Elon Musk Rages Against Documentary and Mother of His Child as ‘Musk’ Premieres at Venice

Elon Musk launched a furious public offensive against Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney and the people featured in his new documentary, Musk, after the nearly four-hour film premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Rather than limiting his criticism to the movie itself, the billionaire unleashed at least a dozen posts and replies on X attacking Gibney personally and questioning the motives of those who agreed to participate. «Gibney just assembled a hit list of people who either have an axe to grind or don't even know me (but still have an axe to grind),» Musk wrote. He separately accused the filmmaker of deliberately creating a «hit piece» and said Gibney «lacks any integrity whatsoever.» Musk also called him a «bitter old man who lost the plot long ago» and a «horrible human,» before declaring in another particularly vicious response, «Dogsh-t is worth more respect than Gibney.» The barrage followed years of hostility toward the project, which Musk had already dismissed as a «hit piece» while it was still being developed.

Musk's attacks came despite his decision not to sit down with Gibney for the documentary, denying the filmmaker the direct interview he had initially hoped would become part of the project. Gibney said he began working on Musk in 2023 as something of an admirer of the billionaire, but his perspective changed as he investigated Musk's businesses, political influence and personal history. «Ultimately he didn't want to talk to me,» Gibney explained. Instead of simply leaving Musk absent from his own story, the filmmakers adopted an unusual device: a computer-generated version of Musk appears on screen and addresses viewers using statements the real Musk has actually made publicly, rather than words invented by the filmmakers. The technique plays with Musk's own fascination with simulations while allowing his public statements to become part of the narrative without pretending he participated in a new interview. Gibney said the approach was designed to contrast the «reality of what he's done and unreality of his narrative.»

Among the documentary's most controversial material are private messages attributed to Musk that Ashley St. Clair says he sent her in the weeks before Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 presidential election. NPR reported that it independently obtained and authenticated the October 6, 2024 text exchange. As Musk expressed growing confidence about the election, he allegedly told St. Clair, «tomorrow we unleash the anomaly in the matrix.» When she pressed him about what that meant, the conversation turned to «‘Lasers' from space,» with Musk allegedly adding, «I have over 10 thousand lasers in space right now.» In Musk, St. Clair questions what he meant and whether the reference involved Starlink, while the film places the exchange against Musk's unusually prominent role in Trump's campaign. The messages themselves, however, are not evidence that Musk or Starlink manipulated votes. Musk's attorney Alex Spiro has strongly rejected any such implication, maintaining that Starlink was not connected to vote tabulation and arguing that the «lasers in space» reference concerned laser links used for communication between Starlink satellites.

Musk's objections to the election sequence have gone beyond angry posts on X, with his attorney Alex Spiro threatening legal action over what Musk's team says is a defamatory implication that the billionaire somehow used Starlink to interfere with the 2024 election. Spiro has argued that a documentary does not need to make an accusation explicitly for viewers to be left with a false impression, and he demanded that materials connected to the production be preserved. Jigsaw Productions, Gibney's company, has stood behind the film, describing it as a fact-based examination protected by the First Amendment. The confrontation creates an especially notable tension given Musk's repeated description of himself as a «free speech absolutist.» Gibney has defended his right to critically examine one of the world's most powerful businessmen, while Musk insists the filmmaker deliberately set out to produce a dishonest account of him.

The dispute became considerably more personal when Musk turned his attention to Ashley St. Clair, who appears prominently in the documentary and said she rejected an agreement worth $40 million that would have required her silence. «I was offered the opportunity not to speak for $40 million,» St. Clair told reporters in Venice, explaining that the proposal forced her to consider how much being able to speak freely was worth. Musk flatly rejected her account on X, responding, «She was never offered that and has a history of making false claims.» His sweeping attack comes as some previous claims involving their relationship have been accompanied by reported communications and legal filings, while NPR separately reported authenticating the pre-election text exchange featured in the documentary. St. Clair has also alleged that Musk once told her they needed «a legion of children before the civil war,» while accusing him of using X to foster dangerous social divisions. She has now responded to the prospect of legal action against Gibney with another jab, saying, «They are more likely to colonize Mars than win a defamation case against Alex Gibney.» Musk denies her $40 million claim, and the existence of authenticated communications on other matters does not independently establish that this particular allegation is true.

For all the fury surrounding it, audiences outside the festival circuit have largely yet to make up their own minds about Musk. Gibney's documentary received its world premiere at the 83rd Venice Film Festival, where it was presented in the Venice Open section outside the main competition. The unusually lengthy film runs 225 minutes — three hours and 45 minutes — with Venice scheduling an additional 10-minute intermission. Along with St. Clair, the documentary features interviews with Musk's former wife Justine Musk, Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard, journalist Kara Swisher, Wired reporter Zoë Schiffer and AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton, among others. Musk, who declined to participate directly, has nevertheless already mocked the movie for committing what he called «the fatal sin of being boring for 4 hours.» The broader public will soon get a chance to judge that assessment: Bleecker Street is scheduled to begin releasing Musk in U.S. theaters on October 16, 2026. No confirmed streaming premiere has yet been announced.

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