MEAWW.COM / NEWS / CELEBRITY NEWS

Elon Musk calls Gary Kasparov 'idiot' after former chess champion slammed Tesla CEO for Ukraine peace plan

Elon Musk tweeted, 'While it’s true that Kasparov is almost as good at playing chess as my iPhone, he is otherwise an idiot'

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Elon Musk hit back at the Russian chess champion, Gary Kasparov, by calling him an “idiot” and a “douche." This incident took place after Kasparov lashed out at the richest man on the planet and Tesla CEO for recommending a Ukraine peace plan that critics say favors Kremlin. Kasparov appeared on CNBC’s 'Squawk Box' program on Monday, October 24, where he took his first shot and criticized Elon Musk for coming out with a peace settlement that suggests Ukraine surrender Crimea to Russia. 

“The cost is huge but Ukraine is paying this cost,” the Russian chess champion told. Kasparov is living in exile in Croatia after coming out as a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin. He is also a Russian opposition member. “So why are people sitting in the comfort of their mansions in Silicon Valley telling Ukraine how to conduct their own affairs?” He accused Musk of displaying “moral idiocy and geopolitical blindness.”

READ MORE

Twitter employees 'sigh' as Elon Musk plans to sack over 5,000 workers following $44B takeover deal

Elon Musk teases merger with Kanye West on Parler and then deletes post, Internet says, 'Tired of all of them'

In response, Musk said to Kasparov on Twitter, "While it’s true that Kasparov is almost as good at playing chess as my iPhone, he is otherwise an idiot. And I don’t even own a house, let alone a ‘mansion,’ you d**he." In a subsequent tweet, Musk revealed that he was “back to spare bedroom / couch surfing at friend’s houses in Silicon Valley, which I did for about a decade.” “Frankly, I like it this way, as I get to see my friends, who I love, more often,” Musk tweeted.

Kasparov, who showed his sheer dominance in the chess world from 1984 until his retirement in 2005, has called Putin a “fascist threat…not only to his neighbors, but to the whole world." He has also used his fame to gain more attention from the Western world and demanded more aggression from them towards Russia. Musk, however, has come up with a more pacifist stance in recent weeks, where he urged to take a negotiated settlement to draw a line in the war. Supporters of Ukraine highly got upset when he tweeted out a poll asking his tens of millions of Twitter followers whether a negotiated settlement with Russia should include ceding the Crimea region. Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky, and one of his diplomats also reacted angrily.

“F— off is my very diplomatic reply,” tweeted Ukrainian diplomat Andrij Melnyk.  Last week, due to funding issues, Musk threatened to cut off Ukraine's access to his Starlink internet satellite service. Musk has also denied a claim by geopolitical analyst Ian Bremmer that the tech giant personally spoke to Putin just weeks before tweeting his peace proposals.

Twitter users also slammed Elon Musk for his pro-Russian tweet. One tweeted, "Elon Musk is tweeting a pro-Russian map of Ukraine. We knew Musk would open up the floodgates to Russian trolls. But we didn’t realize Musk IS a Russian troll. Him owning Twitter is like having a Russian asset in the WH."

Another tweeted, "When Elon Musk gets Twitter, what do you think is going to happen to every anonymous account that has trolled him? he will have access to users personal data, IP addresses, emails phone numbers. Sure he has plenty of other rich friends who want revenge on internet trolls." "I think @elonmusk is confused. No worries, I can help clear things up: - Russia invaded Ukraine - Crimea is a part of Ukraine that Russia seized by force - Vladimir Putin, the dictator of Russia, is the only person threatening to use nuclear weapons - You are not a diplomat," tweeted another user.

A Twitter user tweeted, "For those who argue if @elonmusk post regarding #Crimea has historical sense let me,as a #CrimeanTatar,say: it's wrong to accept the very narrative that #Crimea belongs to .For centuries killed indigenous #CrimeanTatarPeople because we fought 2 not let our home be taken away." 

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.