Joyce Carol Oates Owned Billionaire Elon Musk on His Own Platform — Here's What She Said

Prolific American author Joyce Carol Oates getting into an X (formerly Twitter) spat with billionaire Elon Musk was probably not on anyone's 2025 bingo card. But here we are. Joyce fired sharp words at Elon on the very platform that he runs, and she didn't let him off easy.

This saga started with Senator Roland Guiterrez posting a video outside of a Tesla building in Texas. He argued that the government subsidies and contracts Elon's companies have received have helped Elon on his way to becoming a trillionaire, while working-class families are struggling just to get by.

Roland asked, "How do we make it in America with greedy hogs like this who just want to screw us over?"

Elon posted a long response to the video, saying that Roland is a "taker, not a maker." He said, "The zero-sum mindset you have is at the root of so much evil," and that he has been given nothing in regard to Tesla.

This is where Joyce Carol Oates entered the conversation. She commented on Elon's rant about being a "maker, not a taker." She pointed out that Elon doesn't ever post about enjoying the little things in life, adding that he seems totally uneducated and uncultured.

Joyce wrote on X (formerly Twitter), "So curious that such a wealthy man never posts anything that indicates that he enjoys or is even aware of what virtually everyone appreciates — scenes from nature, pet dog or cat, praise for a movie, music, a book (but doubt that he reads); pride in a friend’s or relative’s accomplishment; condolences for someone who has died; pleasure in sports, acclaim for a favorite team; references to history."

She continued, "In fact he seems totally uneducated, uncultured. The poorest persons on Twitter may have access to more beauty and meaning in life than the 'most wealthy person in the world.'"

X user @sketchesbyBoze replied, "This is the single most devastating burn I've ever read," and many others on the platform agreed.

Another fan, @taste_of_tbone, said Joyce's roast is "the most severe, graceful dissection of Elon Musk I've seen. Swift and effortlessly deep, like a piano wire through tofu. Brutal."

But Joyce was just getting started.

She said, "Just minimally well-to-do people donate to charities, local museums and libraries, and the like; they support the commonwealth. And unlike the very wealthy, these people pay high income taxes."

When another X user, @MidwestDeplore, mused that billionaires often drift to the far right politically and lose empathy, Joyce's response became even more brutal.

She said that it's "strange to argue against empathy since 'empathy' is generated by a normal human brain registering a mirror likeness in another person." She wrote, "Notoriously, psychopaths don’t register this kinship and can even murder blood relatives without emotion."

So basically, Joyce is implying that billionaires who don't give back or connect with people (likely alluding to Elon) could be psychopaths.

X user @lionel_trolling echoed her sentiments about empathy, saying, "Joyce Carol Oates single-handedly demonstrating the worth and relevance of the humanities."

Finally, Joyce did give Elon a bit of slack ... sort of. She added that she's impressed he allows criticism of himself on his own platform. But the compliment was a bit backhanded, as she finished with: "That is not usually a magnanimity of spirit commensurate with the extreme type of non-empathetic person."

It's safe to say we won't be entering an X argument with the Pulitzer Prize finalist any time soon.