Musk, the professional troll, usually uses his trash-posting abilities for pretty silly right-wing purposes, but occasionally, he actually uses his trolling powers for good. That was the case this weekend, when the Tesla CEO used his own website, X, to go after another tech billionaire accused of hogging a public beach in California.
Sun Microsystems’ wealthy co-founder Vinod Khosla has been waging a 15-year legal battle over Martins Beach, a scenic spot along the San Mateo Coast. Back in 2008, Khosla purchased properties surrounding the beach and later attempted to close public access to the road leading to the beach. Lately, he has (sometimes) left the gates open and asked people to park near the beach. Khosla has been sued multiple times by conservation groups and surfer groups accusing him of trying to privatize public beaches.
Musk tagged Khosla in a tweet on Sunday that involved an image of an AI-generated beach sign that read: “Civilians off limits.” It’s not entirely clear why Musk decided to do this Do, although it seems to be related to political differences between the two men.
Wow, that’s crazy @vkhosla Put this sign on a public beach pic.twitter.com/ln46n07kvw
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 21, 2024
This clearly angered Khosla, as he later attacked Musk in a series of tweets. “You should apologize to me for spreading lies,” Khosla posted. “I think your post is a fraudulent photo that needs community comment. I have never posted this sign or anything like it. I think It’s artificial intelligence generated, but you can verify this. It would help
Musk, the bastard that he is, responded: “Sorry, I made a sign restricting your access to public beaches. That was horrible. Please forgive me.” He added a prayer emoji to the tweet.
“Vinod says we should send tens of thousands of unvetted immigrants to small towns across America, but he doesn’t even want the public to walk on his beaches… I’m going to host one on Vinod’s beach Party,” Musk continued slowly. Lost momentum. “When I think of food, I think of barbecue.”
Gizmodo reached out to Khosla for comment.
After Khosla purchased the coastal property around Martins Beach in 2008, he locked the gates to the public beach, hired guards and posted no-trespassing signs, the Mercury News reported. In 2020, he was sued by the public agency California Coastal Commission, which argued that the public had a right to use the road leading to the beach. He was also successfully sued by surfing groups. Khosla is clearly spreading lies, calling the Coastal Commission a group of “communists.”
