Mark Cuban gives some of Elon Musk’s online battles a pass

Cuban said Musk’s joke was “kind of crazy,” but defended Musk by arguing that it was just the kind of joke you’d expect from him.

Cuban told Cohen that he had texted Musk once — adding that they were “not friends” but had communicated in the past.

“We texted a couple of times and he had just had a baby and I said, ‘Congratulations on your 90th baby,'” Cuban said.

“And his response was, ‘Mars needs people.’ Yeah, so that’s Elon’s sense of humor, I have no problem throwing Elon under the bus, but I’ll save it for when it’s really deserved,” he added.

Musk, for his part, likes to think that he often engages in harmless trolling on his social media platform, once proclaiming himself Chief Troll Officer.

But his online antics have put him under the spotlight more than once.

In 2018, Musk tweeted that he was considering taking Tesla private at $420, referring to the pseudo-marijuana holiday on April 20. The Securities and Exchange Commission opened an investigation that ended with a $40 million settlement that Musk and Tesla had to pay. outside. Musk and Tesla have admitted no wrongdoing, but the CEO has agreed to step down from his role as chairman.

On Sunday, after the apparent assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, Musk shared a post wondering why the same thing didn’t happen to Trump’s political opponents.

The comment sparked an investigation by the Secret Service, according to Bloomberg, which has filed a request with the agency for any documents referencing Musk’s post.

The agency told Bloomberg that the records were exempt from the FOIA request because they could “interfere with enforcement proceedings.”

“The Secret Service is aware of Elon Musk’s social media post, and in practice we do not comment on matters involving protected information,” a Secret Service spokesperson wrote in an email to Business Insider. “We can tell though. , that the Secret Service investigates all threats related to protected individuals.”

Musk deleted his post the same day. Like many of his controversial posts, the billionaire called this one a joke.

“Well one lesson I’ve learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh doesn’t mean it’s going to be as hilarious as an X post,” he wrote.

Musk and Cuban did not respond to a request for comment.