You know Elon Musk? That multi-billionaire entrepreneur and business magnate who’s the guy behind Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, OpenAI, and the Boring Company (I googled it already, it’s about digging)?
He’s in the news today. But not because there’s an updated version of the Cybertruck whose windows won’t shatter during the unveiling, and not because there’s another Falcon being launched into the vast cosmological depths of space, and no, not because the Tesla can finally play the Elder Scrolls: Skyrim on its dashboard computer. Though all of these are awesome, there’s more important news here.
Elon Musk has challenged Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation, to a one-on-one duel. And what will they fight for? Ukraine.
More Info: Twitter | Support Ukraine
Elon Musk's support for Ukraine has come in many forms, whether material or symbolic, but many were surprised it can also be in the form of a duel
Image credits: Wired Photostream
So, while Elon Musk has a very active presence on Twitter, posting everything from SpaceX and Tesla news to personal thoughts and opinions, with the latest regarding support for Ukraine, to nearly 80 million folks, a lot of people were surprised by this one tweet.
Said tweet reads: “I hereby challenge [Vladimir Putin] to single combat. Stakes are [Ukraine]”. Pretty straightforward, no valiantly romantic speeches or anything. Just straight up “have at ye!”
A follow-up tweet also popped up soon after, this time tagging the President of Russia’s Twitter, asking “Do you accept the fight?” in Russian. And while this is surely a unique gesture of solidarity with Ukraine, the country that is under heavy fire by the Russian Federation’s Armed Forces, according to Elon he is very serious about it.
Yep, Elon Musk challenged Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, to a one-on-one fight for Ukraine
Image credits: elonmusk
"Do you accept this fight?"
Image credits: elonmusk
Image credits: elonmusk
Image credits: elonmusk
In context, Elon has been quite vocal about his stance on the war in Ukraine. Besides tweeting about it and mocking everyone supporting the aggressor in this war, Musk has also sent StarLink terminals to Ukraine to help the internet infrastructure in the country stay online.
But back to the duel. He continued taunting the Russian Government with tweets like this and this until several hours later, Dmitry Rogozin, Former Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, tweeted back at him as follows:
“You, little devil, are still young / compete with me, weakling; / It would only be a waste of time. / Overtake my brother first. / From A. S. Pushkin’s ‘The Tale of the Priest and of His Workman Balda’”
Believe it or not, he got a response from a former Russian Government official, quoting Pushkin and calling Elon a "weakling"
Image credits: Rogozin
Didn't take long for Elon to respond to Rogozin either
Image credits: elonmusk
Image credits: elonmusk
While this isn’t the President of Russia himself, it’s progress. In response, Elon pointed out that Rogozin is a tough negotiator, offering him 10% more pay-per-view money from this, and telling him to choose a fighter in meme form. Heck, he even allowed the president to bring his own bear.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. Twitter is banned in Russia, so how the heck is Rogozin tweeting? Some have pointed that out, claiming that it is a violation whichever way you look at it. And, in fact, none of the government Twitter accounts should technically be active at this point, yet they are still up and very much tweeting.
And according to Musk, he is dead serious about this
Image credits: elonmusk
"Will you be surprised when he accepts your challenge?" / "It would be an honor"
Image credits: elonmusk
People had varying opinions about it, with most debating who'd win, but others not liking Musk's stunts
Image credits: YourAnonNews
Image credits: Otto_English
But again, back to the duel. There is no official acceptance from the President of Russia himself, but this didn’t stop people from responding to the tweets. And for the most part it was everyone trying to figure out who’d win.
Not everyone was happy about this display of heroism, however, as some are of the opinion that Elon Musk isn’t some savior that needs to be considered a hero for this, let alone one who is putting a whole country at stake—a country that he’s not a part of. But these are also people who are missing the point of the tweet.
Image credits: slpng_giants
Image credits: jscros
Image credits: Femi_Sorry
Image credits: owillis
Image credits: clairegcoleman
So, every aspect was considered: Elon is taller and quite likely of a heavier weight class, but Putin is supposedly a martial arts man with a black belt (which got revoked but the skills are there). But also, considering that Elon has a flamethrower in that one meme and Putin has a bear, it’s really a tough question.
Very appropriately, since Elon is good with space rockets, someone shared a donation site collecting funds “to help us build a rocket that will send a bloody dictator far far away.” But all jokes aside, it’s a website by the Diia, a web portal and a brand of e-governance in Ukraine backed up by the Ministry Of Digital Transformation Of Ukraine to help fund the Ukrainian Armed Forces and help rebuild its infrastructure.
Whatever the case, Elon's original tweet got a lot of attention, gaining over 317k likes in a day and spawning memes
Image credits: srkninci
Image credits: SollenbergerRC
Image credits: HARSH73263243
Image credits: HARSH73263243
Image credits: spideycyp_155
Image credits: MILKOxMEDA
Image credits: Kristennetten
Image credits: SquidDiddly1989
Image credits: JoePompliano
Whatever the case, the tweets went viral, not only on Twitter, where the original post currently sits at 317,500 likes and nearly 50,000 retweets, but also on various news websites. Check out the tweet in context here. And you can support Ukraine here.
But before you go, let us know your thoughts on who would win in a duel—Elon Musk or Vladimir Putin—in the comment section below!