It was a story so satirically ludicrous, it might as well have been in The Onion. And now, of course, it is.
According to The Daily Beast, billionaire/aspiring immortal Elon Musk tried to buy The Onion, the most consistently good fake news source in the world. The Onion did not sell. In classic petulant rich guy fashion, Musk refused to take no for an answer, opting instead to clone The Onion from its DNA using Jurassic Park technology. Musk decided to launch his own similar website, and even managed to poach some writers from the original. (There’s only so much money an individual can realistically be expected to say no to in good conscience.)
If Musk was such a fan of The Onion to begin with, however, he must have understood that the venerable comedy machine would retaliate in kind.
When the story below arrived back in February, nobody outside of the publication’s sphere knew the reason for its creation.
Elon Musk Offering $1.2 Billion In Grants To Any Project That Promises To Make Him Feel Complete https://t.co/skGVJWe0Zh pic.twitter.com/0ezEoWCTie
— The Onion (@TheOnion) February 7, 2018
However, by the time the story of Musk’s upcoming entrée into the comedy world became public earlier this week, fans of The Onion may have prepped for the onslaught to come.
The following story ran on internet-focused sister-site, ClickHole, yesterday.
I Did Everything I Could To Buy ClickHole, But Their Editorial Integrity Won Out Over My Billion-Dollar Offers, And I Respect Them Even More For That (By Elon Musk) https://t.co/8umlL14OWR pic.twitter.com/RLJGN7qheY
— ClickHole (@ClickHole) March 14, 2018
It was a perfect meta-jab at Musk, who comes off about as megalomaniacal in reality as he does in the story.
Next came a piece in The Onion today, extending the feud.
Elon Musk Embarrassed After Realizing He Proposing Idea For Thing That Already Exists https://t.co/tXZaofQ5Nc pic.twitter.com/GnDGx3lxPD
— The Onion (@TheOnion) March 15, 2018
Ouch. It’s quite likely that The Onion and ClickHole will keep tag-teaming against Musk until either he drops his secret project or–heaven forbid–The Onion goes under. In the meantime, the world awaits the sure-to-be brutal roasting that must be on its way from comedy upstart Elon Musk.
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