The Most Brutal Nicknames Elon Musk Has Been Given

The bromance between Donald Trump and Elon Musk may go down as the strangest partnership in White House history. Musk declared his "love" for Trump "as much as a straight man can love another man" on his X (formerly known as Twitter) account. The feelings may not be mutual: Trump's description of Musk as "childlike" hints their dynamic is weirder than anyone imagined. Still, the president seems happy to have the SpaceX founder heading up his officially unofficial Department of Government Efficiency. Having Musk slash federal jobs gives Trump more time to focus on bringing back plastic straws and renaming bodies of water. 

Other folks aren't as delighted with Musk or his doings as the president is. In fact, the billionaire has been called a number of uncomplimentary nicknames that rival the president's own infamous jeers at his political rivals, which is why you won't see Musk being called "Sleepy," "Pocahontas," "Low Energy," "Low-IQ," or "Little Rocket Man" (Trump already claimed those). These are a few of the more memorable epithets that have been hurled his way. 

The head of DOGE doesn't really resemble a large marsh-dwelling rodent with water-repellent fur and webbed hind feet. However, when you have a similar-sounding name, you just set yourself up for tweaking by online wits. In 2014, actress Mara Wilson ("Matilda") posted on what was then Twitter, "Someone remind me whether or not Elon Musk is actually a libertarian." In response, user Josh Crowley joked, "Most people don't know this but he actually shortened his name from Elongated Muskrat when he moved from South Africa." The nickname caught fire and has been reused many times on Twitter/X and Reddit over the years. Some X users have even created accounts using variants of the name. "Everyone's calling him Elongated Muskrat now, but I was doing it way back in 2014," Crowley protested in 2018. 

A quick search for "Elongated Muskrat" on X will bring up a slew of tweets slinging mud at the Tesla creator. One user, however, has vowed to stop using the slur: "I would like to publicly apologize to the muskrat populations of the world," they wrote. "For a while, I referred to the dumbass as Elongated Muskrat. This is a great insult to the innocent muskrats [of] the world, and I would like to DEEPLY apologize to them. I will do my best to repent."

Another of Elon Musk's derogatory nicknames comes as the result of a rather bizarre feud. In 2018, controversial rapper Azaelia Banks was putting together her second album and reportedly wanted to collaborate with singer Grimes, Musk's then-girlfriend. Banks claims Grimes brought her to Musk's Los Angeles home to stay while they worked, then ghosted her completely. This led to a grudge that continues to this day, with Banks regularly lashing out against the X owner on his own platform. Among her insults is a nickname she coined: "Apartheid Clyde," a reference to his father's alleged stakeholding in an emerald mine in Zambia during the apartheid era. Asked where the name came from, Banks tweeted, "I freestyled that."

Banks is unapologetic about targeting Musk. "[H]e is a f***ing chaotic mess I love it," she admitted. "He's like Older White Male Lindsay Lohan ... this is pop culture honey." Could another viral Elon nickname be on the horizon?

If ever there was a doubt about Elon Musk's support for Donald Trump, that doubt was erased in October 2024 when he made a memorable appearance at a campaign rally. The future head of DOGE walked onto the stage, then jumped into the air a few times before taking the podium. He repeated the performance at another rally a few days later, leaping triumphantly before the approving crowd.

Tim Walz, Kamala Harris's running mate, was less approving of the stunt. Commenting on Musk's antics at a rally in Wisconsin, the vice-presidential hopeful sneered (via Newsweek), "Look, Elon is on that stage, skipping around like a dips***t on these things." Walz continued on a more serious note, warning that Musk could be given unreserved and undeserved power if Trump were reelected. 

The slaps didn't stop after the election. Twice in February 2025, Walz jabbed at Musk on his own X platform. First, he commented, "Elon Musk is a terrible president," to which Musk responded with a meme jibe referencing the Minnesota governor's state law requiring menstrual products in all school bathrooms. Two days later, Walz went on the attack again, saying, "The richest man in the world is sitting at the Resolute desk, about to defund your public school. Trump should stop him." This time, Musk was ready with an I'm-rubber-you're-glue retort: "What's your name again? I forgot." 

Another of Musk's nicknames dates back to 2020 when Donald Trump was first president but the bromance was still some years away. Newly developed COVID-19 tests were enabling people to determine whether their aches and coughs were the result of the coronavirus or just a bad case of the sniffles. Musk, however, was skeptical, calling the tests "extremely bogus" on (what was then) Twitter after getting conflicting results on two swabs. In response, Canadian biomedical research scientist Emma Bell tweeted (per Newsweek) that the rapid antigen test was most effective in detecting the virus in very active cases. "What's bogus is that Space Karen didn't read up on the test before complaining to his millions of followers," she said. It was a clever mashup of Musk's SpaceX venture and the whiny, entitled "Karen" archetype.

Twitter's San Francisco headquarters has gone hardcore tonight. #TwitterTakeover pic.twitter.com/DoG5pDD4AD

— StrictlyRockers 🇺🇦🌻 (@christoq) November 18, 2022

Two years later, the nickname made another public appearance after Musk took ownership of Twitter, changed its name to X, and jettisoned much of its staff. An unknown critic managed to project a message crawl across Twitter's San Francisco headquarters, calling Musk a "worthless billionaire," "bankruptcy baby," "petulant pimple," and other insults — including "Space Karen." 

Of all the nicknames Elon Musk has been called, the one that deserves the top spot is one he created himself. Musk reached new levels of immature with an antic on X in which he created a parody account under the name "Harry Bōlz" and offered "circumcisions at a discount." It was his way of protesting the USAID-funded circumcisions being performed in developing nations for the sake of public health, but it had an unexpected fringe benefit. CNN's Dana Bash mentioned the nickname when quoting the tweet on-air, which caused Musk to chortle, "Made them say my name." 

His fans, naturally, were there for it. "I love it that a guy so smart and so busy with such lofty things as govt. waste and launching rockets into space can still find the time and humor to make jokes like these," wrote one respondent. Other reactions weren't as complimentary. "He honestly has personality traits of a junior high boy, trying to impress others by what he thinks is clever," a critic said. Meidas Touch's Ron Filipkowski pointed out one particular irony: At the same time Musk was going public with his off-color handle, actor/MAGA stalwart Jon Voight was posting a video calling him "a man of dignity and truth."