VIDEO: Is Elon Musk Smoking Weed on Joe Rogan’s Podcast a BIG DEAL?

URL copied to clipboard.

Elon Musk smoked marijuana on the Joe Rogan podcast and it quickly became one of the biggest memes of the year.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk was on The Joe Rogan Experience on Thursday night, and in the 2 ½ hour discussion, they touched on a range of issues, which all seemed to come back to why Elon Musk is such a doggone genius. He has been described as having a “never-ending explosion” of ideas. Like flamethrowers and rocketships and superfast cars. Lots of people have never-ending explosions of ideas like that. They’re called 8 year old boys.

He also said he’s close to developing a “neuralink” product that will connect your brain to your computer. So…that’s happening now. But the moment that really set the Internet abuzz is when Joe Rogan offered Musk a blunt to smoke during the livestream.

On the surface, there’s really nothing much exciting here. He’s a super rich guy, on a podcast where other people are smoking pot, in a state where it’s legal to do so. But something about the way he stares at the blunt, then smokes it and then shrugs it off for not affecting him immediately…really struck a chord online.

Interpreting Musk’s post-toke thought process, writer Dave Itzkoff tweeted: “so the dogs of Paw Patrol, they can talk and drive cars and fly planes … but the cats … they’re just, like, cats …”, and TV writer Jess Dweck wrote: “Elon Musk is such an innovator he created a way to look lame smoking a blunt.”

Podcast Host Rob Rousseau tweeted: “Ok Elon, here’s our big moment. act like you’ve been here before. just a regular guy smoking weed with a friend. here we go”, and Musk himself seems to have enjoyed the experience, tweeting “Good times with Joe Rogan…I am a business magnet.”

But, not everyone thinks it’s all fun and games. Primarily Tesla stockholders and financial analysts. The stock dropped 9 percent the morning after the interview, and this is all coming within a tough stretch for the automaker. A month ago Musk hinted he wanted to take the company private again, then later took it back.

ADVERTISEMENT

Also in August, Musk gave an interview to the New York Times where he became overcome with emotion while detailing the stress and sleepless nights of running multiple companies. We haven’t even gotten to the part where he accused the diver who rescued the children stuck in the cave in Thailand of being a pedophile.

All this has led some people to believe that Musk is struggling from a mental and emotional standpoint.

Dr. Eugene Gu wrote: “Elon Musk is not a government official contributing to the destruction of American democracy. He’s going through a tough time and making fun of him to the point that his name trends on Twitter only makes things worse for a struggling human being.” And Samantha Ruddy tweeted: “I feel bad for Elon Musk because he’s gonna be the first person to smoke weed, get paranoid, and say “is everybody talking about me??” and the answer is actually yes.”

Finally, a few commenters pointed out how easy it is for a couple of white people like Rogan and Musk to light up on camera, while many poor people of color don’t have that luxury.

CNN political commentator Keith Boykin tweeted: “Black kids are still being arrested for smoking weed in many of America’s cities, but Elon Musk and Joe Rogan are sitting here smoking blunts on camera in California. Marijuana should be legal in all 50 states.”

When you get right down to it, smoking weed late at night is NOT a big deal, and a vast majority of Americans agree on that. Is it fair to criticize Elon Musk for some of his unorthodox behavior over the last months? Sure. But smoking weed on a podcast with Joe Rogan shouldn’t be the thing that sends Tesla executives scrambling for the exits.

ADVERTISEMENT

The memes are funny, though.

What do you guys think? Should Elon Musk have thought twice before toking up with Joe Rogan? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter at @WhatsTrending.

More headlines