“Talked to [Kanye “Ye” West] today,” Elon Musk, 51, tweeted on Oct. 10, days after Ye, 45, got locked out of Twitter for making antisemitic comments on the app. Elon, who is poised to own the social media platform, said he “expressed my concerns about [Ye’s] recent tweet,” referencing how Ye said he was going “death con 3” on the Jewish community. The SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO said that he spoke with his friend and that “I think he took [the concerns] to heart.”
Talked to ye today & expressed my concerns about his recent tweet, which I think he took to heart
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 11, 2022
Elon first greeted Ye’s return to the app with joy. “Welcome back to Twitter, my friend!” Elon tweeted on Oct. 8 in response to Ye’s first tweet in a long, long time. West has spent most of the recent years on Instagram but was restricted on that social media platform for sharing a conversation between him and Sean “Diddy” Combs. “Let’s stop playing these internet games,” said Diddy, 52. “And don’t feel threatened. You’ll be fine. Just Love.” Ye responded that “this ain’t a game” and that he was going to “use you as an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me. I told you this was war. Now gone get you some business.”
Musk’s jubilation at West’s return to Twitter was actually in response to a photo Ye posted of him alongside Mark Zuckerberg and others. “Look at this Mark,” wrote Ye. “How you gone kick me off Instagram? You used to be my n—-.”
Kanye and Elon have been friends since at least 2011, according to Insider. Ye swung by SpaceX, and Musk tweeted a photo of them standing in front of what appears to be a SpaceX capsule. Nine years later, when a Twitter account reposted the photo, Elon tweeted that he had one “hell of a decade.”
Kanye stopped by the SpaceX rocket factory today. pic.twitter.com/6z7gHBn6
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 24, 2011
Four years after that meeting at SpaceX, Elon praised Kanye for the Time 100. “Kanye West would be the first person to tell you he belongs on this list,” wrote Musk. “The dude doesn’t believe in false modesty, and he shouldn’t. Kanye’s belief in himself and his incredible tenacity—he performed his first single with his jaw wired shut—got him to where he is today. And he fought for his place in the cultural pantheon with a purpose. … [H]e wants everybody else to do the same: to engage, question, push boundaries. Now that he’s a pop-culture juggernaut, he has the platform to achieve just that. He’s not afraid of being judged or ridiculed in the process.”