SpaceX,' 'Tesla, Inc.,' and 'Neuralink' and one of the co-founders of 'PayPal.' Errol is mostly known for his scandalous life and his estranged relationship with his children. Smart Policies are as low as $30 a month, No Medical Exam Required In an interview with Business Insider South Africa, Musk's father Errol Musk said he negotiated his way into having partial ownership of an Emerald mine in Zambia along with other assets. "Is It True That Elon Musk's Family Got Their Wealth from Apartheid Emerald Mining?" Elon Musk does not care about Black people.Example after example after example. This material may not be reproduced without permission. de Wet, Phillip. It was a lucrative decision. The funny thing is I've not actually been that nervous. The Save Journalism Committee, 9 Mar. Errol Musk said he bought half of an emerald mine after selling a plane. "I Talked to Elon Musk about Journalism and the Blood Emeralds Story." [10] She gave birth to three children; Elon Reeve Musk born on 28 June 1971, Kimbal Reeve Musk born on 20 September 1972, and Tosca Musk born on 20 July 1974. While His Dad Was Sleeping." My dad will have a carefully thought-out plan of evil. He also claimed, "My father & his extended family have been dependent on financial support from my brother & me for over 20 years.". In Errol's case, we sent a message to his Facebook profile. He continued: He grabbed some weapons, as you could see on the cameras there were some intruders that were coming over the walls, and they were also armed. He began his career as an electromechanical engineer. On July 28, 2014, Forbes.com published an interview with Elon Musk, which was conducted by Jim Clash. Errol. Reich, theformer secretary of labor under U.S. President Bill Clinton and a professor of public policy at University of California, Berkeley, had tweeted,"Elon Musk came from a family that owned an emerald mine in apartheid South Africa." And I was too scared to tell anyone [about his violence]," Maye told Harper's Bazaar in 2019. Errol Musk, the father of Elon Musk, told British tabloid The Sun Wednesday that he had a second and previously-unknown child with his stepdaughter, Jana Bezuidenhout, in 2019 leaving many. This article is actually accurate: https://t.co/eVpCX9V1NB. All the Musk siblings did well, Forbes reported. So we went to this guy's prefab and he opened his safe and there was just stacks of money and he paid me out, 80,000, it was a huge amount of money, he said. The billionaire, who was born in South Africa, took to Twitter to answer claims made by The Onion about how his family made their money in apartheid South Africa. Jordan Liles is a Snopes reporter with expertise in investigating misinformation, inauthentic social media activity, and scams. In 2019, Elon Musk confronted the Twitter talking point about his father's supposed emerald mine head on, writing, "He didn't own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending. Former Tesla employees have reported racist behavior and attempted to sue over it. Related stories Making better AI is Elon Musk's new object of . Errol Musk was born in 1946 in Pretoria to Walter Henry James Musk and Cora Amelia Robinson. "I started my first company with $2,500, and I had one computer and a car that I bought for $1,400, and all that debt. If I could have another child I would. And he had a disastrous relationship with his father. Errol met Maye Haldeman the lady who would become his wife at Clapham High School. Elon and other family members have opened up about years of living in debt after they left South Africa. As well as providing links, people started commenting Musk's own words back at him under his tweet. According to media reports Errol reportedly owned an emerald mine in Zambia near Lake Tanganyika which enabled his family to live in luxury at the time. Has even greenlit racism by saying those on receiving end need thick skin.https://t.co/DhpANcrqNp https://t.co/OESO1BJTtE, Can he be held responsible for his dad's ethics tho? . " he told the outlet. Elon, by his father's recollection then probably 16 years old, and his brother Kimbal, decided to sell emeralds to Tiffany & Co. on Fifth Avenue in New York . In a 2019 . I couldn't even afford a 2nd PC at Zip2, so programmed at night & website only worked during day. Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done., He was such a terrible human being. In a 2017 email to employees which the company later released in response to one of the lawsuits, Elon warned against being a huge jerk to members of a historically less represented group. He also wrote, if someone is a jerk to you, but sincerely apologizes, it is important to be thick-skinned and accept that apology.. Musk's revelation about his father's financial situation in the '90s comes after a Berkeley professor and former Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, claimed on Twitter that 'self-made billionaires' are a myth and Musk came from a family that owned an emerald mine in Apartheid South Africa. by Marilynn Manuel 13-02-2023 13:43 For 14 free days, you can have access to a world of in-depth analyses, investigative journalism, top opinions and a range of features. Errol himself has an adventurous streak and is an avid sailor and pilot. Copyright 2023 PopCulture.com. He also added, "'Self-made billionaires' are a myth." Born in 1971, Musk grew up in Pretoria, South Africa. In South Africa, my father had a private plane we'd fly in incredibly dangerous weather and barely make it back. It would have been great if someone was paying for my college, but my dad had neither the ability nor the inclination to do so. Elon called the story "actually accurate." "We went to this guy's prefab [home] and he opened his safe," Errol said. There was a shooting in the living room, and I guess his father shot them dead. So I thought, I can be company. Yeah, I was sad for my father. In 2018, Musk also told Business Insider that his father Errol purchased a 50 per cent share in the mine after selling a plane. So we had this planeload of contraband and an overdue passport from another person. At some point after the shooting, the relationship between dad Errol and son Elon soured. The narrative of Elon Musks wealth coming from his familys apartheid gains is one that started a few years ago when Business Insider wrote an article highlighting the Musk familys involvement in mining during SAs apartheid years. He was such a terrible human being, Musk told the magazine. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and his mother, Maye Musk. The article's headline was changed in late July or early August 2020, which appeared to be after Errol made his Facebook poston July 27, which called the dated article's claims into question. According to the story, "When [Elon] was elevenabout the time that he sold his first piece of software, a video game called Blastar Musk told his mother that he was going to move back to Pretoria to live with his father, Errol, an electrical engineer who would later own an auto-parts store and a share in an emerald mine.". Musk readily jumps onto Twitter to refute the charges that his empire was forged with the aid of family wealth, and part of the reason he wanted to talk to merather comically given the rocket launch and, well, trollswas because the jabs bug him, and he hopes to set the record straight. A common story about Musk on social media is that his father owned part of an emerald mine, providing a bedrock of wealth that buoyed Elon up to his current level of success. But I didnt really understand at the time what kind of person he was. Although Tesla stands out as a groundbreaking company at the forefront of the electric car revolution, its standard operating procedure at the Tesla factory is pre-civil-rights-era race discrimination, Vaughn wrote in his complaint, according to a Daily Beast report. "Errol also quoted a lower number to me over the phone," Arnold wrote. ---. "And we got emeralds for the next six years.". Move over, Elon theres another Musk hitting the headlines. Musk had earlier slammed Reich for misrepresenting his background in the post, which argued that "self-made billionaires are a myth" and named the SpaceX founder and other prominent business. By Michael Hein He confirmed the birth of their daughter to The Sun in 2022. He said that they stopped in Djibouti to avoid pricey airport fees, and there happened to meet some Italian merchants who offered to buy the plane from him then and there. [2] In 1969, he became a 50% owner of an emerald mine on Lake Tanganyika,[2][5] that he bought for 40,000, funded by selling an airplane for 80,000 (the equivalent of 320,000 today). On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Earlier in this story, we referenced a July 3, 2020, tweet from Elon that mentioned Vance's interview. "Elon Musk Hits out at US Professor over Emerald Mine Claims: 'Idiot and Liar.'" I'm going to wait until he comes to his senses. ". He told The New York Times that as a member of the Progressive Party, he opposed apartheid. He is the father of business magnate and billionaire Elon Musk, restaurateur Kimbal Musk, and filmmaker Tosca Musk. However, both Elon and . Invest in the future today. A Twitter user claimed in December 2019 that Elon Musk's privileged upbringing included his father, Errol Musk, who owned an emerald mine [and] who could bankroll his education. However, the Tesla CEO begged to differ. In April 2014, Dana Hull and Patrick May penned an article for San Jose's The Mercury News with the headline, "The otherworldly ambitions of Elon Musk." But the emerald mine story keeps coming back. Kaizer Chiefs to sign more Swallows players. All About Errol Musk." Image via Instagram @mayemusk. "One thing led to another you can call it God's plan or nature's plan. Instead Errol returned to South Africa with a half-share in a Zambian emerald mine, which would help to fund his family's lavish lifestyle of yachts, skiing holidays, and expensive computers. For the state of Texas, The Onion printed, "Elon Musk: Apartheid.". Harris Goe Canadian teacher with size-Z prosthetic breasts placed on paid leave, What's next for Buster Murdaugh after dad's murder conviction, life sentence, Murdaugh son collapsed outside court after sitting stone-faced through dad's 6-week murder trial: source, Murderer Alex Murdaugh shaves head for latest mugshot after learning his fate, Kelly Osbourne posts first photo of baby son as he hangs out with uncle Jack, Greys Anatomy alum Isaiah Washington retiring from acting: The haters have won, Madonna watches new boyfriend Joshua Poppers fight in New York City, Kellyanne Conway and George Conway to divorce. ", He grew up in South Africa and had the good fortune of doing so in an upper-middle-class home. In an interview with Rolling Stone, during which he reportedly cried, Elon called his father "a terrible human being" and "evil. He was bullied at school. By email, Clash told us he had no idea why it was no longer hosted by Forbes. For example, on Dec. 28, 2019, hetweetedthat his father "didn't own an emerald mine" and that he (Elon) had worked his way through college, ending up with around $100,000 in student debt. It spoke of the divorce of Elon's parents, Errol and Maye Musk, and also contained a quick mention of an emerald mine. I was 15 and really wanted to go with him but didn't realize how dangerous it was. SASSA: Here are your March 2023 grant payment dates. For a while, I thought things were so obvious that everyone must know this., However, Elon has disputed claims that he grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth. On Wednesday, Errol confirmed that he and Jana had welcomed a second child, a daughter who is now 3. Moneycontrol.com, 21 Sept. 2022, https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/elon-musk-hits-out-at-us-professor-over-emerald-mine-claims-idiot-and-liar-9208281.html. 1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. [13] After engaging in extra-marital affairs,[4] Errol and Maye divorced in 1979, and both sons moved in with their father. "Zip2." In a 2017 Rolling Stone cover story, the Tesla CEO described his childhood and revealed that he moved in with his father at eight years old after his parents split. [4], Musk met Maye Haldeman when he was 11 years old and they were childhood friends before marrying in 1970. https://web.archive.org/. There were AK-47s all over the place and I'm thinking, "Man, this could really go bad.". Errol and his stepdaughter, Jana Bezuidenhout, share two children. So I became a half owner of the mine, and we got emeralds for the next six years., When the Tesla CEO was around 16 years old, he and his brother Kimbal sold two emeralds to Tiffany & Co. on Fifth Avenue in New York City while Errol snoozed, according to what Musk's father told Business Insider South Africa. This is not true," Elon told Rolling Stone in 2017. ", For his part, Errol told the Daily Mail that Elon "needs to grow up" and "get over himself," adding, "I'm not going to hit back. Errol Musk, the family's patriarch, is in the news after confirming he fathered a second secret love child with his stepdaughter, Jana Bezuidenhout, 35. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. Heres his story. He will plan evil. Where is this bs coming from? Elon Musk (~16 years old) & Kimbal Musk sold gems from the Zambian emerald mine to world-famous "Tiffany & Co." on Fifth Avenue in New York - one of the world's most famous jewelers. Errol told Business Insider South Africa that he once owned half of an emerald mine in Zambia, which he claimed to have purchased on a whim. The 76-year-old hasnt ruled out having more children, saying: The only thing we are on Earth for is to reproduce.. There, the two South Africans ran into a group of Italians who, as it happened, were in the market for an airplane. Errol Musk (born 1946) is a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, sailor, consultant, and property developer who was once a co-owner of a Zambian emerald mine near Lake Tanganyika . The user tweeted: If this is half of an article is a small glimpse into the apartheid mines his [family-owned] haha even [T]he Onion tells more truthful stories than CNN and Fox. In the interview, Musk's father explained that he bought his share of the emerald mine after selling a plane to a group of Italians. The gist of the claim was that Elon's father, Errol Musk, who reports say has been estranged from his son for some time, owned an emerald mine during apartheid in South Africa, and that it was . I tried threats, rewards, intellectual arguments, emotional arguments, everything to try to change my father for the better, and he no way, it just got worse. ---. Elon Musk's father, Errol Musk, remains a mysterious figure, and there is still no common consensus how his work or his wealth during Elon's childhood. EM: Company death not succeeding with the company causes me a lot more stress than physical danger. luis carruthers @orthereaboot tweeted, When the same pattern of racist behavior happens at all $tsla locations, its the company thats racist, and the fish rots from @elonmusks head.. Worked on my Moms cousins farm in Saskatchewan & a lumber mill in Vancouver. Note: The reference to Zip2 concerned Elon's "first enterprise" in 1995. The emerald mine was not mentioned in that interview. Musk, Errol. Other companies started by Musk include Neuralink, which is working on developing implantable brainmachine interfaces. [15][16] At the time of their marriage, Jana Bezuidenhout was only four years old and lived together with them. "We were very wealthy. Arnold's story included answers from Errol about the mine, who said he had "very limited involvement" in it. There is a more nuanced conversation to be had about how Elon Musk specifically and South Africas white population in general benefitted from apartheid. I wish. ", She added, "He was very rich, but he made sure I had nothing. ", In 2018, he explained that he was helping Jana get over a breakup at the time of Rushi's conception, but he initially assumed the baby's father was Jana's ex. This is why people are switching to @TheBabylonBee! Musk wrote. "My brother and I paid for college through scholarships, loans and working two jobs simultaneously. Or they'd take the plane to Lake Tanganyika [in Zambia], where Errol had a stake in an emerald mine. The way Errol tells it, that all started with an inconvenient religious holiday. We had so much money at times we couldn't even close our safe," Errol said, explaining that one person would hold the money down while a second would slam the safe door shut. The Associated Press, 20 July 2021, https://apnews.com/article/business-science-3546262d41f4c84763aa15339f642a5a. [2] His grandmother was the first chiropractor in Canada. He can't have what he wants and now I am apparently an evil monster.". SpaceX, his rocket company, is valued at $20 billion-plus. On Aug. 17, 2009, The New Yorker printed one of the earliest known searchable records of an emerald mine being tied to the Musk name. "Bezos' Comments on Workers after Spaceflight Draws Rebuke." The gist of the claim was that Elon's father, Errol Musk, who reports say has been estranged from his son for some time, owned an emerald mine during apartheid in South Africa, and that it. He said, They just walked into Tiffanys and said, Do you want to buy some emeralds? And they sold two emeralds: one was for $800, and I think the other one was for $1,200. Here's what to know about Elon Musk's estranged father, Errol Musk. Below, we have laid out all of the data that we found, including examples of the rumor, as well as stories from newspaper archives and blogs. Im not sure if replying to a satire site and amplifying their articles reach is necessarily the best idea, but Musk felt that this was a hill worth dying on. The most direct address was a tweet that said his father "didn't own an emerald mind [and] I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt.". We had so much money at times we couldnt even close our safe, he explained, adding that they would need one person to hold the money in place and another to close the safe door. Errol and Jana welcomed a son, Elliot "Rushi" Rush, in 2017 and a daughter in 2019. Almost every crime you can possibly think of, he has done," Elon said. An avid pilot and sailor, as well as an electrical and mechanical engineer, he made his money consulting and developing properties and retired early. But little else is known about Errol outside of his native South Africa, where he has made a name for himself as a high-powered engineer, property developer and political advocate who vehemently opposed apartheid. The constant resurfacing of the story is probably what spurred Musk into replying on Twitter. Musk left his father behind at the age of 17 to pursue his dreams in North America and escape conscription into the South African military. The rumor of the "apartheid emerald mine" received a spike in shares around the time that Elon Musk completed his takeover of Twitter in late 2022. Arnold paraphrased his answers, publishing that he said "it was a handshake deal with a Panamanian man that resulted in something like 110 emeralds up front and then a semi-regular trickle of rough stones over a few years following," and that "there was never formal ownership.". I felt sorry for my father, because my mother had all three kids. Inside the fabulous Dior couture world of 'Mrs. Vance, Ashlee. While he has given a few rare interviews, much of the publicly known information about him has come from his estranged son Elon or his ex-wife Maye Musk, neither of whom have had complimentary things to say about the engineer and onetime emerald mine owner. [14], Musk was married to Heide Bezuidenhout for eighteen years and helped her raise her young daughter Jana Bezuidenhout, a child from a previous relationship. In an interview with Express, Cattrell recalled: One night, they were sitting in the living room and his dad said Everybody down! My Dad provided 10% of a ~$200k angel funding round much later, but by then risk was reduced & round would've happened anyway.". It was a lucrative decision. Clash, Jim. However, that as well as Errol's claim of owning half of an emerald mine is in stark contrast to what Elon has said about his father's wealth. As Arnold noted, the headline for this story was later corrected more than two years after it was published, sometime around late July or early August 2020,according to page captures from the Internet Archive. Musk may not be a great guy, but I fail to see any apartheid link to his fathers emerald mine., @grard97 tweeted, Remind: Elon Musk owns an electric and autonomous car companyA private space landing rockets companyAn AI companyA Neuroscience companyA Solar Panel and energy storage companyThe WHOLE bank on the internet was started by him (yes, your credit card as well), @C49015142 tweeted, I thought I read in Malcolm Gladwells book David and Goliath that his company received $500 million from the US government, so we are all subsidizing him. [18][19] Musk described the first child as unplanned. Several respondents on social media disputed the emerald mine and privileged-lifestyle story, defending Musks intelligence and questioning the intelligence of the person who started the thread. His net worth is. "One thing he claims is he gave us a whole bunch of money to start, my brother and I, to start up our first company. Elon tweeted that he had $100,000 debt after college. He was married to Maye Musk and also to Heide Musk, with whom he has two children, Alexandra and Rose. Our offices are for administrative purposes only, no visitors will be accepted without an appointment. Bloomberg.com, 22 May 2020, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-05-22/elon-musk-speaks-frankly-on-coronavirus-spacex-and-rage-tweets. They also emphasize anecdotes from Elon and his mother about the hard work and squalor they endured in Canada in those years. [11][5] Maye has stated that Errol beat her. In an interview with Business Insider South Africa, Errol admitted that, at one point, he literally made more money than he could physically handle. The story also included the same information from Elon's tweets where he said again that he had "ended up with $100,000 of student debt. Quora, 9 Mar. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Instead, Musk has sought to dispel the general belief that he comes from wealth. Errol Musk says teenage Elon Musk once casually walked around with emeralds in his pocket. I can't see any reason not to. ", Though he claimed Elon and Kimbal were upset with him for fathering a child with a woman they felt was "their sister," Errol told The Sun, "The only thing we are on Earth for is to reproduce.

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