There were plenty of warning signs, but it’s wasn’t until Covid (“Silly, it’s just like a flu”) that I couldn’t look away any more. Since then his megalomania has only grown. Where does it end?
The one that first gave me pause to think was calling that diving guy a pedo. That's because, even if you believe it, you don't say it if you have millions of rabid followers, as that amounts to destroying someone's life without evidence. The fact he did that shows his questionable character, his beliefs aside.
After this instance I started paying attention and noticed something also mentioned in the article - he never bothers addressing negative claims, he just attacks the person making the claims. That's when my opinion of him went from bad character to bullshiter and bad character.
With Tesla, though, it was always "Elon Musk says..."
Media made a character out of him as much as his own Twitter feed did. Perhaps that was him playing the media fiddle perfectly. Perhaps they also wanted to craft a personal cult around someone, and he was just there at the right time.
It was apparent from very early on that I would never want to work for him. Later I have met ex-Tesla employees who confirmed my concerns (“you work on whatever is his most reason pet idea, dropping everything else”).
I imagine there were many Jewish and Black Model-T Ford owners who felt the same way about Henry Ford.
The only reference to this that I could find was a few Indian news sites talking about it, like: https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/bill-gates-poured-mi...
A statement like that is like catnip to most US media, so it would have blown up, and it hasn't, so...
The article described Musk responding to a Breitbart article which speciously claims that Gates is funding millions of dollars of attacks on Musk though various "public benefit" companies with "What a dick move" [1]. So it seemed believable in that context.
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/bill-gates-poured-mi...