CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP
Elon Musk is threatening legal action over the 'Musk' documentary
Elon Musk has never been known for his thick skin. It should thus come as no surprise that the world’s richest man is whining about the new documentary about him that recently premiered at the Venice Film Festival.
Musk premiered at the Venice Film Festival earlier this week to widely positive reviews, with critics describing Musk as being portrayed as “petty, narcissistic, megalomaniacal, cruel, detached from humans at a personal level.”
Elon Musk threatened to sue the makers of the documentary that portrayed him as “narcissistic, cruel, and detached from humans”
Elon Musk, who declined to participate in the film’s production and reportedly offered his ex Ashley St. Clair $40 million not to participate in the project (he has since denied this), responded on via multiple replies on social media and threatened legal action against director Alex Gibney and the documentary’s distributors.
The Tesla billionaire accused Gibney of being a “horrible human” having “zero integrity” and being a “bitter old man who lost the plot long ago,” adding that the project is a “hit piece that misses” and is “boring af because it is four hours long.”
Musk called the film “defamatory” and “a complete hit piece” and characterized Gibney as a “propaganda filmmaker,” while also describing the documentary’s portrayal of him as dishonest and claiming it misrepresented his relationships with his children and former partners.
Accurate https://t.co/cGOyzjbcMw
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 9, 2026
Gibney is an acclaimed documentarian who has made films about Enron, Scientology, the Catholic Church’s abuse cover-up, and alleged Russian election interference. None of those projects resulted in successful defamation suits against him.
Threatening legal action is certainly nothing new for Musk, as he has threatened or filed lawsuits against media outlets, advertisers, and individuals on multiple occasions.
The documentary, which uses an AI avatar to simulate an interview with Musk using his own words from real interviews — a choice Gibney described as intentionally ironic given Musk’s stated views on simulation theory — currently has a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and is scheduled to be released in theaters on October 16.