Elon Musk's Mother Claims Journalists Are 'Paid a Lot' To Lie About Him During Podcast Chat

Maye Musk alleged that journalists were being paid to publish negative coverage of Elon Musk during a bonus episode of Pod Force One on Monday, 14 September 2026.

Speaking while promoting her new book, Timeless: The Art of Reinvention and Resilience at Any Age, she claimed criticism of her son was financially motivated even though her interview presented no evidence of payments or coordinated funding.

Lydia Moynihan interviewed Maye and asked how she felt about her son becoming both famous and 'so controversial.'

Maye said she recalled media coverage predicting Tesla would fail around 20 years ago. She claimed criticism later shifted towards Elon as consumers began buying the company's cars.

Elon Musk Media Coverage Becomes the Focus

Maye said she could not understand why coverage was not more favourable towards her son's achievements. She then suggested that many outlets repeated negative reports using similar wording.

'I don't know why the media aren't proud of Elon for all the accomplishments... But then I think there's a lot of money behind it because when there is something like one, and somebody says something negative about him, 200 outlets say the exact same phrase. And so somebody's connecting all the media and saying it's bad.'

Maye did not identify the outlets she was referring to or provide evidence that their coverage was being coordinated. She also said people she meets while travelling abroad ask why American media coverage of Elon appears so hostile.

She went on to allege that journalists were 'paid a lot' to portray her son negatively. The interview did not identify any journalists, publishers or organisations that had allegedly received such payments.

Maye later claimed reporters could lose funding if they refused to portray Elon negatively. 'They are paid a lot... They're getting funded, you know, and so you either lie and say 'he's a bad guy' or you lose your funding.'

Again, she did not name any funder or provide documents, contracts or other evidence supporting the allegation.

Maye also cited Grok while claiming that 85% of American media was 'anti-Elon.' The discussion did not provide the prompt, response, dataset or methodology behind that figure.

Without those details, the 85% claim cannot be independently assessed. The interview also did not provide evidence substantiating Maye's broader allegations about payments or coordinated media funding. Elon is Tesla's chief executive and the founder and chief executive of SpaceX.

Elon Musk's Twitter Deal and Family Life

The conversation later moved away from the media allegations and towards Elon's acquisition of Twitter, the platform now known as X. The deal closed on 27 October 2022.

Moynihan asked Maye whether she had wanted her son to buy the social media company. Maye said she had not expected the transaction to go through.

'Oh, no. I didn't think it would go through, you know. He can do whatever he likes because it always ends up being a good idea. I mean, with everything he says, it's outrageous... He has these thoughts in his mind, and then they actually happen.'

Her remarks reflected confidence in her son's judgement, even when his decisions initially surprised her.

The interview later turned to Elon's family life. Asked for a favourite story about her son that she rarely shares, Maye called him a 'lovely dad.'

'He's a lovely dad. He plays with them. He loves seeing his kids. His older kids come visit him, and they're so nice. They actually visit me too and stay with me because they go to the theatre or they have friends here. So, I really enjoy that...When he's with his kids, no one else exists,' Maye Musk said.

Maye also discussed her modelling career, ageing and raising three children during the wider interview. Timeless: The Art of Reinvention and Resilience at Any Age was published on Tuesday, 15 September.

Her comments offered a strongly supportive account of Elon from his mother. The allegations about journalists, payments and media funding, however, remained unsupported by evidence presented during the interview.