I left South Africa by myself when I was 17 with just a backpack & suitcase of books. According to the Twitter flag, Musk claimed in 2014 to Forbes that he had an emerald mine in Zambia. [4], Musk met Maye Haldeman when he was 11 years old and they were childhood friends before marrying in 1970. "A Teenage Elon Musk Once Casually Sold His Father's Emeralds to Tiffany & Co. Who is Errol Musk? What we know about Elon's dad - New York Post "He also claims he was getting emeralds from other sources, with only 60-70% coming from this venture." He will plan evil. The Associated Press, 20 July 2021, https://apnews.com/article/business-science-3546262d41f4c84763aa15339f642a5a. Elon Musk sets record straight on emerald mine and - TESLARATI And thats when Musk's father was offered half an emerald mine in return for half of his earnings. A teenage Elon Musk once casually sold his father's - Businessinsider And then thered still be all these notes sticking out, and wed sort of pull them out and put them in our pockets.. The Onion, a satirical publication, shared. Unlike his son, Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk, Errol has mostly flown under the radar, though the father of seven has had an increasingly public profile over the last few years, largely due to his complicated family relationships. 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. Note: Reporting from Esquire.com said that Elon moved from South Africa to Canada in 1988. The article's headline was changed in late July or early August 2020, which appeared to be after Errol made his Facebook poston July 27, which called the dated article's claims into question. "The Richest Person In Every State And How They Made Their Money." ERROL IS A RETIRED SOUTH AFRICAN ENGINEER. He would throw out everything they arrived with, so I had to buy them all new clothes and school things. At 17, Musk decided to leave home, heading first to Canada and then the U.S. for university. Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 74: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin returns for a new season of the GHOGH podcast to discuss Bitcoin, bubbles, and Biden. Once the kids were living with me, they visited their father some weekends. Viral: When Elon Musk's bank account was in negative due to student Elon and other family members have opened up about years of living in debt after they left South Africa. In a 2019 . Errol was born in South Africa to a British mother and a South African father. 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 admitted to having affairs, but his ex-wife, now a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model, said the problems in their marriage extended beyond infidelity, alleging that Errol was abusive. He is the father of business magnate and billionaire Elon Musk, restaurateur Kimbal Musk, and filmmaker Tosca Musk. Arnold, Jeremy. What Happened: Musk's comments came on a Twitter. 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." It is still hard to discern whether this story is true and what conclusions can be drawn. Where is this bs coming from?" Note: Less than two weeks after Arnold's piece was published in 2021, the satirical website The Onion printed a story with the headline, "The Richest Person In Every State And How They Made Their Money." "Can Elon Musk Really Get Us To Mars Within 10 Years?" In an interview with The Sun, Errol recalled the attack, claiming that he was confronted by a group of seven men inside his home and shot back at the intruders after they opened fire. The constant resurfacing of the story is probably what spurred Musk into replying on Twitter. "Elon Musk Is the Hero America Deserves." 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. [22] He is estranged from his son Elon. 2023 The Moguldom Nation. Rolling Stone reported in 2017 that Errol was, by his own account, making money in the often dangerous worlds of construction and emerald mining at times so much that he claims he couldnt close his safe.. It spoke of the divorce of Elon's parents, Errol and Maye Musk, and also contained a quick mention of an emerald mine. In 2019, a Twitter user claimed that Musk's father Errol owned an emerald mine. Elliot Rush Musk Biography: Age, Networth and All you need to know "I Talked to Elon Musk about Journalism and the Blood Emeralds Story." After his divorce from Elons mother, Errol went on to wed HeideBezuidenhout, a young widow who already had two children, including 4-year-old Jana Bezuidenhout. The Musk name might be one of the most recognizable on the planet, but little is known about its patriarch, Errol Musk. Elon Musk does not care about Black people.Example after example after example. Errol and his stepdaughter, Jana Bezuidenhout, share two children. Clearly, Elon Musk doesn't like being mocked. How A Rumor About Elon Musk's Family Emerald Mine Fortune Took A Life In an interview with Express, Cattrell recalled: One night, they were sitting in the living room and his dad said Everybody down! After the divorce, Elon lived mostly with his father until he left South Africa at age 17 partly to avoid conscription in the South African army. He didnt own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt. coming from?. In the past, the Tesla CEO hasrespondedseveral times on Twitter about the emerald mine rumors. 2014, https://www.newspapers.com/image/878211644/. For a while, I thought things were so obvious that everyone must know this., However, Elon has disputed claims that he grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth. All About Errol Musk", "50 years of Elon Musk's huge wealth, from emeralds to SpaceX and Tesla", "How Elon Musk made his money - from emeralds to SpaceX and Tesla", "Elon Musk Left a South Africa That Was Rife With Misinformation and White Privilege", "At 68, Maye Musk, the Mother of Elon, Is Reclaiming the Spotlight", "El padre de Elon Musk dice que la ambicin de su hijo se debe a la educacin austera que recibi: "Fui un padre estricto", "BBC Two - The Elon Musk Show, Series 1, Episode 2", "Elon Musk's dad reveals he fathered an "unplanned" child with his stepdaughter", "Elon Musk's father has baby with step-daughter he has known since she was four", "Elon Musk's father confirms second child with his own stepdaughter - report", "Errol Musk explains why he got his stepdaughter pregnant", "Ayah Elon Musk Punya Bayi dari Hubungan dengan Putri Tirinya", "Meet Elon Musk's controversial father, Errol", "Errol Musk hat Kind mit Stieftochter: "Wir sind zum Fortpflanzen auf der Welt", "Elon Musk's Dad Says Company Wants His Sperm to Impregnate 'High-Class' Women", Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors, Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Errol_Musk&oldid=1142497006, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 18:50. It was a lucrative decision. On Wednesday, Errol confirmed that he and Jana had welcomed a second child, a daughter who is now 3. They still feel a bit creepy about it., They still dont like it, Errol admitted in a new interview withthe Sun: They still feel a bit creepy about it because shes their sister. At some point after the shooting, the relationship between dad Errol and son Elon soured. Its obvious why Musk would want to distance himself from apartheid in every possible way. It was that lifestyle, Errol says, that turned Elon into the kind of merchant adventurer who would later break the rules of the motoring business with Tesla, then go on to change spaceflight with SpaceX. And we spent three weeks making our rent-controlled apartment livable in Toronto, Maye tweeted. 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. Given Elon Musks interest in exploration and adventure, its no surprise he descends from intrepid stock, and its Errols side of the family that is seemingly responsible for his innovative, envelope-pushing genes. According to the story, in the mid-1980s, Errol and a copilot landed their plane near Lake Tanganyika in Zambia, where "a group of Italians" offered them 80,000 pounds in British currency in order to buy the plane. Elon Musk's father, Errol Musk, remains a mysterious figure, and there is still no common consensus how his work or his wealth during Elon's childhood. Meanwhile, Elon has himself admitted that his father has a very high IQ and is brilliant at engineering. In 2017, he also told Rolling Stone that Errol was the youngest person to get a professional engineers qualification in South Africa., Im naturally good at engineering thats because I inherited it from my father, the worlds richest man stated. 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. I wish. In the biography Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, author Ashlee Vance wrote that Errol invested $28,000 in Elon and Kimbal's then-fledgling company, Zip2. He can't have what he wants and now I am apparently an evil monster.". Arnold's story included answers from Errol about the mine, who said he had "very limited involvement" in it. 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. "Bezos' Comments on Workers after Spaceflight Draws Rebuke." If I could have another child I would. 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. Ask him." Their plane got diverted, which led to a chance meeting with Italians who wanted to buy the plane in cash. "One thing led to another you can call it God's plan or nature's plan. Elon may have been 6 or 7 years old at the time and begged his dad to get him a ticket to a very early computer conference in South Africa. While His Dad Was Sleeping." [2] In 1969, he became a 50% owner of an emerald mine on Lake Tanganyika,[2][5] that he bought for 40,000, funded by selling an airplane for 80,000 (the equivalent of 320,000 today). The netizen claimed that the Business Insider article didnt show the real extent of the Musk family profiting from apartheid. "We were very wealthy. While in Djibouti, he and his co-pilot sold their plane to some Italian nationals. 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. He also added, "'Self-made billionaires' are a myth." Who is Errol Musk? Five things to know about Elon's SA father There was a shooting in the living room, and I guess his father shot them dead. 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. Errol was a successful consulting engineer, and also owned an emerald mine in Zambia. 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 was . The Daily Mail has reported that Errol was a multimillionaire before the age of 30. He is the father of Elon Musk, the CEO of 'SpaceX,' 'Tesla, Inc.,' and 'Neuralink' and one of the co-founders of 'PayPal.' Errol is mostly known for his scandalous life and his estranged relationship with his children. 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. Errol Musk was born in Pretoria South Africa to Walter Henry James and Cora Amelia Robinson. Errol Musk says teenage Elon Musk once casually walked around with emeralds in his pocket. Earlier in this story, we referenced a July 3, 2020, tweet from Elon that mentioned Vance's interview. Where is this bs coming from? People.Com, 7 Nov. 2022, https://people.com/human-interest/who-is-errol-musk-elon-musk-father/. "Elon Musk Tells Me His Secret Of Success (Hint: It Ain't About The Money)." So I became a half owner of the mine, and we got emeralds for the next six years., When the Tesla CEO was around 16 years old, he and his brother Kimbal sold two emeralds to Tiffany & Co. on Fifth Avenue in New York City while Errol snoozed, according to what Musk's father told Business Insider South Africa. Elon Musk Gets Triggered By A Joke From 'The Onion' - Forbes There were AK-47s all over the place and I'm thinking, "Man, this could really go bad.". [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]. 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. "So I became a half-owner of the mine, and we got emeralds for the next six years," Errol said. Errol told Business Insider South Africa that he once owned half of an emerald mine in Zambia, which he claimed to have purchased on a whim. . The 76-year-old is most notable for. He was only physically violent when I was very young., He also said, You have no idea about how bad. After the end of the article, a note was added that read, "BI SA reached out to Elon for confirmation of the tale, but he did not respond. As a child, Elon had a close relationship with his father and grew up prosperous in Pretoria. Elon Musk's father Errol was penniless in the '90s & Tesla chief helped [17] Later in life, after splitting from Heide Bezuidenhout, he fathered two children with her daughter (his former step-daughter) Jana Bezuidenhout; a son born in 2017 and a daughter born in 2019. "There was just stacks of money and he paid me out, 80,000, it was a huge amount of money." ", Inoneof the tweets from Elon in which he refuted the emerald mine rumor, he linked to an article that had been published on March 9, 2021. Who Is Elon Musk's Dad Errol Musk? | Entrepreneur Quora, 9 Mar. 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. @Keewa tweeted on May 9, 2020, Remind: Elon Musk inherited money from his fathers apartheid emerald mine, that doesnt mean hes clever. We had so much money at times we couldnt even close our safe, he explained, adding that they would need one person to hold the money in place and another to close the safe door. Fortier, Alexander. He's having a tantrum, like a spoilt child. On holidays, Errol and his kids would travel, he said: to Europe, Hong Kong, throughout the United States. I couldnt even afford a 2nd PC at Zip2, so programmed at night & website only worked during day. Errol Musk was born in 1946 in Pretoria to Walter Henry James Musk and Cora Amelia Robinson. Elon Musk was highlighted as the wealthiest resident of Texas, Americas second-biggest state. This is a pretty awful lie. On May 22, 2020, Bloomberg.com published an interview with Elon, which was penned by Ashlee Vance. [10] She gave birth to three children; Elon Reeve Musk born on 28 June 1971, Kimbal Reeve Musk born on 20 September 1972, and Tosca Musk born on 20 July 1974. The patriarch confirmed the shootings to the publication in 2017, saying manslaughter charges were later dropped because he acted in self-defense. [3][4], Musk worked as a pilot, a sailor, an electrical engineer, a mechanical engineer, a consultant, and a property developer, before retiring early. Elon Musk's father planned to fly a plane from South Africa to England and sell it once they got there. He did the investment after selling a plane for about 80 000. "I said, 'Oh, all right.' 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. I couldnt even afford a 2nd PC at Zip2, so programmed at night & website only worked during day.. Elon would later get his own pilot's license but no longer has time to fly. The interview is no longer available on the Forbes website. In a 2017 email to employees which the company later released in response to one of the lawsuits, Elon warned against being a huge jerk to members of a historically less represented group. He also wrote, if someone is a jerk to you, but sincerely apologizes, it is important to be thick-skinned and accept that apology.. All Rights Reserved. I couldnt even afford a second [computer] at [web software company] Zip2, so [I] programmed at night and the website only worked during the day. The funny thing is I've not actually been that nervous. Elon Musk Denies The Existence Of His Family's Emerald Mine In Africa The story included reporting of Elon's denials that the emerald mine had provided any seed money for the wealth he would later accumulate. Errol Musk's Emerald Mine (@ErrolsEmeralds) / Twitter SpaceX, his rocket company, is valued at $20 billion-plus. All rights reserved. Went to Queens Univ with scholarship & debt, then same to UPenn/Wharton & Stanford., In a follow-up tweet, Elon said his father didnt own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt.. D'Innocenzio, Anne. The billionaire, who was born in South Africa, took to. Elon Musk denies his family's emerald mine ever existed The New York Times, 5 May 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/05/world/africa/elon-musk-south-africa.html. [11] The family lived in Pretoria,[10][12] where Maye worked as a dietician and a model. Although Musk said that his father was brilliant at engineering in the Rolling Stone interview, thats where the praise ended. Elon Musk, After Emerald Mine Twitter Spat, Says Father Errol Ran Out 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. Although Tesla stands out as a groundbreaking company at the forefront of the electric car revolution, its standard operating procedure at the Tesla factory is pre-civil-rights-era race discrimination, Vaughn wrote in his complaint, according to a Daily Beast report. In an interview with Rolling Stone, during which he reportedly cried, Elon called his father "a terrible human being" and "evil. Thereafter you will be billed R75 per month. Eligon, John, and Lynsey Chutel. "The Man Who's Revolutionizing The Future Of Driving -- And The Universe." Vance, Ashlee. So we had this planeload of contraband and an overdue passport from another person. Errol Musk, the father of Elon Musk, told British tabloid The Sun Wednesday that he had a second and previously-unknown child with his stepdaughter, Jana Bezuidenhout, in 2019 leaving many. He added that Elon left the country as "a clear indication of his willingness to not support the political suppression in the country. Black Americans Have the Highest Mortality Rates But Lowest Levels of Life Insurance On an undisclosed date, Errol reportedly shot and killed three of up to a half-dozen armed intruders who broke into his Johannesburg home, according to Rolling Stone. Aside from that hes just dumb. "[4][8], In 1972, he was elected to the Pretoria City Council as a representative of the anti-apartheid Progressive Party. The child, a boy named Elliot Rush, is now 5 years old. Nothing, nothing. "Back when I was ~$100k negative with student debt," he wrote. I was 15 and really wanted to go with him but didn't realize how dangerous it was. I couldnt even afford a 2nd PC at Zip2, so programmed at night & website only worked during day. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Rumor is Errol Musk owned an emerald mine. 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. This material may not be reproduced without permission. "Elon Musk Left a South Africa That Was Rife With Misinformation and White Privilege." FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT ERROL MUSK 1. The Onion, 22 Mar. Harris Goe Canadian teacher with size-Z prosthetic breasts placed on paid leave, What's next for Buster Murdaugh after dad's murder conviction, life sentence, Murdaugh son collapsed outside court after sitting stone-faced through dad's 6-week murder trial: source, Murderer Alex Murdaugh shaves head for latest mugshot after learning his fate, Kelly Osbourne posts first photo of baby son as he hangs out with uncle Jack, Greys Anatomy alum Isaiah Washington retiring from acting: The haters have won, Madonna watches new boyfriend Joshua Poppers fight in New York City, Kellyanne Conway and George Conway to divorce. He began his career as an electromechanical engineer. Errol owned one of the largest homes in Pretoria and took his children on many overseas trips, according to the book, Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, written by Ashlee Vance. All Rights Reserved. It was kind of weird for them to walk into Tiffanys. Errol employed a cutter in Johannesburg and sold the stones wherever his travels as an engineer or family holidays took him. As well as providing links, people started commenting Musk's own words back at him under his tweet. In 2018, Musk also told Business Insider that his father Errol purchased a 50 per cent share in the mine after selling a plane. Its so terrible, you cant believe it.. Maye and Errol divorced in 1980 when Elon was about 9 years old. Where is this bs coming from? In that way, Errol might be like estranged Elon after all. However, again, the story was at least partially unavailable on that website, too. Bloomberg.com, 22 May 2020. www.bloomberg.com, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-05-22/elon-musk-speaks-frankly-on-coronavirus-spacex-and-rage-tweets. He attended Queens University in Canada. On July 28, 2014, Forbes.com published an interview with Elon Musk, which was conducted by Jim Clash. Meet Elon Musk's controversial father, Errol The claim attracted a response from the billionaire, who said that the claim isn't true. Address: Riverbank House, 1 Putney Bridge Approach, London, SW6 4TJ. 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. ", According to the story, Errol said that Elon "once walked the streets of New York with emeralds in his pocket." The eccentric billionaire once again attempted to set the record straight about his familys emerald mines to respond to Twitter user @howlpolitically. 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. Copyright 2023 Market Realist. You have no idea.. "So we decided to head back to Lake Tanganyika from where we were, I think we were in Djibouti.". Bill Gates' mom helped Microsoft get a deal with IBM. "Errol also quoted a lower number to me over the phone," Arnold wrote. 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.. In 2017, Errol told Rolling Stone that while he has never intentionally hurt or threatened anyone, he once shot and killed a group of burglars at his home in Johannesburg, though he says he was cleared of all charges because he acted in self-defense. I left South Africa by myself when I was 17 with just a backpack & suitcase of books. Standing with the cash in his hand, Errol was made another offer he couldn't refuse: Would he like to buy half an emerald mine for half of his new riches? Errol Musk, the familys patriarch, is in the news after confirming he fathered a second secret love child with his stepdaughter, Jana Bezuidenhout, 35. Maye and Errol divorced in 1980 when Elon was about 9 years old. The way Errol tells it, that all started with an inconvenient religious holiday. You can cancel anytime and if you cancel within 14 days you won't be billed. . 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. Here is the incredible true story of Errol Musk and the striking similarities he shares with his powerful son. Ive tried everything. Errol and a co-pilot were flying a plane from South Africa to England to sell the aircraft but when they couldn't make a scheduled stop in Saudi Arabia, he pivoted his plan and changed his life. Market Realist is a registered trademark. luis carruthers @orthereaboot tweeted, When the same pattern of racist behavior happens at all $tsla locations, its the company thats racist, and the fish rots from @elonmusks head.. Business Insider South Africa, 22 Feb. 2018, https://www.businessinsider.co.za/elon-musk-sells-the-family-emeralds-in-new-york-2018-2. My dad was not physically violent with me. [21] As of 2022, Musk and Jana Bezuidenhout were no longer living together. 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." But I didnt really understand at the time what kind of person he was. "Elon Musk Hits out at US Professor over Emerald Mine Claims: 'Idiot and Liar.'" Elon Musk Says He and His Brother Financed Their Father Errol Since 1990s Elon clarified that his father was never physically abusive toward him and that he once tried to mend the relationship by inviting his father to live with him in the United States. Twitter, https://twitter.com/elonmusk/. "Everybody I knew called him 'the Pig' because he treated me so badly in public. [11][5] Maye has stated that Errol beat her. Move over, Elon theres another Musk hitting the headlines. 1/2This article is false. "Elon Musk: The College Years." 2021, https://www.quora.com/Is-it-true-that-Elon-Musks-family-got-their-wealth-from-apartheid-emerald-mining. Worked on my Moms cousins farm in Saskatchewan & a lumber mill in Vancouver. Elon Musk's Dad Errol Fathered Child With His 30-Year-Old - Insider I'm going to wait until he comes to his senses. Errol and Elons feud has reportedly been exacerbated by the patriarchs eyebrow-raising relationships. 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.