Musk and Vinod Khosla trade insults after Khosla urges employees to quit

Businessinsider reports that Elon Musk and venture-capital founder Vinod Khosla traded barbs on X after Khosla accused Musk of promoting racism and urged employees at Musk's companies to quit and "join our portfolio." Khosla said Musk frames racism as a "great and desirable paradigm," responding to a September post in which Musk wrote that "white people are a rapidly diminishing minority of global population." Khosla wrote, "All non-whites in @tesla, @SpaceX @X etc and all decent whites should quit and join our portfolio," and added, "Email us your linkedin!" The outlet notes Khosla is an Indian-American who immigrated to the US in the 1970s.

Musk responded with insults, calling Khosla a "pompous asshole" and using a slur for people with intellectual disabilities. Musk also wrote, "Vinod, you're not just such a pompous asshole that you tried to stop the public from using a public beach near your house…" and added, "My partner, Shivon, is half Indian and my eldest son with her is named in honor of the great Indian physicist Chandrasekhar." The piece says Musk appeared to be referring to Khosla's yearslong attempt to block public access to Martins Beach on the Peninsula coast in San Mateo County, which runs through his $37 million estate and has prompted multiple lawsuits.

Khosla and Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.