The story included reporting of Elon's denials that the emerald mine had provided any seed money for the wealth he would later accumulate. Ashlee Vance interviewed hundreds of people. Business Insider South Africa, 28 Feb. 2018, https://www.businessinsider.co.za/how-elon-musks-family-came-to-own-an-emerald-mine-2018-2. It was revealed last weekthat he welcomed twochildren with an executiveat his artificial intelligence company, Neuralink, just weeks before hissecond child with his ex-girlfriend, Grimes,was born. My dad will have a carefully thought-out plan of evil. So I became a half owner of the mine, and we got emeralds for the next six years., When the Tesla CEO was around 16 years old, he and his brother Kimbal sold two emeralds to Tiffany & Co. on Fifth Avenue in New York City while Errol snoozed, according to what Musk's father told Business Insider South Africa. @spylinen tweeted, The mine was in Zambia, which became independent of the UK in 1964. After the divorce, Elon lived mostly with his father until he left South Africa at age 17 partly to avoid conscription in the South African army. The Onion, a satirical publication, shared. Jana was 4 years old when Errol married her mother, Heide Bezuidenhout though he claims that he didn't consider Jana his stepdaughter, as she primarily grew up separate from the Musks. "The Richest Person In Every State And How They Made Their Money." coming from?. Musk's defenders have also pointed out that Errol's alleged trade took place in the mid-1980s, at which point Zambia was independent. Jordan Liles is a Snopes reporter with expertise in investigating misinformation, inauthentic social media activity, and scams. "So I became a half-owner of the mine, and we got emeralds for the next six years," Errol said. 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. "Elon Musk Is the Hero America Deserves." The Twitter account no longer exists. For the state of Texas, The Onion printed, "Elon Musk: Apartheid.". 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? Born in 1971, Musk grew up in Pretoria, South Africa. As well as providing links, people started commenting Musk's own words back at him under his tweet. Or they'd take the plane to Lake Tanganyika [in Zambia], where Errol had a stake in an emerald mine. Still, it wasarchived by the Internet Archive. In that context, its probably understandable that Musk decided enough was enough and felt he needed to answer the claims online. " he told the outlet. The netizen claimed that the Business Insider article didnt show the real extent of the Musk family profiting from apartheid. South Africa Blue Sky Publications (Pty) Ltd T/A TheSouthAfrican Number: 2005/028472/07. Errol owned one of the largest homes in Pretoria and took his children on many overseas trips, according to the book, Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, written by Ashlee Vance. And, on at least one occasion, his now famous son also took his hand at dealing in the gems, with peculiar results. However, $800 was probably pocket change for the family, judging by what Musk's father told the site. Theyd seen I was sleeping in one morning, and they said, Oh lets just try, lets go.. After Maye and Errol divorced in 1980, Elon mostly lived with his father, who says he owned thoroughbred horses, a yacht, several houses and a Cessna. Britannica.com, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Zip2. It was that lifestyle, Errol says, that turned Elon into the kind of merchant adventurer who would laterbreak the rules of the motoring businesswith Tesla, then go on tochange spaceflight with SpaceX, BI reported. I left South Africa by myself when I was 17 with just a backpack & suitcase of books. The Save Journalism Committee, 9 Mar. We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred. "What's very difficult for others is easy for me. All rights reserved. You have no idea. Thereafter you will be billed R75 per month. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, grew up in South Africa and made his way via Canada to the U.S. as a transfer student before attending the Wharton School and becoming the billionaire tech founder he is today. We did not receive a response from Forbes PR. Ask him." 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. Twitter, https://twitter.com/elonmusk/. [10] She gave birth to three children; Elon Reeve Musk born on 28 June 1971, Kimbal Reeve Musk born on 20 September 1972, and Tosca Musk born on 20 July 1974. He added that Elon left the country as "a clear indication of his willingness to not support the political suppression in the country. And thats when Musk's father was offered half an emerald mine in return for half of his earnings. 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. Here is the incredible true story of Errol Musk and the striking similarities he shares with his powerful son. There were AK-47s all over the place and I'm thinking, "Man, this could really go bad.". The article was titled, "I Talked to Elon Musk about Journalism and the Blood Emeralds Story.". Their plane got diverted, which led to a chance meeting with Italians who wanted to buy the plane in cash. Musk readily jumps onto Twitter to refute the charges that his empire was forged with the aid of family wealth, and part of the reason he wanted to talk to merather comically given the rocket launch and, well, trollswas because the jabs bug him, and he hopes to set the record straight. ", Though he claimed Elon and Kimbal were upset with him for fathering a child with a woman they felt was "their sister," Errol told The Sun, "The only thing we are on Earth for is to reproduce. But by many accounts, the issues at the Tesla factory go beyond the need for a thick skin, New York Times reported. The gist of the claim was that Elon's father, Errol Musk, who reports say has been estranged from his son for some time, owned an emerald mine during apartheid in South Africa, and that it was seed money from his father's wealth from the mine that made it possible for him to become the American billionaire he is today. Not for 'At Least' a Few Weeks, Says Elon Musk, Elon Musk's Ex Justine Calls Twitter Employees' Letter Protesting Reported Staff Cuts a 'Very Bad Idea', Elon Musk Says He's Buying Twitter to 'Help Humanity' And Doesn't Want It to Be 'Free-for-All Hellscape', Elon Musk Says Kanye West's Twitter Was Reinstated Before He Took Over the Company, Elon Musk Plans to Cut 75 Percent of Twitter's Workforce If He Takes Over the Company: Report. All Rights Reserved. Elon also denied that Errol invested in the company. Errol named his price, and a deal was done. "We went to . Musk replied, linking to Jeremy Arnolds article, which gave Musks side of the story. Errol Musk said he bought half of an emerald mine after selling a plane. He said, They just walked into Tiffanys and said, Do you want to buy some emeralds? And they sold two emeralds: one was for $800, and I think the other one was for $1,200. Errol talked about Elons fascination with computers when they first came out in the mid-80s, during an interview on radio station 702 in Johannesburg, as reported by Forbes. [10][11] Musk told Agence France-Presse that he was a strict father who raised his children with discipline and austerity. His net worth is. At some point after the shooting, the relationship between dad Errol and son Elon soured. (We'll have more on Vance's Bloomberg.com interview later in this story.). I said, Oh, all right. Kaizer Chiefs to sign more Swallows players. Clearly, Elon Musk doesn't like being mocked. 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. Worked on my Moms cousins farm in Saskatchewan & a lumber mill in Vancouver. Errol told BI that he was flying from his home in South Africa to the U.K. to sell the plane he was on, with a young Elon in tow. All the Musk siblings did well, Forbes reported. Unlike his son, Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk, Errol has mostly flown under the radar, though the father of seven has had an increasingly public profile over the last few years, largely due to his complicated family relationships. My Dad provided 10% of a ~$200k angel funding round much later, but by then risk was reduced & round would've happened anyway.". In December 2019, Elon denied the emerald mine-and-lavish-lifestyle story on Twitter, saying it was a lie. We also reached out to media relations personnel at SpaceX, where he is the founder and CEO, as well as Tesla and Twitter. Are you prioritizing your cable entertainment bill over protecting and investing in your family? 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." "I was active in opposing the National Party and their apartheid," he said in the post." He told The New York Times that as a member of the Progressive Party, he opposed apartheid. This is not true," Elon told Rolling Stone in 2017. 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. "Can Elon Musk Really Get Us To Mars Within 10 Years?" Musk, Errol. His grandmother broke barriers of her own, becoming the first-ever chiropractor in Canada. Here's what to know about Elon Musk's estranged father, Errol Musk. Errol made money by consulting and developing properties, Forbes reported. [20] Musk has a total of seven children. They never made it to their destination. Note: Reporting from Esquire.com said that Elon moved from South Africa to Canada in 1988. ---. 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. Inside the fabulous Dior couture world of 'Mrs. First, we have republished past statements from both Errol and Elon. We had so much money at times we couldn't even close our safe," Errol said, explaining that one person would hold the money down while a second would slam the safe door shut. There is a more nuanced conversation to be had about how Elon Musk specifically and South Africas white population in general benefitted from apartheid. EM: Company death not succeeding with the company causes me a lot more stress than physical danger. However, again, the story was at least partially unavailable on that website, too. Aside from that hes just dumb. "Is It True That Elon Musk's Family Got Their Wealth from Apartheid Emerald Mining?" An avid pilot and sailor, as well as an electrical and mechanical engineer, he made his money consulting and developing properties and retired early. A common story about Musk on social media is that his father owned part of an emerald mine, providing a bedrock of wealth that buoyed Elon up to his current level of success. 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.. On July 28, 2014, Forbes.com published an interview with Elon Musk, which was conducted by Jim Clash. ", In the post, he claimed that his family stood in opposition to apartheid, saying he went so far as to be elected as a Pretoria city councillor to aid that opposition. "Elon Musk's Vision of an Electric-Car Future." "I started my first company with $2,500, and I had one computer and a car that I bought for $1,400, and all that debt. Offers may be subject to change without notice. The rumor of the "apartheid emerald mine" received a spike in shares around the time that Elon Musk completed his takeover of Twitter in late 2022. ", The Tesla founder also said there was no way to repair his relationship with his father. The child, a boy named Elliot Rush, is now 5 years old. ---. 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. Answer these 2 simple questions & WIN R1000 in cash! Errol Musk is a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, and sailor. Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future. Errol and Heide eventually divorced after an 18-year marriage. He has a net worth of $2 million and is living quite comfortably. In a 2019 . Almost every crime you can possibly think of, he has done. . Elon Musk was highlighted as the wealthiest resident of Texas, Americas second-biggest state. In an interview with Express, Cattrell recalled: One night, they were sitting in the living room and his dad said Everybody down! He once tweeted he arrived in 1989, not 1988, however. He said that he sold and traded these emeralds himself and that at one point, Elon himself even went out to sell some of the stones. To add to the truth, we went to Boston Chicken in Philadelphia for Thanksgiving because we couldnt afford a turkey. "I said, 'Oh, all right'. The emerald mine was not mentioned in that interview. The Musk name might be one of the most recognizable on the planet, but little is known about its patriarch, Errol Musk. It was that lifestyle, Errol says, that turned Elon into the kind of merchant adventurer who would later break the rules of the motoring business with Tesla, then go on to change spaceflight with SpaceX. When Errol and Maye divorced in 1979, a then-8-year-old Elon chose to live with his dad. However, Errol also told the outlet that life in apartheid South Africa was ultimately "better" and "safer" than it is today. I couldn't find my passport so I ended up grabbing my brother's which turned out to be six months overdue! Musk's father, Errol, an engineer, married Maye when she was 22, and Musk was born shortly . "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 an interview with Rolling Stone, during which he reportedly cried, Elon called his father "a terrible human being" and "evil. In a 2017 Rolling Stone cover story, the Tesla CEO described his childhood and revealed that he moved in with his father at eight years old after his parents split. 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. "They didn't like it.". For a while, I thought things were so obvious that everyone must know this.". [1] His father was a South African veteran of World War II and his mother was British. Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done.". "They just walked into Tiffany's and said, 'Do you want to buy some emeralds?' by Marilynn Manuel 13-02-2023 13:43 Ive tried everything. Address: Riverbank House, 1 Putney Bridge Approach, London, SW6 4TJ. He didnt own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt. I'm going to wait until he comes to his senses. Went to Queens Univ with scholarship & debt, then same to UPenn/Wharton & Stanford. 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. Where is this B.S. With a net worth of $37 billion, Musk hopes to revolutionize transportation on Earth and in space, bringing fully-electric vehicles to the mass market through his auto manufacturing company, Tesla. 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. Heres his story. "They were confronted by it every day," he said. Here's a summary of our findings: We located reporting from as far back as 2009 and 2014 that said when Elon Musk ("Elon" hereafter) was a child in South Africa in the 1980s, his father ("Errol" hereafter) at some point owned "a stake in an emerald mine" near Lake Tanganyika in Zambia, not South Africa. This article is actually accurate: https://t.co/eVpCX9V1NB. Errol Musk, the familys patriarch, is in the news after confirming he fathered a second secret love child with his stepdaughter, Jana Bezuidenhout, 35. "Tesla, Inc."Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tesla-Motors. odakyu11. 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. Kimbal is a millionaire who owns restaurant chains and spearheads a nonprofit education program, The Kitchen Community, which grows vegetables in the U.S. Tosca is a film producer and director. Elon Musk came from a family that owned an emerald mine in Apartheid South Africa. Clash's same 2014 interview was also republished by AskMen.com on Jan. 2, 2015. 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. ", Errol and Elon have an acrimonious relationship. "Elon Musk's Family Once Owned an Emerald Mine in Zambia Here's the Fascinating Story of How They Came to Own It." In the interview, the Tesla owner briefly mentioned that his father had a share in an emerald mine in Zambia. He had this sense that it was definitely not a safe place to be, and he had to get the hell out.. In times of uncertainty you need journalism you can trust. I arrived by myself in Canada in 89 with ~CA$2500 Paid my own way through college, ending with ~$100k student debt Started 1st company with no funding & just one computer I built Theres no evidence whatsoever of an emerald mine, 2/2My father & his extended family have been dependent on financial support from my brother & me for over 20 years. "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. Once the kids were living with me, they visited their father some weekends. TheSouthAfrican.com is all about South Africa and the stories that affect South Africans, wherever they are in the world. Eligon, John, and Lynsey Chutel. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. 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. Copyright 2023 PopCulture.com. ". The same story appeared to have also been published the day before with the headline, "A teenage Elon Musk once casually sold his father's emeralds to Tiffany & Co. while his dad was sleeping. Maye and Errol divorced in 1980 when Elon was about 9 years old. "Back when I was ~$100k negative with student debt," he wrote. "The Man Who's Revolutionizing The Future Of Driving -- And The Universe." 2021, https://www.quora.com/Is-it-true-that-Elon-Musks-family-got-their-wealth-from-apartheid-emerald-mining. Below we have provided a small sampling of the many different ways the rumor has been framed in past years. 2014, https://www.newspapers.com/image/878211644/. Errol has long since retired from the engineering business and now lives a quiet life in the Western Cape in South Africa. I tried threats, rewards, intellectual arguments, emotional arguments, everything to try to change my father for the better, and he no way, it just got worse. AskMen, 2 Jan. 2015, https://www.askmen.com/entertainment/right-stuff/elon-musk-interview.html. [2] His grandmother was the first chiropractor in Canada. So we had this planeload of contraband and an overdue passport from another person. So I became a half owner of the mine, and we got emeralds for the next six years.. Errol and his stepdaughter, Jana Bezuidenhout, share two children. He also called the whole rumor "BS.". This story was picked up by other news outlets and peddled as a sign of the Musk family's "lavish lifestyle. And then thered still be all these notes sticking out, and wed sort of pull them out and put them in our pockets.. He's the son of Maye Musk, a model and dietitian from Canada, and Errol Musk, a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, and sailor. 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. "We were very wealthy. His mother Maye responded on Twitter in December 2019 in defense of Elon. However, both Elon and . Our offices are for administrative purposes only, no visitors will be accepted without an appointment. "Who Is Elon Musk's Estranged Father? ", His post ended with this: "Finally, it is necessary to acknowledge the wrong and oppressive nature of apartheid and we do need to recognise the pain and suffering it caused for many South Africans, but I do not feel it is fair to associate any of that with what Elon has achieved through hard work since he left South African shores as a teenager of 17.". Errol told Business Insider South Africa that he once owned half of an emerald mine in Zambia, which he claimed to have purchased on a whim. "'His Family Stole an Emerald Mine.'" All About Errol Musk." By some accounts, Elon is reported to have witnessed the attack, with Errol later telling Rolling Stone that he acted in self-defense; he was never convicted of any crime. ", "You have no idea about how bad. 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. I couldn't even afford a 2nd PC at Zip2, so programmed at night & website only worked during day. Bloomberg.com, 22 May 2020, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-05-22/elon-musk-speaks-frankly-on-coronavirus-spacex-and-rage-tweets. He was only physically violent when I was very young., He also said, You have no idea about how bad. [4], Musk met Maye Haldeman when he was 11 years old and they were childhood friends before marrying in 1970. He will plan evil, Elon tearfully told Rolling Stone in 2017. The constant resurfacing of the story is probably what spurred Musk into replying on Twitter. Errol Musk bought 50% of the emerald mine in 1969 for about 40,000, which is equal to about 160 000 today. "Elon Musk Hits out at US Professor over Emerald Mine Claims: 'Idiot and Liar.'" Are broader financial markets in a massive speculative bubble? ", Inoneof the tweets from Elon in which he refuted the emerald mine rumor, he linked to an article that had been published on March 9, 2021. I can't see any reason not to. Elon Musk has a wild story!" he captioned it. The article was republished in several other newspapers around the U.S. For 14 free days, you can have access to a world of in-depth analyses, investigative journalism, top opinions and a range of features. The article attributed the source of Elon Musks wealth to apartheid. Sager, Jessica. r/EnoughMuskSpam via Reddit.com, 18 Dec. 2021, https://www.reddit.com/r/EnoughMuskSpam/comments/rj689s/elon_musk_and_the_emerald_mine/. The story also included the same information from Elon's tweets where he said again that he had "ended up with $100,000 of student debt. The patriarch confirmed the shootings to the publication in 2017, saying manslaughter charges were later dropped because he acted in self-defense. It didn't work out too well in the end," he said. This story will be updated if any further details come to light. The gist of the claim was that Elon's father, Errol Musk, who reports say has been estranged from his son for some time, owned an emerald mine during apartheid in South Africa, and that it. Bridges to Italy tweeted, Yeah, hes not that bright, just like the guy who started this thread. 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