Spotify CEO’s Alien Query: Elon Musk’s Supreme Court Call
Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is known for his witty and sometimes controversial tweets.
On Monday, Elon Musk took a jab at Spotify CEO Daniel EK and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson with a tweet that asked, “What is a woman?” in response to a hypothetical question about aliens.
EK, who is the founder and CEO of the popular music streaming service Spotify, posted a tweet on Monday that read:
“If aliens were to visit us right now, what’s one thing we’ve chosen to do as a society (that feels relatively simple or obvious) that would be super hard to explain?”
The tweet received over 3,000 replies from users, who suggested things like NFTs, TikTok, cryptocurrency, religion, and sports. Among the replies was one from Musk, who wrote: “What is a woman?”
The tweet appeared to reference a question posed to Brown Jackson during her confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court in 2022. Brown Jackson, nominated by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate in June 2022, was asked by Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., to define “woman” in the context of transgender issues.
“Can you define the word ‘woman?'” Blackburn asked.
“Can I provide a definition? No, I can’t,” Brown Jackson replied. “Not in this context; I’m not a biologist.”
Brown Jackson’s answer sparked criticism from some conservatives and media personalities, who accused her of being afraid to state a basic fact for fear of offending the “woke brigade.”
Musk’s tweet seemed to mock both EK and Brown Jackson with his sarcastic reply, implying that the concept of womanhood would be hard to explain to aliens or humans. The tweet also echoed Musk’s previous comments on gender issues, such as when he tweeted, “Pronouns suck” in 2020 and faced backlash from some LGBTQ activists and allies. Musk’s tweet received over 4 million views and 100,000 likes on Tuesday morning. It also generated mixed reactions from other users, some of whom found it funny, clever, or provocative, and others who found it offensive, ignorant, or irrelevant.
Some users also pointed out that Musk has been asked about aliens before, such as when he was interviewed by Joe Rogan in 2018 and said that he believes there are “very low chances” of finding intelligent life in the universe.
Musk still needs to elaborate on his tweet or respond to any replies.
