Entertainment

Wow, Elon Musk really hates the Oscars

Oscar Statuette (left) and Elon Musk (right).
"Winning an Oscar now just means you won the woke contest," Elon Musk wrote on X on Sunday. Arturo Holmes via Getty Images; STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images
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Elon Musk doesn't think the Academy Awards are as prestigious as they once were.

"Winning an Oscar now just means you won the woke contest," Musk wrote on X on Sunday, as this year's award ceremony began.

"When an award is diluted, everyone knows, including those who received it, and it no longer commands respect," he said in a subsequent post.

Musk did not specify what exactly he thought was "woke" about this year's Oscar-nominated films, which include Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" and Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer." However, his gripes about the Oscars appear to be linked to his criticisms of corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and his larger, ongoing war on anything he considers "woke."

"DEI is just another word for racism. Shame on anyone who uses it," Musk wrote in January.

In February, former MMA fighter and actress, Gina Carano said that Musk's X Corporation was funding her lawsuit against Disney and Lucasfilm.

Carano accused the companies of wrongful termination and defamation after she was fired in 2021 following a string of social media controversies. Carano was accused of sharing transphobic right-wing content, after which fans of "The Mandalorian" called for her removal from the series.

It's not just the entertainment industry. Last month, Musk ripped Google after users claimed the company's Gemini chatbot's image-generation was "woke." Musk accused Google of running "insane racist, anti-civilizational programming."

Musk wasn't the only prominent figure weighing in on the awards show. Former President Donald Trump also posted his Oscar thoughts on Truth Social, calling the ceremony a "really bad politically correct" event.

Representatives for Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.

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Kwan Wei Kevin Tan
Kwan Wei Kevin Tan
Kevin was a reporter at Business Insider's Singapore bureau. He reported primarily on the ins and outs of the business world, whether it be breaking news, covering CEO moves, tracking quarterly earnings, or writing explainers.He also covered careers and workplace issues, and has written about career transitions, the FIRE lifestyle, the college internship arms race, and the job hunt struggles faced by computer science majors.BackgroundKevin joined Business Insider's Singapore bureau in 2023. Before that, he was a civil servant at Singapore's Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment. He was appointed to the Singapore government's Public Service Leadership Programme, a talent development programme that develops capable and talented individuals for key leadership positions in the public service.Kevin’s journalism career began in college, where he first worked as a researcher for Channel NewsAsia and The Economist, and later as an intern reporter at Bloomberg News. In 2017, the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust awarded him the Leading Change Journalism Bursary. His stories have appeared in numerous publications, including Fortune, The Japan Times, and The Edge Singapore.Kevin holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the National University of Singapore, where he was an NUS Merit Scholar. He was also the recipient of the PwC Whole Leadership Award, the NTUC Income Prize, the CFA Singapore Prize, and the Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Prize.