Clearly, Elon Musk doesn't like being mocked. Or they'd take the plane to Lake Tanganyika [in Zambia], where Errol had a stake in an emerald mine. Our offices are for administrative purposes only, no visitors will be accepted without an appointment. (We'll have more on Vance's Bloomberg.com interview later in this story.). "I screwed up the marriage, I was totally responsible. Errol made money by consulting and developing properties, Forbes reported. His parents divorced. Once the kids were living with me, they visited their father some weekends. He was bullied at school. He did the investment after selling a plane for about 80 000. "Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done It's so terrible, you can't believe it. The tweet was shared as a screenshot on Imgur.com, which showed the image had been viewed more than 300,000 times. The emerald mine story, reported in 2018 in Business Insider, tells how, in the mid-1980s, Errol acquired a half-share in a Zambian emerald mine, which would help to fund his familys lavish lifestyle of yachts, skiing holidays, and expensive computers.. Copyright Blue Sky Publications Ltd. All Rights Reserved. The funding we raised for our first company came from a small group of random angel investors in Silicon Valley. In a rare interview with Forbes, Errol revealed that his parents were the first to ever fly from South Africa to Australia in a single-engine airplane. And then thered still be all these notes sticking out, and wed sort of pull them out and put them in our pockets.. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and his mother, Maye Musk. The rumor of the "apartheid emerald mine" received a spike in shares around the time that Elon Musk completed his takeover of Twitter in late 2022. So we decided to head back to Lake Tanganyika from where we were, I think we were in Djibouti., Errol Musk (father of one Elon Musk) on raising one of the world's most famous billionaires: http://t.co/Fg8xmqN1L0 pic.twitter.com/LVJyMdebZK. Errol was elected to the Pretoria City Council in 1972 and was an outspoken advocate for abolishing apartheid. However, that as well as Errol's claim of owning half of an emerald mine is in stark contrast to what Elon has said about his father's wealth. "But I mean, we were living together. ", He grew up in South Africa and had the good fortune of doing so in an upper-middle-class home. Move over, Elon theres another Musk hitting the headlines. The wealth earned from the investment in the mine was quantified to be about $400,000 USD, taking into account inflation when Arnold's piece was written in 2021, according to Errol. Vance wrote, "For what it's worth, my reporting, based on conversations with hundreds of people, confirms Musk's story. Since at least 2018, a rumor has been shared online about Tesla CEO and Twitter owner Elon Musk in regard to his father's purported past ownership of an "apartheid emerald mine" or "slave emerald mine." . After Maye and Errol divorced in 1980, Elon mostly lived with his father, who says he owned thoroughbred horses, a yacht, several houses and a Cessna. The billionaire, who was born in South Africa, took to Twitter to answer claims made by The Onion about how his family made their money in apartheid South Africa. According to a Facebook post from Errol, the Zambian emerald mine he held a stake in "collapsed in 1989. According to Ashlee Vances 2017 biography of the Tesla founder, The Musk family owned one of the biggest houses in Pretoria thanks to the success of Errols engineering business, which included large projects such as office buildings, retail complexes, residential subdivisions, and an air force base.. But that's more or less where the good fortune ended. Musk's father said that Tiffanys set the $800 emerald in a ring and offered it for $24,000, which he said was an object lesson in retail markup for the family. It was authored by Jeremy Arnold with The Save Journalism Committee. The Associated Press, 20 July 2021, https://apnews.com/article/business-science-3546262d41f4c84763aa15339f642a5a. It was kind of weird for them to walk into Tiffanys. "Elon Musk and the Emerald Mine." For the state of Texas, The Onion printed, "Elon Musk: Apartheid.". "'His Family Stole an Emerald Mine.'" When Errol and Maye divorced in 1979, a then-8-year-old Elon chose to live with his dad. He had this sense that it was definitely not a safe place to be, and he had to get the hell out.. [20] Musk has a total of seven children. I couldnt even afford a 2nd PC at Zip2, so programmed at night & website only worked during day.. The user tweeted: If this is half of an article is a small glimpse into the apartheid mines his [family-owned] haha even [T]he Onion tells more truthful stories than CNN and Fox. Arnold paraphrased his answers, publishing that he said "it was a handshake deal with a Panamanian man that resulted in something like 110 emeralds up front and then a semi-regular trickle of rough stones over a few years following," and that "there was never formal ownership.". "And we got emeralds for the next six years.". Elon Musk addressed the recent social storm when claims related his familys emerald mines in apartheid-South Africa resurfaced online. However, any reconciliation was apparently short-lived. Instead, they focus on describing how hard he worked in his teenage years and early adulthood, how much debt he accrued by attending college and his disdain for his father. [4], Musk met Maye Haldeman when he was 11 years old and they were childhood friends before marrying in 1970. Where is this B.S. EM: Company death not succeeding with the company causes me a lot more stress than physical danger. In the interview, Musk's father explained that he bought his share of the emerald mine after selling a plane to a group of Italians. In 2017, family members were left stunned when Jana became pregnant with Errols baby. Arnold's story included answers from Errol about the mine, who said he had "very limited involvement" in it. Hes the son of Maye Musk, a model and dietitian from Canada, and Errol Musk, a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, and sailor. We reached out to AskMen.com to ask if the fact that some of the pages were gone was a glitch, or if it was a purposeful partial removal. "I'm naturally good at engineering that's because I inherited it from my father," he told Rolling Stone. Beyond that, we were unable to find any evidence that showed money generated from his father's involvement in the mine helped Elon build his wealth in North America. coming from?. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Errol and Heide had two children of their own, but he also helped raise Jana. Imgur, 5 Dec. 2019, https://imgur.com/SHGhIY2. To me, he sure is trying to make the world better right now, and that's the best thing he could do with his father's money. I couldn't find my passport so I ended up grabbing my brother's which turned out to be six months overdue! By clicking Accept All Cookies, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. He would throw out everything they arrived with, so I had to buy them all new clothes and school things. Musk replied, linking to Jeremy Arnolds article, which gave Musks side of the story. [11] The family lived in Pretoria,[10][12] where Maye worked as a dietician and a model. Errol Musk (born 1946) is a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, sailor, consultant, and property developer who was once a co-owner of a Zambian emerald mine near Lake Tanganyika. But little else is known about Errol outside of his native South Africa, where he has made a name for himself as a high-powered engineer, property developer and political advocate who vehemently opposed apartheid. Errol built his wealth as a prominent electromechanical engineer and entrepreneur in South Africa, reports The South African. "Elon Musk Is the Hero America Deserves." Former Tesla employee Marcus Vaughn, who worked in the Fremont, California, factory in 2017, alleged that the companys production floor was a hotbed for racist behavior. Supervisors regularly used the N word around Black workers and he said he was fired after complaining to human resources about workplace harassment. While the story did mention the family once lived in a popular suburb, the article said nothing of the emerald mine providing wealth to the son when he moved to Canada in 1988, or to the U.S. in 1992. Quora, 9 Mar. It spoke of the divorce of Elon's parents, Errol and Maye Musk, and also contained a quick mention of an emerald mine. We went to this guys prefab, and he opened his safe, and there [were] just stacks of money, and he paid me out 80,000, It was a huge amount of money, he said. Arnold, Jeremy. Elon, 51, was brought to tears discussing his dad in a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, describing him as evil and a terrible human being.. He said that he sold and traded these emeralds himself and that at one point, Elon himself even went out to sell some of the stones. You have no idea. The gist of the claim was that Elon's father, Errol Musk, who reports say has been estranged from his son for some time, owned an emerald mine during apartheid in South Africa, and that it. Elon Musk isn't innovative. He didnt own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt. I can't see any reason not to. A common story about Musk on social media is that his father owned part of an emerald mine, providing a bedrock of wealth that buoyed Elon up to his current level of success. The 76-year-old is most notable for being Elons estranged father, with the pair famously falling out several years ago. [2] His grandmother was the first chiropractor in Canada. In an interview with Business Insider South Africa, Musk's father Errol Musk said he negotiated his way into having partial ownership of an Emerald mine in Zambia along with other assets. Almost every crime you can possibly think of, he has done, he continued. He can't have what he wants and now I am apparently an evil monster.". He said, They just walked into Tiffanys and said, Do you want to buy some emeralds? And they sold two emeralds: one was for $800, and I think the other one was for $1,200. The 76-year-old is most notable for. On Feb. 23, 2018, Business Insider SA published a story with the headline, "'We had so much money we couldn't even close our safe': Elon Musk's Dad tells BI about the family's insanely casual attitude to wealth." He will plan evil. Once again, he said that he paid his own way through college, ending with around $100,000 in student debt, and added thathe started his first company with no funding and one computer he built himself. [23], In 1998, Musk shot and killed three out of six or seven burglars who forced their way into his Johannesburg home and who opened fire upon detection.[24]. The same story appeared to have also been published the day before with the headline, "A teenage Elon Musk once casually sold his father's emeralds to Tiffany & Co. while his dad was sleeping. Elon tweeted that he had $100,000 debt after college. It is often claimed that Musk's father, Errol Musk, once owned shares in a Zambian emerald mine, and that Musk subsequently enjoyed an . Musk readily jumps onto Twitter to refute the charges that his empire was forged with the aid of family wealth, and part of the reason he wanted to talk to merather comically given the rocket launch and, well, trollswas because the jabs bug him, and he hopes to set the record straight. But I didnt really understand at the time what kind of person he was. AskMen, 2 Jan. 2015, https://www.askmen.com/entertainment/right-stuff/elon-musk-interview.html. Errol has long since retired from the engineering business and now lives a quiet life in the Western Cape in South Africa. It didn't work out too well in the end," he said. Maye and Errol divorced in 1980 when Elon was about 9 years old. "Errol also quoted a lower number to me over the phone," Arnold wrote. "Back when I was ~$100k negative with student debt," he wrote. People.Com, 7 Nov. 2022, https://people.com/human-interest/who-is-errol-musk-elon-musk-father/. 2014, https://www.newspapers.com/image/878211644/. Meanwhile, Musk's defenders often say that the mogul has denied this story, though that is not precisely true either. The 51-year-old has refuted claims that he grew up rich amid statements that his father Errol owned an emerald mine in . In the meantime, Musk continues to make waves on multiple technological fronts, all while raising concerns about workers' rights and income inequality. Address: Regus Business Centre 1st Floor, Block B, North Park, Black River Park, 2 Fir Street, Observatory, Cape Town, 7925, South Africa Postal: Blue Sky Publications (Pty) Ltd T/A TheSouthAfrican, PO Box 44354, Claremont, 7735, South Africa, United Kingdom Blue Sky Publications Ltd Company Registration Number: 04683692. Instead Errol returned to South Africa with a half-share in a Zambian emerald mine, which would help to fund his family's lavish lifestyle of yachts, skiing holidays, and expensive computers. We've received your submission. Errol Musk (born 1946) is a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, sailor, consultant, and property developer who was once a co-owner of a Zambian emerald mine near Lake Tanganyika . The claim attracted a response from the billionaire, who said that the claim isn't true. Elon was said to be particularly furious that his father had impregnated his stepsister. Musk responded about the time when the photo was clicked. Errol and Heide had two children together, Alexandra and Asha Rose. Errol himself has an adventurous streak and is an avid sailor and pilot. "Bezos' Comments on Workers after Spaceflight Draws Rebuke." The share in the mine wasnt acquired until the 1980s. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Elon Musks bid to implant chips into human brains shot down by feds, How the feds spend $74M a year to try to censor Americans, US government-funded research tagged Americans for Twitter ban: report, Tesla stock slumps as Master Plan 3 event falls flat with investors, after confirming he fathered a second secret love child, once rumored to be the co-owner of a Zambian emerald mine, an outspoken advocate for abolishing apartheid, Ashlee Vances 2017 biography of the Tesla founder, that he welcomed twochildren with an executive, second child with his ex-girlfriend, Grimes. . The headline of the story read, "Elon Musk Tells Me His Secret Of Success (Hint: It Ain't About The Money).". "She wasn't planned," Errol said of his youngest child. The Buffalo News via San Jose Mercury News via Newspapers.com, 20 Apr. Musk, who is never shy of saying his say online, took to Twitter to show his disappointment with The Onion and took the opportunity to shout-out the publications competition, The Babylon Bee. Errol Musk was born in 1946 in Pretoria to Walter Henry James Musk and Cora Amelia Robinson. He once tweeted he arrived in 1989, not 1988, however. In April 2014, Dana Hull and Patrick May penned an article for San Jose's The Mercury News with the headline, "The otherworldly ambitions of Elon Musk." Where is this bs coming from? So we had this planeload of contraband and an overdue passport from another person. "I Talked to Elon Musk about Journalism and the Blood Emeralds Story." Elon Musk said he and his brother have supported their father since he "ran out of money in 90s." He was reacting to a tweet saying he was from a family that owned an African emerald mine.. 2021, https://www.theonion.com/the-richest-person-in-every-state-and-how-they-made-the-1846312073. That conversation is more valuable but less newsworthy than just resurfacing the same lazy claims every few months, which are guaranteed to get clicks. The Musk name might be one of the most recognizable on the planet, but little is known about its patriarch, Errol Musk. All About Errol Musk." ", Elon has said one of the reasons he is so skilled at engineering is because of his father. Errol Musk is a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, and sailor. My dad was not physically violent with me. But I've been in physical danger before. The story also included the same information from Elon's tweets where he said again that he had "ended up with $100,000 of student debt. [21] As of 2022, Musk and Jana Bezuidenhout were no longer living together. Errol was born in South Africa to a British mother and a South African father. In 2018, Musk also told Business Insider that his father Errol purchased a 50 per cent share in the mine after selling a plane. Later, on Sept. 20, 2022, hecalledRobert Reich "an idiot and a liar" for tweeting a video that pushed the emerald mine wealth rumor as fact. He was such a terrible human being. Your membership is the foundation of our sustainability and resilience. I wish. And, on at least one occasion, his now famous son also took his hand at dealing in the gems, with peculiar results. But the emerald mine story keeps coming back. "Elon Musk's family owns an emerald mine" was corrected to "Elon Musk's family once owned an emerald mine." Ashlee Vance interviewed hundreds of people. ", According to the story, Errol said that Elon "once walked the streets of New York with emeralds in his pocket." Musk had earlier slammed Reich for misrepresenting his background in the post, which argued that "self-made billionaires are a myth" and named the SpaceX founder and other prominent business. We sought evidence in the case that they still had any documentation from past decades about the mine, the around $100,000 in student debt that Elon has repeatedly said he had accumulated during college, or anything else related to Elon's early finances that they have mentioned in past interviews. Errol Musk said he bought half of an emerald mine after selling a plane. On their way to England, Errol and his copilot got word that their original flight plan was going to cost a lot of money. [20] At the time of their daughter's birth, according to The Times, Musk was 72 and Jana Bezuidenhout was 30 years old. . Curiously, Errol has said nothing more about the controversial emerald mine story in the years since, even in recent interviews like his discussion with Forbes last year. Elon and other family members have opened up about years of living in debt after they left South Africa. An avid pilot and sailor, as well as an electrical and mechanical engineer, he made his money consulting and developing properties and retired early. [13] After engaging in extra-marital affairs,[4] Errol and Maye divorced in 1979, and both sons moved in with their father. If I could have another child I would. ---. In Errol's case, we sent a message to his Facebook profile. "Nothing, nothing. Instead, we will concentrate on the two Business Insider South Africa articles mentioned by Arnold that appeared to provide the roots of the "apartheid emerald mine" rumor. Errol and Elons feud has reportedly been exacerbated by the patriarchs eyebrow-raising relationships. Kimbal is a millionaire who owns restaurant chains and spearheads a nonprofit education program, The Kitchen Community, which grows vegetables in the U.S. Tosca is a film producer and director. On Aug. 17, 2009, The New Yorker printed one of the earliest known searchable records of an emerald mine being tied to the Musk name. It was that lifestyle, Errol says, that turned Elon into the kind of merchant adventurer who would laterbreak the rules of the motoring businesswith Tesla, then go on tochange spaceflight with SpaceX, BI reported. For example, on Dec. 28, 2019, hetweetedthat his father "didn't own an emerald mine" and that he (Elon) had worked his way through college, ending up with around $100,000 in student debt. Errol told BI that he was flying from his home in South Africa to the U.K. to sell the plane he was on, with a young Elon in tow. By email, Clash told us he had no idea why it was no longer hosted by Forbes. Though Errol has made headlines in recent years after the births of his two youngest children, he seemingly avoids the spotlight. Shame on you, Onion. Errol Musk was born in Pretoria South Africa to Walter Henry James and Cora Amelia Robinson. Musk's father, Errol, an engineer, married Maye when she was 22, and Musk was born shortly . [Jana] stayed here for about 18 months after Rushi was born. The article was republished in several other newspapers around the U.S. Elon has himself admitted that his father has a very high IQ and is brilliant at engineering.. He continued: He grabbed some weapons, as you could see on the cameras there were some intruders that were coming over the walls, and they were also armed. To me, he sure is trying to make the world better right now, and thats the best thing he could do with his fathers money. So I became a half owner of the mine, and we got emeralds for the next six years.. First, we have republished past statements from both Errol and Elon. The constant resurfacing of the story is probably what spurred Musk into replying on Twitter. In a February 2018 interview with Business Insider South Africa, Musk's father said he did own half share in an emerald mine in Zambia. My Dad provided 10% of a ~$200k angel funding round much later, but by then risk was reduced & round would've happened anyway.". ", Errol and Elon have an acrimonious relationship. The 51-year-old has refuted claims that he grew up rich amid statements that his father Errol owned an emerald mine in South Africa. Errol and Jana welcomed a son, Elliot "Rushi" Rush, in 2017 and a daughter in 2019. ", "You have no idea about how bad. Regardless of your opinion of him, he is aself-made billionaire. "Zip2." Like his son, the wealthy business owner who was once rumored to be the co-owner of a Zambian emerald mine has also been mired in controversy. Elon called the story "actually accurate." Errols grandmother was Canadas first chiropractor, while Errols own mom and dad were the first two people to fly from South Africa to Australia in a single-engine airplane, according to Forbes magazine. A post on Reddit mentioned a theory that said Elon "convinced these publications to remove the articles," but there's no evidence to support that. Kaizer Chiefs to sign more Swallows players. He also claimed, "My father & his extended family have been dependent on financial support from my brother & me for over 20 years.". We contacted Elon publicly on Twitter. On July 3, 2020, Elon tweeted about the subject again, responding to a since-deleted tweet with, "I don't have an 'emerald mine,' nor was I given free money from anyone, inheritance or otherwise. ---. He seemed very sad and lonely by himself. Answer these 2 simple questions & WIN R1000 in cash! Heres his story. "A Teenage Elon Musk Once Casually Sold His Father's Emeralds to Tiffany & Co. It was revealed last weekthat he welcomed twochildren with an executiveat his artificial intelligence company, Neuralink, just weeks before hissecond child with his ex-girlfriend, Grimes,was born. "Tesla, Inc."Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tesla-Motors. You have no idea. One thing most of us can agree on is that there is a more nuanced conversation to be had about how Musk specifically and South Africas white population in general, even those who didnt own mines benefitted from apartheid. Errol was a successful consulting engineer, and also owned an emerald mine in Zambia. Note: The reference to Zip2 concerned Elon's "first enterprise" in 1995. Jordan Liles is a Snopes reporter with expertise in investigating misinformation, inauthentic social media activity, and scams. He's the son of Maye Musk, a model and dietitian from Canada, and Errol Musk, a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, and sailor. Inside the fabulous Dior couture world of 'Mrs. "There's no evidence whatsoever of an 'emerald mine,'" the last part of the tweet read. Theyre the same, except for the fact that he is a billionaire, started multiple successful companies and doesnt live in his mothers basement. "The Richest Person In Every State And How They Made Their Money." Where is this bs coming from? On March 25, 2021, Elon Musktweetedthat the emerald mine inheritance rumor was false, and that he had arrived by himself in Canada in 1989 "with ~CA$2,500." Instead, Musk has sought to dispel the general belief that he comes from wealth. Moneycontrol.com, 21 Sept. 2022, https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/elon-musk-hits-out-at-us-professor-over-emerald-mine-claims-idiot-and-liar-9208281.html. Market Realist is a registered trademark. Although Musk said that his father was brilliant at engineering in the Rolling Stone interview, thats where the praise ended. And I was too scared to tell anyone [about his violence]," Maye told Harper's Bazaar in 2019. In the interview, the Tesla owner briefly mentioned that his father had a share in an emerald mine in Zambia. Britannica.com, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Zip2. I tried threats, rewards, intellectual arguments, emotional arguments, everything to try to change my father for the better, and he no way, it just got worse., Errol subsequently told the publication in an email: Ive been accused of being a Gay, a Misogynist, a Paedophile, a Traitor, a Rat, a St (quite often), a Bastard (by many women whose attentions I did not return) and much more.
Public Eye Newspaper Chakwal, Articles E