Musk and Murdoch Steal the Show at 2023 Super Bowl

Examining the significance of Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch’s ‘casual hangout’ during “The Big Game.”

During this year’s Super Bowl, Elon Musk was seen cozying up with media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, along with Mr. Murdoch’s girlfriend and nearly identical-looking daughter, Elisabeth. As the group appeared on screen, commentators could be heard calling the two “brilliant minds,” — later clarifying that Rupert Murdoch pays their checks.

The interaction prompted the public to, unsurprisingly, leap for their Twitter accounts to explain the meeting: wrong answers only. One user suggested that Elon is going to buy Fox News. Another wrote that Musk could be offering Murdoch a flight to Mars for the simple price of firing Paul Ryan. On a more serious note, Mehdi Hasan, a successful British-American journalist, tweeted: “Elon Musk sitting next to Rupert Murdoch at the Super Bowl. Rightwing billionaire media moguls gotta stick together, I guess. But remember that image next time you hear Musk pretending to be anti-elitist or anti-Establishment or anti the media, or some kind of populist. Lol.”

Democratic political activist, Kaivan Shroff, also added to the conversation, tweeting, “Elon Musk sitting next to Rupert Murdoch at the Super Bowl. 2 men who are working as hard as possible to destroy American democracy as they pretend to celebrate an American cultural moment.” Vague as always, Musk responded to this criticism and speculation with one word: Dogecoin.

(Screenshot from Twitter.com)

A Twitter thread requesting incorrect information about the meeting went viral almost immediately.

This duo is not as surprising as it seems. Rupert Murdoch’s youngest son, James Murdoch, has been a Tesla board member since July 2017, having recently testified on Musk’s behalf in court over his failed attempt at making Tesla a private company a few years ago, while Elisabeth Murdoch is theorized as being a candidate for Twitter’s administrative CEO position.

Even further, these men are linked by their views on free speech. As current CEO of Twitter, Musk has made it abundantly clear that he favors zero censorship for all of the platform’s users — including known racists, neo-nazis, and of course, Donald Trump. People have even urged him to revoke usage of a SpaceX satellite by an international Russian broadcasting system spreading false information about the Russian-Ukrainian war, but Musk has refused to do so. Similarly, Rupert Murdoch is the owner of and investor in hundreds of news outlets, most notably Fox News, which has been a well- documented and prevalent source of false information for years.

Both men have tremendous amounts of resources, influence, money, and narcissism, making their questionable morals so much more dangerous. While Musk paraded himself in the past as a self-made man with anti-establishment and liberal stances, it has become increasingly obvious that he is not so different from other rich white guys with a lust for power, control, and relevance. Proving this, the Tesla founder has recently announced that he plans to create his own Texas town, saying it will be a sort of utopia. Musk has also claimed that he would support Ron DeSantis, a notoriously pro-life and anti-trans Republican politician, if he were to run for president, and has urged his own followers to back DeSantis’ probable campaign. As for Murdoch, his controversies are endless and infamous — from phone hacking to political meddling to fake news. Recently, Washington Senator Patty Murry called out Fox News and Rupert Murdoch for “disinformation and lies” as a means for “profits or political gain.”

Whether or not Murdoch and Musk were scheming world domination while seated together at the Super Bowl, it is in no way irrelevant that two incredibly controversial and powerful men were conversing. Not to mention that the Super Bowl is a publicly televised event, one that loves to spot celebrities in the crowd — meaning this interaction could not have been spontaneous or carried out without due consideration of any fallout. So will we be seeing more of this couple? Or has public response deterred the two from further public meetings? Either way, it’s clear that no matter what, rich (and unethical) white men stick together.