Elon Musk lashes out at WSJ report alleging illegal drug use
Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of Twitter, Elon Musk attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre on June 16, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Chesnot/
SAN FRANCISCO - Elon Musk clapped back at the Wall Street Journal after its report alleging the Tesla and SpaceX CEO had used illegal drugs, triggering concern from some of the leadership of his companies.
On X on Sunday, Musk blasted the Wall Street Journal and said that random drug tests have proven otherwise.
"After that one puff with Rogan, I agreed, at NASA’s request, to do 3 years of random drug testing," Musk wrote, referring to the time he made headlines in 2018, after smoking marijuana on controversial commentator Joe Rogan’s podcast.
Musk went on to say, "Not even trace quantities were found of any drugs or alcohol."
Musk then criticized the Wall Street Journal’s reporting, saying, "@WSJ is not fit to line a parrot cage for bird [poop emoji]."
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In a later post, he followed up by saying that TMZ, the tabloid news outlet owned by Fox Corp., "has vastly higher standards than the WSJ (actually)."
The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that Musk has used illegal drugs, including cocaine, ecstasy, psychedelic mushrooms and ketamine, and that "some executives and board members fear the billionaire’s use of drugs… could harm his companies."
In a previous report back in June, the publication said Musk was among Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who were using drugs like magic mushrooms and ketamine to expand their productivity and their minds to lead to business breakthroughs.
On Sunday, Musk touched on that idea, tweeting, "If drugs actually helped improve my net productivity over time, I would definitely take them!"
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His comment came as a response to a post directed at the billionaire that joked, "I'll have whatever you're having! Who's your dealer? Lol."
The Tesla and SpaceX founder sat at the top of the list of the world’s wealthiest, with a net worth of almost $250 billion on Monday, according to Forbes.