Elon Musk hits back at Indian-American billionaire Vinod Khosla who accused him of promoting a ‘white America’ agenda

Elon Musk has responded with characteristic bluntness to accusations of racism levelled against him by Indian-American billionaire Vinod Khosla. After Khosla suggested that Musk’s current political trajectory is rooted in a desire for a “white America,” Musk retaliated by attacking Khosla’s character and controversy over public beach access. To counter the narrative of racial bias, Musk highlighted his personal life, mentioning his partner Shivon Zilis’ Indian roots and revealing that his eldest son with her was named after the Nobel Prize-winning Indian-american astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.

It all started with a 2025 tweet by Musk where he posted, “White people are a rapidly diminishing minority of global population.” Reacting to it on Jan 27, 2026, Khosla wrote, “Elon Musk doesn’t want MAGA, he wants WAGA or ‘white America great again’ as a racism is great and desirable” paradigm. All non-whites in @tesla, @SpaceX, @X, etc and all decent whites should quit and join our portfolio. Email us your LinkedIn!”

What did Elon Musk say?

The tech billionaire tweeted, “Vinod, you’re not just such a pompous a**hole that you tried to stop the public from using a public beach near your house, you’ve also gone full r**ard.”

He continued, “My partner, Shivon, is half Indian and my eldest son with her is named in honor of the great Indian physicist Chandrasekhar.”

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A third expressed, “This response takes the ‘some of my best friends are . . .’ to an entirely different level, Elon style.” A fourth joked, “Rich people’s problem.”