John Oliver responds to Elon Musk “weak sauce” insult

John Oliver has described Elon Musk as having a “thin skin” in response to comments he made about the comedian on social media.

Earlier this month, the Tesla CEO criticised Oliver in a post on X, where he accused him of “pandering to wokeness”.

“It is rather tragic to see an otherwise capable comedian like @iamjohnoliver become weak sauce,” he wrote. “The reason he is not very funny these days is because he is too keen to pander to wokeness, which is fundamentally a lie, whereas great humour requires revealed truth.”

His comments were in response to a segment mocking Musk on Last Week Tonight With John Oliver last month, where the comedian gave an overview of his career.

It is rather tragic to see an otherwise capable comedian like @iamjohnoliver become weak sauce.

The reason he is not very funny these days is because he is too keen to pander to wokeness, which is fundamentally a lie, whereas great humor requires revealed truth.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 2, 2024

After Musk’s comments on X, Oliver has now shared his verdict on their ongoing feud. Asked by TMZ why he thinks Musk has singled him out, the comedian replied: “You’re going to have to track him down and ask him. I don’t know, that’s a thin skin.

“I cannot possibly pretend what’s in that man’s mind at any time. He seems wounded. He’s definitely sensitive, that’s a biological fact.”

When asked about the pandering to “wokeness” criticism, Oliver replied: “I don’t know what that means. I don’t think [Musk] could explain what that means, and I think it means nothing. I don’t know literally what he’s talking about.”

On his show (via the Guardian), Oliver described Musk as a “man who can pull off pretty much any bad-guy-in-a-movie look”.

Going through Musk’s “range” of looks, the comedian added: “There’s ‘I just bought your media company, I’m about to strip you for parts’. There’s space’s first racist sheriff. And finally, the less fuckable reimagining of Billy Zane’s character in Titanic. Truly, the man has range.”

Last month, Musk was mocked online after he criticised a scene featuring a Tesla in Netflix film Leave The World Behind.