Joyce Carol Oates is 87 years old and an American giant of literature, the arts and humanities. She’s won the National Book Award, the O. Henry Award and many more awards and accolades. Oates is also, somewhat hilariously, very online. Her favorite social media outlet seems to be Twitter, and she tweets consistently and she inevitably makes news for her sharp, incisive musings. Well, over the weekend, she saw some douchebro simping over Elon Musk, so Oates decided to share her general thoughts on Musk and how his life actually seems quite miserable. She wrote:
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. In fact he seems totally uneducated , uncultured. The poorest persons on Twitter may have access to more beauty & meaning in life than the “most wealthy person in the world.”
This is so insightful and very true. It reminds me of JK Rowling as well – all of that money, just to wind up a bitter and joyless, endlessly sh-tposting bigotry and hate. Musk is much worse, obviously, and JCO ended up stinging Musk so badly that he furiously started posting about movies he saw years ago and enjoyed! I’m being completely serious. He also replied to someone and wrote: “Oates is a liar and delights in being mean. Not a good human.” Delights in being mean? You mean like those DOGE psychos who slashed USAID and killed thousands of men, women and children across the world? JCO also posted this about Musk:
Truly it was out of curiosity: why a person with unlimited resources exhibits so little appreciation or even awareness of the things that most people value as giving meaning to life. Just minimally well to do people donate to charities, local museums & libraries & the like; they support the commonweal. & unlike the very wealthy these people pay high income taxes.
She is delivering body blow after body blow. She’s now been dissecting him for three straight days and Musk is FURIOUS. He can’t figure out a way to combat an 87-year-old writer who saw into his soul and finds him deeply unimpressive.
"wherever he goes, he wants to leave"– that's because when he gets there, he has brought his own self along; & whatever club he's invited to join has been devalued by the invitation. https://t.co/FfxCBWe155
— Joyce Carol Oates (@JoyceCarolOates) November 11, 2025
She is impressive! A normal parent would be very proud. https://t.co/8N1C3SGcQK
— Joyce Carol Oates (@JoyceCarolOates) November 10, 2025
Acclaimed author Joyce Carol-Oates, 87, really got to Elon by pointing out he is a shell of a human with little of interest to say, has no original ideas and he clearly doesn't read. I have read many of Joyce Carol-Oates books but to me rattling Space Karen ranks up there with… pic.twitter.com/OMCcxfgvbG
— TheRealThelmaJohnson (@TheRealThelmaJ1) November 10, 2025
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.
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- Washington, DC – United States President Donald J. Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting in the White House’s Cabinet Room in Washington, DC. Pictured: Elon Musk BACKGRID USA 30 APRIL 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Washington, DC – Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer, Tesla, SpaceX, and X (previously known as Twitter) and Administrator, Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) speaks during a press conference with United States President Donald J Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC. Pictured: Elon Musk BACKGRID USA 30 MAY 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- WORDTheatre’s 20th Anniversary celebration Sponsored by Phiphen Studios & Randy and Jane Sinisi at The Players, Gramercy Park. Featuring: Joyce Carol Oates (Award Recipient) Where: New York, New York, United States When: 19 Oct 2023 Credit: Marion Curtis/Starpix/startraksphoto.com
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- Elon Musk is seen watching Jannik Sinner Vs Taylor Fritz during the men’s singles finals on Arthur Ashe Stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 8, 2024 in Flushing Queens Featuring: Elon Musk Where: Flushing Meadows, New York, United States When: 08 Sep 2024 Credit: Robert Bell/INSTARimages
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- WORDTheatre’s Authors & Actors event at The Players in NYC, Sponsored by Phiphen Studios and Jane & Randy Sinisi, featuring stories by Lore Segal, Joyce Carol Oates & Bernice McFadden Featuring: Joyce Carol Oates Where: NY, New York, United States When: 24 Sep 2024 Credit: Marion Curtis/Starpix for Phiphen Studios/INSTARimages
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- CPAC, Conservative Political Action Conference is an annual political conference attended by conservative activists and elected officials from across the United States and beyond Featuring: Elon Musk Where: Oxon Hill, Maryland, United States When: 20 Feb 2025 Credit: POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
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- CPAC, Conservative Political Action Conference is an annual political conference attended by conservative activists and elected officials from across the United States and beyond Featuring: Elon Musk Where: Oxon Hill, Maryland, United States When: 20 Feb 2025 Credit: POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
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- CPAC, Conservative Political Action Conference is an annual political conference attended by conservative activists and elected officials from across the United States and beyond at Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center at National Harbor Featuring: Elon Musk Where: Oxon Hill, Maryland, United States When: 20 Feb 2025 Credit: POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
She hit the nail on the hair replacement head. And evidently he was pissed off and crying about her insight into his sad mind and life on his hellscape of a site.
I didn’t realize that he started posting about movies shortly after the JCO tweet. That’s so obvious, jeez. But she makes a good point. What are these people doing? They’re not building libraries or parks or anything. Just hoarding and hurting others.
I, like so many, fantasize about what I’d do with imaginary billions and it’s nothing like what losers like Musk and Bezos do. Probably not as clever or insightful as what Mackenzie Bezos does, but a lot more like that. And then a lot of museum going. I feel plenty lucky to be where I am in reality, but the idea of funding the daylights out of several charities and starting several others and doing good and being a full person…
Just not the pointless idiocy of Musk. He and the rest should go ahead and listen to Jane Goodall and take off for Mars. Go bootstrap yourselves again, lads! You’re the smartestest ever, right? Go for it!
Right? I think “hey if I won the Powerball I could totally fund my local NPR and the county library! I wonder if I could buy kids band instruments too?” And would be so happy to see the fruits of that. These people seem to have zero interest in doing anything positive like that so try their money.
JCO is right, and muskrat will never get under her skin the way she does with him, because she is an 87 year old woman who has no f’s left to give. Good for her.
I’ve always fantasized about just paying off people’s debts. Like all the student loans! All the hospital bills! All the school lunch bills! It makes me sick that some of these people have purses that could pay off my mortgage and I never hear anything about whether they share any of it at all
Ellison…Theil…Jobs…pretty much ALL obscenely rich men through history has showcased the same psychological profile…hoarding ANYTHING has a component of mental illness including 💰 and cosigning on the methodologies to become a billionaire ESPECIALLY when you’re a Male…generally means you’re sociopathic AF which is why they have NO problem decimating the planet & humans in general!😡
It really does beg the question. Did their vast billions make them horrible people, or were they horrible people to begin with and the billions are a side effect?
I got nothing to top this except a very tiny connection to JCO through my sister who took a course in English Lit from her many years ago when she was far from famous.
I fking love her!!!
Bezos seemed joyless at his own wedding! Trump doesn’t seem like he’s ever taken pleasure in anything, either.
So delicious. Oates made one insightful comment and Musk’s response was to crawl onto a metaphorical spit and let her roast him.
Comment of the week right here ha!
Oates struck a nerve. I never thought about it but she’s right. I think the reason is despite all the money and access he has he is still doesn’t like himself and is terribly unhappy. This is man who wants to be liked by everybody and who cried when he was asked about people hating Tesla and him.
I think we are about to get one of her great roman a clefs starring a thinly disguised Elon.
“Whatever club he’s invited to join has been devalued by the invitation.”
That may be the single most graceful burn I’ve ever heard. Five stars.
I love this so much. Also love that “Space Karen” nickname is catching on hahah
We Nigerians have a term for what JCO has done to musk..’SEE FINISH’.. it means when you can see into the core of a person’s soul and circimstance.
“Wherever he goes, he wants to leave. That’s because he brought his own self along…”
Absolutely savage and I am here for it!
the same could be said for dear orange leader – eats crap food, has no appreciation for the arts, goes on “important trips to foreign nations” only to fall asleep immediately, the never ending need to grub more and more…..money definitely doesn’t equal taste or culture.
Ahahahaha!!! Her criticisms of Musk are PRICELESS. He IS a joyless person who never seems happy, like a lot of billionaires TBH. She’s such a queen for putting that bad hair plug in his place.
Fantasizing about being a billionaire directly contradicts my core belief that billionaires shouldn’t exist so I gotta say: never done that before.
I would, however, love to have enough money to never have to think about money. I don’t wanna be rich, I just wanna be comfortable enough that a home emergency or an unexpected vet bill doesn’t financially distress me.
JCO’s “Black Water,” a roman a clef about Chappaquidick, haunted me … I also hope she writes a book about Musk. It would slay him.
I often imagine what I would do with billions. Yesterday I thought about a new friend who is in chronic pain and I imagined I would buy him a massage chair to put in place of his lazy boy. I think of special ed kids who need more trained educators. I think of all the programs that he participated in canceling for Americans and imagine that he must have monetarily enriched himself.
Elon brought back interest in electric cars. This is a contribution that has been sullied by his recent work.
I recently realized that El0n is autistic. Watching his speech at a Trump rally was painful. His awkward use of language, his stims, and narrow interests. My son is autistic, and I have been exposed to many other autistic children, so it is easy to recognize the behaviors.
Something about her burn touched a nerve.
No matter how well-read I am, my son has no interest in fiction or historic events. He struggles to read the few books that are required in the middle school. If it is a topic of his interest, such as Chemistry or robotics, he will read and write instructions and pages and pages of manuals. I have tried for years to interest him in other topics, and I found a way to circumvent his resistance to some topics in order to round his personality. I sing, played cello and piano, and he has a beautiful voice that he won’t use. He has a wonderful heart though, loves people and animals, loves to be helpful and he insisted that we grow veggies in a nearby community garden.
What I am trying to say is that it is not El0n’s fault that he is autistic, so some of the burns by this lady seem to be misdirected.
He has been failed by his parents, and never realized that he doesn’t have a heart. You can be autistic and a kind person, which he is not. This is where he is truly deficient.
Elon may be autistic–he is only self-diagnosed as far as I know–but he is an asshole by choice. I’ve known plenty of autistic people and am a little neurospicy myself. Almost all the autistic people I know take plenty of joy from life. Indeed, there is rarely a more enthusiastic person than an autistic person telling you about their special interest. For me, who struggled socially as a child, the deep friendships I’ve formed as an adult are a huge source of joy. Don’t blame autism for the moral wreck this man has become.
Joyce Carol Oates is a wonderful writer who has entertained, challenged and been provocative for millions. Her words have personally given me so much joy. I love that she is taking the piss out of a manbaby who probably couldn’t sit down and read a book if he tried. She is clever, observant and brutally truthful. We are so lucky to have access to her words, no matter what the medium. She is right, none of these billionaires seem to have any pleasure, any love, respect or admiration for anything. They never laugh. They only smile when being greedy or cruel. If I had even 100th of his money, I would take care of as many people as I could. And I am a believer in pay it forward. He seems to be a believer in I’m getting mine and screw you. What a waste of life.