Elon Musk denied any financial involvement with former President Donald Trump during a meeting in Florida during a heated interview with former CNN host Don Lemon.
The meeting, reported by Maggie Haberman in the New York Times last week, took place in Florida. Trump met with Musk and some wealthy Republican donors as he continues to face financial and legal difficulties.
The former president is currently dealing with a $354 million civil judgment in New York, an $83.3 million defamation judgment, and multiple indictments in different jurisdictions, leading to substantial legal expenses.
During the interview, Lemon pressed Musk about the nature of the discussion with Trump. However, Musk revealed that the meeting was casual, with the ex-prez doing most of the talking.
Lemon specifically asked if Trump solicited money from Musk, to which the entrepreneur firmly stated that he would not be providing any financial assistance to the former president.
Moreover, the journalist questioned Musk about any potential political preferences in the upcoming presidential election.
The Tesla CEO remained neutral, stating that he was not leaning towards any candidate, but humorously mentioned leaning away from Biden.
In a tense moment during the interview, Lemon asked Musk about his past endorsement of the "great replacement" theory, to which the 52-year-old immediately became defensive and accused the former CNN host of maintaining a corporate bias.
Additionally, Musk's decision to cancel an agreement with the 58-year-old television personality for content creation on X (formerly Twitter) was revealed. The billionaire expressed discontent with Lemon's interview style, comparing it to when he was still employed by CNN.
Lemon expressed his disappointment in a post on the platform, writing: "His commitment to a global town square where all questions can be asked and all ideas can be shared seems not to include questions of him from people like me."
Musk told Lemon their partnership was ending in a text message that simply read, "Contract terminated."
The Tesla owner, known for his views on free speech, did not shy away from addressing the situation. He explained on Twitter, "His approach was basically just 'CNN, but on social media,' which doesn't work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying."
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Musk's company initially announced the talk show deal with Lemon in January, as X aimed to expand its video content and attract well-known hosts to the platform.
Lemon was poised to host three 30-minute episodes a week on the platform before the controversial businessman scrapped the deal.