Jordan Liles is a Snopes reporter with expertise in investigating misinformation, inauthentic social media activity, and scams. He talks about the risk factors for Bitcoin as an investment asset including origin risk, speculative market structure, regulatory, and environment. 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. Musk, Elon. "And we got emeralds for the next six years.". Elon Musk (~16 years old) & Kimbal Musk sold gems from the Zambian emerald mine to world-famous "Tiffany & Co." on Fifth Avenue in New York - one of the world's most famous jewelers. Invest in the future today. . Elon, by his father's recollection then probably 16 years old, and his brother Kimbal, decided to sell emeralds to Tiffany & Co. on Fifth Avenue in New York . He was such a terrible human being. He will plan evil. Elon Musk isn't innovative. We also reached out to both men for additional comment and to ask if they could potentially provide any evidence that would support their statements, even though they didn't start the rumor. I was 15 and really wanted to go with him but didn't realize how dangerous it was. 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. The entire episode started when the satirical publication The Onion published a piece on the wealthiest person in each American state. Maye and Errol divorced in 1980 when Elon was about 9 years old. Smart Policies are as low as $30 a month, No Medical Exam Required How much of a Momentum Proteas Womens cricket fan are you? The story also included the same information from Elon's tweets where he said again that he had "ended up with $100,000 of student debt. He has also dismissed rumors that his father co-owned a Zambian emerald mine, writing on Twitter in 2019: He didnt own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt. 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. 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. Errol Musk says teenage Elon Musk once casually walked around with emeralds in his pocket. " he told the outlet. "'His Family Stole an Emerald Mine.'" It spoke of the divorce of Elon's parents, Errol and Maye Musk, and also contained a quick mention of an emerald mine. Errol also shared how his sons got involved in the family business and recalled a time when Elon and his brother Kimbal sold a few of the emeralds from his mine to Tiffany & Co. in New York City. Twitter, https://twitter.com/elonmusk/. "Elon Musk Hits out at US Professor over Emerald Mine Claims: 'Idiot and Liar.'" Heres his story. Musk's father said that Tiffanys set the $800 emerald in a ring and offered it for $24,000, which he said was an object lesson in retail markup for the family. All About Errol Musk." Elon would later get his own pilot's license but no longer has time to fly. But by many accounts, the issues at the Tesla factory go beyond the need for a thick skin, New York Times reported. He also claimed, "My father & his extended family have been dependent on financial support from my brother & me for over 20 years.". Friend, Tad. From impregnating his stepdaughter to the emerald mine, here's what we know about Elon Musk's South African father Errol Musk. Their half-sister.. In 2018, Musk also told Business Insider that his father Errol purchased a 50 per cent share in the mine after selling a plane. Your membership is the foundation of our sustainability and resilience. But I didnt really understand at the time what kind of person he was. You have no idea. Elon also denied that Errol invested in the company. It was not a good idea.. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. In the mid-1980s, the family profited handsomely from Errol Musk's purchasing of an emerald mine, after selling their airplane for 80,000 (the equivalent of 320,000 today). He told The New York Times that as a member of the Progressive Party, he opposed apartheid. He began his career as an electromechanical engineer. ", For his part, Errol told the Daily Mail that Elon "needs to grow up" and "get over himself," adding, "I'm not going to hit back. 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. 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. Imgur, 5 Dec. 2019, https://imgur.com/SHGhIY2. [13] After engaging in extra-marital affairs,[4] Errol and Maye divorced in 1979, and both sons moved in with their father. "Elon Musk Is the Hero America Deserves." "Elon Musk's family owns an emerald mine" was corrected to "Elon Musk's family once owned an emerald mine." Ashlee Vance interviewed hundreds of people. Errol Musk bought 50% of the emerald mine in 1969 for about 40,000, which is equal to about 160 000 today. I wish. ", Five days later on Feb. 28, Business Insider SA published a second article with the headline, "Elon Musk's family owns an emerald mine in Zambia here's the fascinating story of how they came to own it.". This article forms part of the archives of Business Insider South Africa, which was published as a partnership between News24 and Insider Inc between 2018 and 2023. 1/2This article is false. It was a lucrative decision. So we went to this guy's prefab and he opened his safe and there was just stacks of money and he paid me out, 80,000, it was a huge amount of money, he said. R/EnoughMuskSpam via Reddit.com, 5 Dec. 2019, www.reddit.com/r/EnoughMuskSpam/comments/e6j76f/his_family_stole_an_emerald_mine/. Musk responded about the time when the photo was clicked. Several respondents on social media disputed the emerald mine and privileged-lifestyle story, defending Musks intelligence and questioning the intelligence of the person who started the thread. In the meantime, Musk continues to make waves on multiple technological fronts, all while raising concerns about workers' rights and income inequality. Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done. In the interview, the Tesla owner briefly mentioned that his father had a share in an emerald mine in Zambia. [11] The family lived in Pretoria,[10][12] where Maye worked as a dietician and a model. The Buffalo News via San Jose Mercury News via Newspapers.com, 20 Apr. We've received your submission. 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. Like his son, the wealthy business owner who was once rumored to be the co-owner of a Zambian emerald mine has also been mired in controversy. The tweet was shared as a screenshot on Imgur.com, which showed the image had been viewed more than 300,000 times. Although Musk said that his father was brilliant at engineering in the Rolling Stone interview, thats where the praise ended. ANC accuses De Ruyter of ruining its good name and reputation, BREAKING: Chiefs confirm another MASSIVE injury blow. "I'm naturally good at engineering that's because I inherited it from my father," he told Rolling Stone. But the emerald mine story keeps coming back. Facebook, 27 July 2020, https://www.facebook.com/errol.musk/posts/10218340000911015. In December 2019, Elon denied the emerald mine-and-lavish-lifestyle story on Twitter, saying it was a lie. I arrived by myself in Canada in 89 with ~CA$2500 Paid my own way through college, ending with ~$100k student debt Started 1st company with no funding & just one computer I built Theres no evidence whatsoever of an emerald mine, 2/2My father & his extended family have been dependent on financial support from my brother & me for over 20 years. "I started my first company with $2,500, and I had one computer and a car that I bought for $1,400, and all that debt. The New York Times, 5 May 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/05/world/africa/elon-musk-south-africa.html. The headline of the story read, "Elon Musk Tells Me His Secret Of Success (Hint: It Ain't About The Money).". And we spent three weeks making our rent-controlled apartment livable in Toronto, Maye tweeted. ", Elon has said one of the reasons he is so skilled at engineering is because of his father. His grandmother broke barriers of her own, becoming the first-ever chiropractor in Canada. 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. . Jana was 4 years old when Errol married her mother, Heide Bezuidenhout though he claims that he didn't consider Jana his stepdaughter, as she primarily grew up separate from the Musks. ". Elon Musk's father planned to fly a plane from South Africa to England and sell it once they got there. There were AK-47s all over the place and I'm thinking, "Man, this could really go bad.". "She wasn't planned," Errol said of his youngest child. The 76-year-old is most notable for being Elons estranged father, with the pair famously falling out several years ago. 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.. Errol Musk was born in 1946 in Pretoria to Walter Henry James Musk and Cora Amelia Robinson. TheSouthAfrican.com is all about South Africa and the stories that affect South Africans, wherever they are in the world. Copyright Blue Sky Publications Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 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. ", In 2018, he explained that he was helping Jana get over a breakup at the time of Rushi's conception, but he initially assumed the baby's father was Jana's ex. He had this sense that it was definitely not a safe place to be, and he had to get the hell out.. Bridges to Italy tweeted, Yeah, hes not that bright, just like the guy who started this thread. 2014, https://www.newspapers.com/image/878211644/. According to a Facebook post from Errol, the Zambian emerald mine he held a stake in "collapsed in 1989. "Back when I was ~$100k negative with student debt," he wrote. "I screwed up the marriage, I was totally responsible. He also called the whole rumor "BS.". On Feb. 23, 2018, Business Insider SA published a story with the headline, "'We had so much money we couldn't even close our safe': Elon Musk's Dad tells BI about the family's insanely casual attitude to wealth." People.Com, 7 Nov. 2022, https://people.com/human-interest/who-is-errol-musk-elon-musk-father/. Almost every crime you can possibly think of, he has done. In 2019, a Twitter user claimed that Musk's father Errol owned an emerald mine. Once again, he said that he paid his own way through college, ending with around $100,000 in student debt, and added thathe started his first company with no funding and one computer he built himself. The funding we raised for our first company came from a small group of random angel investors in Silicon Valley. The 51-year-old has refuted claims that he grew up rich amid statements that his father Errol owned an emerald mine in South Africa. "I Talked to Elon Musk about Journalism and the Blood Emeralds Story." By email, Clash told us he had no idea why it was no longer hosted by Forbes. "Like every abused woman, I was embarrassed, and I knew I had made a mistake, you know? Errols other children we also shocked and uncomfortable about the surprise pregnancy.