Billie Eilish Torches Elon Musk’s Hoarded Fortune, He Claps Back with a Jab Nobody Saw Coming
Billie Eilish is not afraid to take shots at one of the world’s richest people if it means sticking up for the greater good.
On Nov. 13, the 23-year-old singer fired off a series of messages aimed at billionaire tech giant Elon Musk for stockpiling his wealth instead of using it to help the less fortunate. This comes on the heels of the news that Musk, 54, is on track to become the world’s first trillionaire.
(Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for WSJ. Magazine Innovators Awards)
(Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The news broke on Nov. 6 after Tesla shareholders approved a pay package that would give the Tesla CEO $423.7 million additional shares for the next decade. This does not mean Musk would get a salary, and nor does it mean that he’s certain to become a trillionaire. But there is the possibility, depending on the company’s performance and value over the next 10 years. If Tesla reaches an $8.5 trillion market cap in that time Musk’s stock could be worth a trillion dollars.
Of course there were a lot of disapproving reactions from the public who believe no one individual needs to have that much money for themselves. Of these people is Eilish.
The “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” singer reposted a series of infographics created by the advocacy page called My Voice My Choice. They created a carousel post suggesting what Musk could do with his money to help the world.
In the first slide of the series that she reposted, they detailed how Musk could spend $40 billion a year to end world hunger by 2030 or provide universal safe clean water by spending $140 billion for the next seven years.
Another slide said he could spend $1 billion to $2 billion annually to save endangered species.
The next explained that he could spend $53.2 billion to rebuild Gaza and the West Bank or spend $750 billion more to rebuild Ukraine and Syria.
For the final slide, Eilish simply typed out a message in white lettering on a black screen.
She wrote, “etc….f-cking pathetic p-ssy b-tch coward.
Musk responded to Eilish four days later. One of her fan base accounts reshared her posts on X, which Musk owns, and he took it up on himself to respond to her insults on in the comments of the post.
He said, “She’s not the sharpest tool in the shed.”
Readers of the Daily Mail’s story about the dustup reacted.
One person suggested that Eilish should put her money where her mouth is. They wrote, “Sounds fantastic! Billie, you start…”
Another person went toe-to-toe with the Grammy award-winning singer and asked, “What have you done Billie?”
A third said, “Sit this one out silly eyelash.”
The British tabloid’s commenters apparently were unaware of Eilish’s record of philanthropy.
Eilish donated $11,000 to the Howard County Conservancy’s Youth Climate Institute earlier this month. In late October, it was announced she will be donating $11.5 million from her Hit Me Hard and Soft tour to alleviate problems from food insecurity, climate change and carbon pollution. The same day her pledge was revealed she called upon the wealthy to emulate her example.
On Wednesday, Oct. 29, the Los Angeles native was presented the Music Innovator Award at the WSJ Magazine Innovator Awards.
She opened up about challenges the world currently is facing and said, “I’d say if you have money, it would be great to use it for good things, maybe give it to some people that need it.”
Getting more specific she added, “Love you all, but there’s a few people in here that have a lot more money than me. If you’re a billionaire, why are you a billionaire? No hate, but yeah, give your money away, shorties.”
The third-richest person in the world, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, was sitting in the audience along with his wife, Priscilla Chan. According to a source that talked to People, while many others in the audience laughed and applauded Eilish’s remark, Zuckerberg did not.
