In March 2025, a screenshot of a news program went viral on the Internet, where the billionaire was credited with the following statement: “It’s Ukraine’s fault that everyone hates me.” We decided to check if he said anything like that.
A screenshot of Musk’s alleged interview and his resonant statement were actively discussed by social network users (“VKontakte", X, Facebook, Threads) And blogging platforms. Popular Telegram channels also wrote about this: “Ax Live"(919,000 views at the time of writing the analysis), "Insider UA"(456,000), "KB"(234,000), "Militarist"(147,000), "Bocharik (yep, that same one)"(125,000), etc. Some authors later clarified that Musk did not say anything like that, and the media simply “inflated the loud headline.”
At the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Elon Musk provided the Ukrainian military has thousands of Starlink terminals to provide satellite communications in combat conditions. The billionaire said that his Tesla company spent about $80 million on this support. Already in the fall, the billionaire suggested The Pentagon will take on these costs, saying that the company no longer has the ability to provide terminals at its own expense. Around the same time Musk spoke on Twitter (now X) with his own plan for a peaceful resolution of the conflict. According to this plan, Crimea was to remain Russian, and Ukraine was to undertake obligations to maintain neutrality. In September 2023, it spread on the Internet news, that earlier Musk allegedly ordered to turn off some of the Starlink satellites, thereby disrupting the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ attack on Russian Navy ships in Crimea. However, the billionaire himself claimedthat the satellites did not initially work in the area of the annexed peninsula. Billionaire in February 2024 stated, that he does not believe in Ukraine’s victory and that Putin cannot lose. Another year later Musk called hold elections in Ukraine, because, in his opinion, the citizens of the country are actually despise Vladimir Zelensky and would like to replace him as president.
The businessman’s statements on the topic of Ukraine often caused a sharply negative reaction from many Internet users, including under Musk’s posts on his social network X. Therefore, it is easy to assume that the billionaire could have gotten the impression that many people disliked him because of his position on the war in Ukraine. However, on its own page in X, which he is very active in, Musk did not voice such an accusation.
Judging by the logo on the distributed screenshot, Musk allegedly made his statement in an interview with Fox News in the author's program Sean Hannity. The image began to circulate on March 13, but neither on that day nor during the previous week did the TV presenter release an interview with the businessman. The results of a reverse image search actually lead to the Fox News website, where it was published on February 21, 2025 article under the headline "NIH Funding Cuts: Federal Judge Extends Restraining Order Blocking Trump Administration Action." The article contains an excerpt from a Fox News news release; the video's title screen is the same viral shot with Musk. Although the facial expressions on the billionaire’s face and the time in the lower left corner are the same, the title in the original is completely different: “Musk: America will go bankrupt if we don’t solve the [budget] deficit.”
The fragment used in the news was cut from interview, which Hannity took from Musk and US President Donald Trump and aired on February 18. Throughout the episode, the headline from the viral screenshot never appears on the screen. Moreover, in the interview not mentioned Ukraine and the supposed universal hatred of Musk. The issues being discussed by the US President and his closest ally center around the fiscal austerity they are pushing.
The earliest publication of the image that Verified could find was done by user @bure_vest on social network X on March 13 at 10:03 Moscow time. The post received more than a thousand likes and about a hundred reposts, and, judging by the comments to them, many users took the screenshot at face value, not paying attention to description account, which, among other things, states: “An anonymous satirical and parody account from a NATO member country.”
Thus, Musk did not claim that everyone hates him because of Ukraine. Moreover, the updates that the authors of some of the publications under review added, as if Fox News had distorted Musk’s words, are also untrue. There was no such headline on the TV channel at all, and the image used as evidence was edited and first published on a satirical blog on the social network X.
Cover photo: social networks
Read on the topic:
- "Gvara Media". Fake. On Fox News, Musk blamed Ukraine for why everyone hates him
- Did Elon Musk say that he respects Vladimir Putin and wants to shake his hand?
- Is it true that Elon Musk sent obscene words to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Twitter?
- Is it true that Elon Musk was glad that Bakhmut was surrounded by Russian troops?
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