An old video of tech billionaire Elon Musk has resurfaced on X, sparking fresh debate over his views on gender identity and what he calls the “woke mind virus.”
In the interview with Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, Musk spoke candidly about his ideological shift during the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly after the gender transition of his child. “My son Xavier is dead, killed by the woke mind virus,” Musk said, alleging that he was pressured into signing documents during a time of crisis. He claimed, “It’s very possible for adults to manipulate children who are having an identity crisis into believing they are the wrong gender,” before declaring, “I vow to destroy the woke mind virus.”
Musk’s child, who legally changed her name to Vivian Wilson in 2022, has openly distanced herself from him, Le Monde reported. On Threads, she wrote: “He doesn’t know what I was like as a child because he quite simply wasn’t there. And in the little time that he was, I was relentlessly harassed for my femininity and queerness.”
The clip resurfaced online after a post quoting Musk’s vow went viral. The post also linked Musk’s controversial decision to buy Twitter (now X) to his broader fight against “woke ideology.” Musk himself amplified the tweet by replying with a simple “Yes.”
Meanwhile, Musk’s financial clout continues to soar. According to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires tracker, his net worth has crossed $500 billion, keeping him far ahead of other global billionaires and placing him halfway to becoming the world’s first-ever trillionaire.
A large part of that surge comes from Tesla’s rally on Wall Street- shares of the electric carmaker jumped nearly 4% on Wednesday, adding about $9.3 billion to Musk’s fortune. Tesla’s market cap is now back within 10% of its all-time high, with Musk’s 12% stake alone valued at around $191 billion.