Bridges to Italy tweeted, Yeah, hes not that bright, just like the guy who started this thread. Elon Musk addressed the recent social storm when claims related his familys emerald mines in apartheid-South Africa resurfaced online. 1/2This article is false. You have no idea. On Aug. 17, 2009, The New Yorker printed one of the earliest known searchable records of an emerald mine being tied to the Musk name. de Wet, Phillip. Eligon, John, and Lynsey Chutel. It would have been great if someone was paying for my college, but my dad had neither the ability nor the inclination to do so. Kaizer Chiefs to sign more Swallows players. In April 2014, Dana Hull and Patrick May penned an article for San Jose's The Mercury News with the headline, "The otherworldly ambitions of Elon Musk." 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. Fact Check: Did Elon Musk Inherit Apartheid Money From His - Moguldom Errol Musk was born in 1946 in Pretoria to Walter Henry James Musk and Cora Amelia Robinson. "I said, 'Oh, all right.' For example, on Dec. 28, 2019, hetweetedthat his father "didn't own an emerald mine" and that he (Elon) had worked his way through college, ending up with around $100,000 in student debt. In 2018, Errol Musk interviewed Business Insider South Africa, where he told a story about bartering his way into partial ownership of an emerald mine in Zambia. Smart Policies are as low as $30 a month, No Medical Exam Required ", 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. [20] At the time of their daughter's birth, according to The Times, Musk was 72 and Jana Bezuidenhout was 30 years old. SpaceX, his rocket company, is valued at $20 billion-plus. [4], Musk met Maye Haldeman when he was 11 years old and they were childhood friends before marrying in 1970. Hes the son of Maye Musk, a model and dietitian from Canada, and Errol Musk, a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, and sailor. While the story merely pointed to the facts that apartheid existed at the time and the Musk family made money from emerald mining, Musk to his frustration has found it hard to brush off the narrative of his wealth being linked to apartheid. 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. While His Dad Was Sleeping." Rolling Stone reported in 2017 that Errol was, by his own account, making money in the often dangerous worlds of construction and emerald mining at times so much that he claims he couldnt close his safe.. There, the two South Africans ran into a group of Italians who, as it happened, were in the market for an airplane. 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. [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. My Dad provided 10% of a ~$200k angel funding round much later, but by then risk was reduced & round would've happened anyway.". Clearly, Elon Musk doesn't like being mocked. First, we have republished past statements from both Errol and Elon. I can't see any reason not to. According to the Internet Archive, the article was still available months after it was published, onSept. 1, 2014, but was gone by Sept. 18. [18][19] Musk described the first child as unplanned. [10][11] Musk told Agence France-Presse that he was a strict father who raised his children with discipline and austerity. "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," he recalled to Business Insider. At the conference, Elon talked to some professors who told Errol, This boy needs to get his hands on one of these computers. Elon tweeted that he had $100,000 debt after college. 2023 The Moguldom Nation. So we got one, thank God at a discount, and with that computer he taught himself, using Disk Operating System, which is DOS, to program, Errol said. "But I mean, we were living together. 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. 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. Elon Musk says he had six figures in student debt after college - CNBC Behind the billions: Inside Errol Musk's emerald mine, net worth & scandals Elon Musk: The Truth About His Dad and Emerald Mines - Trending In that way, Errol might be like estranged Elon after all. However, that as well as Errol's claim of owning half of an emerald mine is in stark contrast to what Elon has said about his father's wealth. According to the story, in the mid-1980s, Errol and a copilot landed their plane near Lake Tanganyika in Zambia, where "a group of Italians" offered them 80,000 pounds in British currency in order to buy the plane. The netizen claimed that the Business Insider article didnt show the real extent of the Musk family profiting from apartheid. 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. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Elon Musks bid to implant chips into human brains shot down by feds, How the feds spend $74M a year to try to censor Americans, US government-funded research tagged Americans for Twitter ban: report, Tesla stock slumps as Master Plan 3 event falls flat with investors, after confirming he fathered a second secret love child, once rumored to be the co-owner of a Zambian emerald mine, an outspoken advocate for abolishing apartheid, Ashlee Vances 2017 biography of the Tesla founder, that he welcomed twochildren with an executive, second child with his ex-girlfriend, Grimes. Almost every crime you can possibly think of, he has done, he continued. This material may not be reproduced without permission. A Twitter user claimed in December 2019 that Elon Musk's privileged upbringing included his father, Errol Musk, who owned an emerald mine [and] who could bankroll his education. However, the Tesla CEO begged to differ. [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. Viral: When Elon Musk's bank account was in negative due to student "Like every abused woman, I was embarrassed, and I knew I had made a mistake, you know? Errols other children we also shocked and uncomfortable about the surprise pregnancy. Went to Queens Univ with scholarship & debt, then same to UPenn/Wharton & Stanford., In a follow-up tweet, Elon said his father didnt own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt.. [20] Musk has a total of seven children. Instead Errol returned to South Africa with a half-share in a Zambian emerald mine, which would help to fund his family's lavish lifestyle of yachts, skiing holidays, and expensive computers. "What's very difficult for others is easy for me. A recurring theme on social media is the claim that Musks father owned an emerald mine and paid for his sons privileged upbringing and education. Musk has denied that story. Elon Musk says he 'financially supported' dad Errol since the 1990s Bill Gates' mom helped Microsoft get a deal with IBM. "We went to this guy's prefab [home] and he opened his safe," Errol said. "Exploring the otherworldly ambitions of Elon Musk", "How To Raise A Billionaire: An Interview With Elon Musk's Father, Errol Musk", "Who Is Elon Musk's Estranged Father? On Wednesday, Errol confirmed that he and Jana had welcomed a second child, a daughter who is now 3. . Elon Musk (~16 years old) & Kimbal Musk sold gems from the Zambian emerald mine to world-famous "Tiffany & Co." on Fifth Avenue in New York - one of the world's most famous jewelers. Regardless of your opinion of him, he is aself-made billionaire. Get down!'. 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. His grandmother broke barriers of her own, becoming the first-ever chiropractor in Canada. 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. The headline of the story read, "Elon Musk Tells Me His Secret Of Success (Hint: It Ain't About The Money).". by Marilynn Manuel 13-02-2023 13:43 Who is Errol Musk? Five things to know about Elon's SA father We reached out to Reich to ask if he could provide evidence of his assertion, but did not receive a response before this story was published. Errol Musk Biography - Facts, Childhood, Family Life & Achievements More answers and details are available in Arnold's article. Former Tesla employees have reported racist behavior and attempted to sue over it. Address: Riverbank House, 1 Putney Bridge Approach, London, SW6 4TJ. He's the son of Maye Musk, a model and dietitian from Canada, and Errol Musk, a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, and sailor. To me, he sure is trying to make the world better right now, and that's the best thing he could do with his father's money. Who Is Elon Musk's Dad Errol Musk? | Entrepreneur 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. ", 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. 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. Arnold, Jeremy. He is the father of business magnate and billionaire Elon Musk, restaurateur Kimbal Musk, and filmmaker Tosca Musk. "He didn't own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt," Elon tweeted in December 2019. 2021, https://www.theonion.com/the-richest-person-in-every-state-and-how-they-made-the-1846312073. In Errol's case, we sent a message to his Facebook profile. For a while, I thought things were so obvious that everyone must know this., However, Elon has disputed claims that he grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth. In 2017, family members were left stunned when Jana became pregnant with Errols baby. The Daily Mail has reported that Errol was a multimillionaire before the age of 30. "I'm naturally good at engineering that's because I inherited it from my father," he told Rolling Stone. I left South Africa by myself when I was 17 with just a backpack & suitcase of books. It spoke of the divorce of Elon's parents, Errol and Maye Musk, and also contained a quick mention of an emerald mine. 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. 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. 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. In times of uncertainty you need journalism you can trust. And then thered still be all these notes sticking out, and wed sort of pull them out and put them in our pockets.. Copyright 2023 Market Realist. "The Man Who's Revolutionizing The Future Of Driving -- And The Universe." My own (wonderful) mother told me I am ruthless and should learn to be more humane. But I love my children and would readily do whatever for them.. He has also dismissed rumors that his father co-owned a Zambian emerald mine, writing on Twitter in 2019: He didnt own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt. Elon Musk addresses emerald mines and apartheid claims - The South African 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." Esquire, 5 June 2015, https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a35508/elon-musk-college-years-canada-u-penn/. "Tesla, Inc."Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tesla-Motors. [13] After engaging in extra-marital affairs,[4] Errol and Maye divorced in 1979, and both sons moved in with their father. Errol and a co-pilot were flying a plane from South Africa to England to sell the aircraft but when they couldn't make a scheduled stop in Saudi Arabia, he pivoted his plan and changed his life. I'm going to wait until he comes to his senses. Where is this bs coming from? "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. Musk, Errol. His net worth is. Meet Elon Musk's controversial father, Errol Where is this bs coming from? We've received your submission. "Back when I was ~$100k negative with student debt," he wrote. "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. In the meantime, Musk continues to make waves on multiple technological fronts, all while raising concerns about workers' rights and income inequality. 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. The Associated Press, 20 July 2021, https://apnews.com/article/business-science-3546262d41f4c84763aa15339f642a5a. Copyright 2023 PopCulture.com. But I've been in physical danger before. To summarize Arnold's story would be difficult, as it contained a considerable amount of data and analysis. His tweet is now viral with over 9.1 million views. Errol Musk says teenage Elon Musk once casually walked around with emeralds in his pocket. Quora, 9 Mar. 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 . Where is this B.S. How much of a Momentum Proteas Womens cricket fan are you? Wayback Machine. Elon clarified that his father was never physically abusive toward him and that he once tried to mend the relationship by inviting his father to live with him in the United States. In an interview with Express, Cattrell recalled: One night, they were sitting in the living room and his dad said Everybody down! Market Realist is a registered trademark. Although Musk said that his father was brilliant at engineering in the Rolling Stone interview, thats where the praise ended. After the divorce, Elon lived with his father in Pretoria, where he attended Pretoria Boys High. He seemed very sad and lonely by himself. The tweet was shared as a screenshot on Imgur.com, which showed the image had been viewed more than 300,000 times. Elon and other family members have opened up about years of living in debt after they left South Africa. Then he'd sue me and say that I was unfit to parent.". But I didnt really understand at the time what kind of person he was. All About Errol Musk", "50 years of Elon Musk's huge wealth, from emeralds to SpaceX and Tesla", "How Elon Musk made his money - from emeralds to SpaceX and Tesla", "Elon Musk Left a South Africa That Was Rife With Misinformation and White Privilege", "At 68, Maye Musk, the Mother of Elon, Is Reclaiming the Spotlight", "El padre de Elon Musk dice que la ambicin de su hijo se debe a la educacin austera que recibi: "Fui un padre estricto", "BBC Two - The Elon Musk Show, Series 1, Episode 2", "Elon Musk's dad reveals he fathered an "unplanned" child with his stepdaughter", "Elon Musk's father has baby with step-daughter he has known since she was four", "Elon Musk's father confirms second child with his own stepdaughter - report", "Errol Musk explains why he got his stepdaughter pregnant", "Ayah Elon Musk Punya Bayi dari Hubungan dengan Putri Tirinya", "Meet Elon Musk's controversial father, Errol", "Errol Musk hat Kind mit Stieftochter: "Wir sind zum Fortpflanzen auf der Welt", "Elon Musk's Dad Says Company Wants His Sperm to Impregnate 'High-Class' Women", Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors, Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Errol_Musk&oldid=1142497006, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 18:50. "[4][8], In 1972, he was elected to the Pretoria City Council as a representative of the anti-apartheid Progressive Party. ", 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. Errol and his stepdaughter, Jana Bezuidenhout, share two children. While in Djibouti, he and his co-pilot sold their plane to some Italian nationals. It was a lucrative decision. - February 10, 2021 02:34 pm EST. The emerald mine story, reported in 2018 in Business Insider, tells how, in the mid-1980s, Errol acquired a half-share in a Zambian emerald mine, which would help to fund his familys lavish lifestyle of yachts, skiing holidays, and expensive computers.. Musk responded about the time when the photo was clicked. Musk's father said that Tiffanys set the $800 emerald in a ring and offered it for $24,000, which he said was an object lesson in retail markup for the family. Get to Know Errol Musk, Elon's "Brilliant," "Terrible" Father - MSN Later, on Sept. 20, 2022, hecalledRobert Reich "an idiot and a liar" for tweeting a video that pushed the emerald mine wealth rumor as fact. He also claimed, "My father & his extended family have been dependent on financial support from my brother & me for over 20 years.". Elon also denied that Errol invested in the company. The article attributed the source of Elon Musks wealth to apartheid. Elon Musk came from a family that owned an emerald mine in Apartheid South Africa. Shame on you, Onion. 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. Musk replied, linking to Jeremy Arnolds article, which gave Musks side of the story. Move over, Elon theres another Musk hitting the headlines. The Tesla CEO has fathered 10 children. Ask him." We went to this guys prefab, and he opened his safe, and there [were] just stacks of money, and he paid me out 80,000, It was a huge amount of money, he said. Born in 1971, Musk grew up in Pretoria, South Africa. Reich, theformer secretary of labor under U.S. President Bill Clinton and a professor of public policy at University of California, Berkeley, had tweeted,"Elon Musk came from a family that owned an emerald mine in apartheid South Africa." 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. Still, it wasarchived by the Internet Archive. [2] His grandmother was the first chiropractor in Canada. Almost every crime you can possibly think of, he has done. This is a pretty awful lie. Elon Musk Says He and His Brother Financed Their Father Errol Since 1990s But that's more or less where the good fortune ended. 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.