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Elon Musk Had the Pettiest Response to Elizabeth Warren's Epic 'Man of the Year' Burn

Elon Musk Had the Pettiest Response to Elizabeth Warren's Epic 'Man of the Year' Burn
Win McNamee/Getty Images // AMANDA SABGA/AFP via Getty Images

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, the richest man on earth, was recently named TIME Magazine's Person of the Year for 2021.

The Person of the Year distinction isn't an award for "best" person of the year, but rather for the person who influenced a year the most. Still, thousands of social media users still took issue with Musk being granted the title, and with the accompanying profile that described him as "a man who aspires to save our planet and get us a new one to inhabit," and one who "dreams of Mars as he bestrides Earth, square-jawed and indomitable."

With a net worth of nearly $300 billion, Musk's wealth is greater than the entire gross domestic product of multiple countries. As such, he's most recently made headlines for his opposition to expanded taxes on the super wealthy.

Earlier this week, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts responded to the Person of the Year news by calling on a tax code that would make Musk pay his fair share.

Musk, ever the edgelord, responded with a Twitter tirade.




Musk responded by saying he would pay more taxes than any American in history this year (again, due to his voluntary selling of Tesla shares, not due to a tax code that compels the super wealthy to pay their fair share), before calling Warren "Senator Karen."

All the more rich (so to speak), is that Musk has relied on billions of dollars in government contracts and subsidies to fund his empire. This is despite paying zero dollars in income tax as recently as 2018.

People were annoyed at Musk's retorts.






Social media users hoped TIME's editorial board was still proud of their decision.



Last month, Musk issued a similarly juvenile response to another Democratic Senator—Bernie Sanders of Vermont—for having the gall to suggest the richest man on earth pay more in taxes.