Market Realist is a registered trademark. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Shame on you, Onion. At some point after the shooting, the relationship between dad Errol and son Elon soured. Address: Regus Business Centre 1st Floor, Block B, North Park, Black River Park, 2 Fir Street, Observatory, Cape Town, 7925, South Africa Postal: Blue Sky Publications (Pty) Ltd T/A TheSouthAfrican, PO Box 44354, Claremont, 7735, South Africa, United Kingdom Blue Sky Publications Ltd Company Registration Number: 04683692. Elon Musk does not care about Black people.Example after example after example. "He didn't own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt," Elon tweeted in December 2019. In his interview with Business Insider South Africa, Errol said that he was to blame for his divorce from model Maye Musk, with whom he shares Elon, Kimbal and Tosca. We sought evidence in the case that they still had any documentation from past decades about the mine, the around $100,000 in student debt that Elon has repeatedly said he had accumulated during college, or anything else related to Elon's early finances that they have mentioned in past interviews. Elon, 51, was brought to tears discussing his dad in a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, describing him as evil and a terrible human being.. We were very wealthy. We also reached out to media relations personnel at SpaceX, where he is the founder and CEO, as well as Tesla and Twitter. He seemed very sad and lonely by himself. [23], In 1998, Musk shot and killed three out of six or seven burglars who forced their way into his Johannesburg home and who opened fire upon detection.[24]. The headline of the story read, "Elon Musk Tells Me His Secret Of Success (Hint: It Ain't About The Money).". All Rights Reserved. Address: Riverbank House, 1 Putney Bridge Approach, London, SW6 4TJ. So I became a half owner of the mine, and we got emeralds for the next six years.". I felt sorry for my father, because my mother had all three kids. We also reached out to both men for additional comment and to ask if they could potentially provide any evidence that would support their statements, even though they didn't start the rumor. You have no idea. After the end of the article, a note was added that read, "BI SA reached out to Elon for confirmation of the tale, but he did not respond. He will plan evil, Elon tearfully told Rolling Stone in 2017. "Elon Musk's family owns an emerald mine" was corrected to "Elon Musk's family once owned an emerald mine." Born in 1971, Musk grew up in Pretoria, South Africa. "I Talked to Elon Musk about Journalism and the Blood Emeralds Story." His parents divorced. In an interview with Express, Cattrell recalled: One night, they were sitting in the living room and his dad said Everybody down! He began his career as an electromechanical engineer. Although Musk said that his father was brilliant at engineering in the Rolling Stone interview, thats where the praise ended. "Like every abused woman, I was embarrassed, and I knew I had made a mistake, you know? Maye and Errol divorced in 1980 when Elon was about 9 years old. Bloomberg.com, 22 May 2020, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-05-22/elon-musk-speaks-frankly-on-coronavirus-spacex-and-rage-tweets. "The Richest Person In Every State And How They Made Their Money." He would throw out everything they arrived with, so I had to buy them all new clothes and school things. Bloomberg.com, 22 May 2020. www.bloomberg.com, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-05-22/elon-musk-speaks-frankly-on-coronavirus-spacex-and-rage-tweets. Britannica.com, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Zip2. And thats when Musk's father was offered half an emerald mine in return for half of his earnings. "Is It True That Elon Musk's Family Got Their Wealth from Apartheid Emerald Mining?" In a February 2018 interview with Business Insider South Africa, Musk's father said he did own half share in an emerald mine in Zambia. Errol also shared how his sons got involved in the family business and recalled a time when Elon and his brother Kimbal sold a few of the emeralds from his mine to Tiffany & Co. in New York City. Elon may have been 6 or 7 years old at the time and begged his dad to get him a ticket to a very early computer conference in South Africa. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. This is not true," Elon told Rolling Stone in 2017. CEO Elon Musk said his father Errol ran out of money in the '90s and was provided financial support by the entrepreneur and his brother. Business Insider South Africa, 22 Feb. 2018, https://www.businessinsider.co.za/elon-musk-sells-the-family-emeralds-in-new-york-2018-2. The 76-year-old is most notable for being Elons estranged father, with the pair famously falling out several years ago. The Buffalo News via San Jose Mercury News via Newspapers.com, 20 Apr. "Elon Musk Is the Hero America Deserves." Note: Some of the tweets that promoted the rumor said that Elon did not found Tesla, which was true. "We went to . SpaceX, his rocket company, is valued at $20 billion-plus. Not all the tweets were supportive of Elon. Errol. Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com, Image Via PHILIP PACHECO/AFP via Getty Images. Errol Musk was born in 1946 in Pretoria to Walter Henry James Musk and Cora Amelia Robinson. 1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. Clash, Jim. And, on at least one occasion, his now famous son also took his hand at dealing in the gems, with peculiar results. "Elon Musk's Vision of an Electric-Car Future." ---. According to the Internet Archive, the article was still available months after it was published, onSept. 1, 2014, but was gone by Sept. 18. They also emphasize anecdotes from Elon and his mother about the hard work and squalor they endured in Canada in those years. - February 10, 2021 02:34 pm EST. You could tell by the way that he told the story. Im not sure if replying to a satire site and amplifying their articles reach is necessarily the best idea, but Musk felt that this was a hill worth dying on. For a while, I thought things were so obvious that everyone must know this.". Worked on my Moms cousins farm in Saskatchewan & a lumber mill in Vancouver. The wealth earned from the investment in the mine was quantified to be about $400,000 USD, taking into account inflation when Arnold's piece was written in 2021, according to Errol. In 2019, Elon Musk confronted the Twitter talking point about his father's supposed emerald mine head-on, writing, "He didn't own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt. Once the kids were living with me, they visited their father some weekends. "Bezos' Comments on Workers after Spaceflight Draws Rebuke." 2021, https://savingjournalism.substack.com/p/i-talked-to-elon-musk-about-journalism. I couldn't find my passport so I ended up grabbing my brother's which turned out to be six months overdue! Errol employed a cutter in Johannesburg and sold the stones wherever his travels as an engineer or family holidays took him. The article was republished in several other newspapers around the U.S. Musk had earlier slammed Reich for misrepresenting his background in the post, which argued that "self-made billionaires are a myth" and named the SpaceX founder and other prominent business. "We were very wealthy. More answers and details are available in Arnold's article. R/EnoughMuskSpam via Reddit.com, 5 Dec. 2019, www.reddit.com/r/EnoughMuskSpam/comments/e6j76f/his_family_stole_an_emerald_mine/. Theyd seen I was sleeping in one morning, and they said, Oh lets just try, lets go.. ", Five days later on Feb. 28, Business Insider SA published a second article with the headline, "Elon Musk's family owns an emerald mine in Zambia here's the fascinating story of how they came to own it.". But little else is known about Errol outside of his native South Africa, where he has made a name for himself as a high-powered engineer, property developer and political advocate who vehemently opposed apartheid. Elon tweeted that he had $100,000 debt after college. "She wasn't planned," Errol said of his youngest child. Below, we have laid out all of the data that we found, including examples of the rumor, as well as stories from newspaper archives and blogs. Errol Musk (born 1946) is a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, sailor, consultant, and property developer who was once a co-owner of a Zambian emerald mine near Lake Tanganyika . Errol and Jana welcomed a son, Elliot "Rushi" Rush, in 2017 and a daughter in 2019. Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future. Elon has himself admitted that his father has a very high IQ and is brilliant at engineering.. ", "You have no idea about how bad. South Africa Blue Sky Publications (Pty) Ltd T/A TheSouthAfrican Number: 2005/028472/07. Musk's revelation about his father's financial situation in the '90s comes after a Berkeley professor and former Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, claimed on Twitter that 'self-made billionaires' are a myth and Musk came from a family that owned an emerald mine in Apartheid South Africa. It was a lucrative decision. Soon after Elon left for Canada, his mother, Maye, moved there too, along with Elons brother, Kimbal, and sister, Tosca. Photo: Cyrus McCrimmon/The Denver Post/Getty Images; Anthony Harvey/Getty Images, Elon Musk and Amber Heard's Relationship Timeline, Elon Musk Claims He Had 'No Choice' But to Make Mass Layoffs at Twitter, Elon Musk Buys Twitter for $44B Following Legal Battle with Company, Fires Top Execs: Reports, Twitter Founder Jack Dorsey Apologizes Following Layoffs at the Company After Elon Musk's Takeover, Twitter to Lay Off Several Employees Over Email amid Elon Musk Takeover: Reports, Employees Suing Twitter In Response to Elon Musk's Plans for Mass Layoffs, Elon Musk Goes to Heidi Klum's Halloween Party as Stars Vow to Leave Twitter Over Controversy, When Will Donald Trump Return to Twitter? ", Musk tackled it on Twitter as the story circulated, but his denials do not explicitly contradict his father's tale of the bizarre airplane-emerald mine trade. After his divorce from Elons mother, Errol went on to wed HeideBezuidenhout, a young widow who already had two children, including 4-year-old Jana Bezuidenhout. He has also fathered two children, a son and a daughter, with his stepdaughter Jana Bezuidenhout. Elon called the story "actually accurate." Below we have provided a small sampling of the many different ways the rumor has been framed in past years. On Wednesday, Errol confirmed that he and Jana had welcomed a second child, a daughter who is now 3. [6][7] In a 2018 interview with Business Insider, Musk boasted that as a result of the emerald mine "we had so much money we couldn't even close our safe. You can cancel anytime and if you cancel within 14 days you won't be billed. [15][16] At the time of their marriage, Jana Bezuidenhout was only four years old and lived together with them. Its unclear how old Elon was at the time and whether he was even present is in dispute. Answer these 2 simple questions & WIN R1000 in cash! [Jana] stayed here for about 18 months after Rushi was born. Since at least 2018, a rumor has been shared online about Tesla CEO and Twitter owner Elon Musk in regard to his father's purported past ownership of an "apartheid emerald mine" or "slave emerald mine." Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done. Jordan Liles is a Snopes reporter with expertise in investigating misinformation, inauthentic social media activity, and scams. by Marilynn Manuel 13-02-2023 13:43 So we decided to head back to Lake Tanganyika from where we were, I think we were in Djibouti., Errol Musk (father of one Elon Musk) on raising one of the world's most famous billionaires: http://t.co/Fg8xmqN1L0 pic.twitter.com/LVJyMdebZK. Former Tesla employee Marcus Vaughn, who worked in the Fremont, California, factory in 2017, alleged that the companys production floor was a hotbed for racist behavior. Supervisors regularly used the N word around Black workers and he said he was fired after complaining to human resources about workplace harassment. Zip2's purpose was to provide "a searchable business directory that could be described as an internet version of the yellow pages telephone directory with maps included," according to Britannica.com. According to the story, "When [Elon] was elevenabout the time that he sold his first piece of software, a video game called Blastar Musk told his mother that he was going to move back to Pretoria to live with his father, Errol, an electrical engineer who would later own an auto-parts store and a share in an emerald mine.". Hull, Dana, and Patrick May. His net worth is. Elon Musk has a wild story!" he captioned it. He also sent a link to another interview he did with Elon in 2016. FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT ERROL MUSK 1. Musk left his father behind at the age of 17 to pursue his dreams in North America and escape conscription into the South African military. His brother Kimbal was with him when the two brothers sold two of the gems to Tiffany & Co. for $2,000, according to their father. "Errol also quoted a lower number to me over the phone," Arnold wrote. We contacted Elon publicly on Twitter. ", He grew up in South Africa and had the good fortune of doing so in an upper-middle-class home. As a child, Elon had a close relationship with his father and grew up prosperous in Pretoria. It was kind of weird for them to walk into Tiffanys. Elon Musk addressed the recent social storm when claims related his family's emerald mines in apartheid-South Africa resurfaced online. The Daily Mail has reported that Errol was a multimillionaire before the age of 30. ", According to the story, Errol said that Elon "once walked the streets of New York with emeralds in his pocket." He told The New York Times that as a member of the Progressive Party, he opposed apartheid. I wish. He also co-founded PayPal, which means a Twitter user said The WHOLE bank on the internet was started by him (yes, your credit card as well). It was authored by Jeremy Arnold with The Save Journalism Committee. We did not receive a response before this story was published. "One thing he claims is he gave us a whole bunch of money to start, my brother and I, to start up our first company. Errol and Elons feud has reportedly been exacerbated by the patriarchs eyebrow-raising relationships. The way Errol tells it, that all started with an inconvenient religious holiday. He was such a terrible human being, Musk told the magazine. Several respondents on social media disputed the emerald mine and privileged-lifestyle story, defending Musks intelligence and questioning the intelligence of the person who started the thread. Instead, we will concentrate on the two Business Insider South Africa articles mentioned by Arnold that appeared to provide the roots of the "apartheid emerald mine" rumor. In 2019, a Twitter user claimed that Musk's father Errol owned an emerald mine. "We were lonely, lost people," Errol said. He didnt own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt. "'We Had so Much Money We Couldn't Even Close Our Safe': Elon Musk's Dad Tells BI about the Family's Insanely Casual Attitude to Wealth." Ashlee Vance interviewed hundreds of people. Curiously, Errol has said nothing more about the controversial emerald mine story in the years since, even in recent interviews like his discussion with Forbes last year. "Tesla, Inc."Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tesla-Motors. Your membership is the foundation of our sustainability and resilience. Where is this B.S. Though Errol has made headlines in recent years after the births of his two youngest children, he seemingly avoids the spotlight. He had this sense that it was definitely not a safe place to be, and he had to get the hell out.. Musk responded about the time when the photo was clicked. He said that they stopped in Djibouti to avoid pricey airport fees, and there happened to meet some Italian merchants who offered to buy the plane from him then and there. Get down!'. "I said, 'Oh, all right'. Almost every crime you can possibly think of, he has done. In 2017, family members were left stunned when Jana became pregnant with Errols baby. Standing with the cash in his hand, Errol was made another offer he couldnt refuse: Would he like to buy half an emerald mine for half of his new riches? On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. On July 3, 2020, Elon tweeted about the subject again, responding to a since-deleted tweet with, "I don't have an 'emerald mine,' nor was I given free money from anyone, inheritance or otherwise. Musk, who is never shy of saying his say online, took to Twitter to show his disappointment with The Onion and took the opportunity to shout-out the publications competition, The Babylon Bee. Their plane got diverted, which led to a chance meeting with Italians who wanted to buy the plane in cash. Business Insider South Africa, 23 Feb. 2018, https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musks-dad-tells-bi-about-the-familys-casual-attitude-to-wealth-2018-2. Father and son have a complicated history. He was married to Maye Musk and also to Heide Musk, with whom he has two children, Alexandra and Rose. Errol and a co-pilot were flying a plane from. The user tweeted: If this is half of an article is a small glimpse into the apartheid mines his [family-owned] haha even [T]he Onion tells more truthful stories than CNN and Fox. He's the son of Maye Musk, a model and dietitian from Canada, and Errol Musk, a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, and sailor. Elon also denied that Errol invested in the company. Wanderlust ran on both sides of the family. Once the Musk emerald story started circulating, and information about Musk's father Errol's past business dealings got out, a cavalcade of internet poo-pooers flocked to Twitter to lambast Musk . We were going to fly into Jeddah and there was a religious holiday and they said if we come in now we have to pay $2,000 but if we wait 10 days we can come in at no charge. But that's more or less where the good fortune ended. The tweet was shared as a screenshot on Imgur.com, which showed the image had been viewed more than 300,000 times. luis carruthers @orthereaboot tweeted, When the same pattern of racist behavior happens at all $tsla locations, its the company thats racist, and the fish rots from @elonmusks head.. In a rare interview with Forbes, Errol revealed that his parents were the first to ever fly from South Africa to Australia in a single-engine airplane. ---. On holidays, Errol and his kids would travel, he said: to Europe, Hong Kong, throughout the United States. I couldnt even afford a second [computer] at [web software company] Zip2, so [I] programmed at night and the website only worked during the day. Note: Less than two weeks after Arnold's piece was published in 2021, the satirical website The Onion printed a story with the headline, "The Richest Person In Every State And How They Made Their Money." His children were reportedly influenced by his liberal political views. ", She added, "He was very rich, but he made sure I had nothing. According to Ashlee Vances 2017 biography of the Tesla founder, The Musk family owned one of the biggest houses in Pretoria thanks to the success of Errols engineering business, which included large projects such as office buildings, retail complexes, residential subdivisions, and an air force base.. "What's very difficult for others is easy for me. Musk, Errol. [18][19] Musk described the first child as unplanned. A post on Reddit mentioned a theory that said Elon "convinced these publications to remove the articles," but there's no evidence to support that. So we went to this guy's prefab and he opened his safe and there was just stacks of money and he paid me out, 80,000, it was a huge amount of money, he said.