Well known author Stephen King on Wednesday made fun of billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk after the latest mishap involving his rocket manufacturing company SpaceX‘s Falcon 9 launch vehicle.
However, Elon Musk responded to King’s criticism and shared an AI-generated image of the author with an eggplant in his mouth, surrounded by cash and a clown.
Elon Musk And Stephen King Cross Swords On X
King’s response to Musk’s post is still awaited.
SpaceX was tasked with launching 21 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Florida at 3:48 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
The deployment of the satellites was accomplished flawlessly.
However, the first stage booster tipped over following touchdown at the droneship in the sea and exploded.
King wrote on social media platform X
“Oops. SpaceX launches are on hold after a booster rocket toppled over in flames while landing Wednesday,”.
Musk’s response was even more scathing as he responded with a lewd remark along with an AI-generated image of the author rolling in money as the antagonist character “It” from his 1986 horror novel by the same name.
The accident provoked the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to demand an investigation and also grounded the company’s Falcon 9 rocket. It is unclear as to how long the halt in launch operations may last.
An FAA spokesperson said.
“The incident involved the failure of the Falcon 9 booster rocket while landing on a droneship at sea. No public injuries or public property damage have been reported. The FAA is requiring an investigation,”
Musk wrote on X
“Now we figure out what went wrong to drive the landing failure rate far above 1 in a thousand, then 1 in 10 thousand … 1 in a million [sic], etc”.
It is not the first time Musk and King have crossed swords on social media. In June the two were involved in a banter and two took turns telling jokes.
The altercation was initiated by King jesting about an Italian chef’s demise and questioning Musk’s ability to match his humour.
King posted,
“The Italian chef died. You could say he pasta-way. Can Elon tell jokes like that? I’m thinking no”
Elon Musk was not one to take it down lightly and responded on X,
“What do you call a Great Dane eating a small piece of ham in a little village? Hamlet eating hamlet in a hamlet,”
Incidentally, King’s profile had a blue tick but in April 2023 the author denied having ever subscribed to this feature.
Elon Musk responded and said that it was his favour to the author on the platform he owns.
Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022 set out for a massive facelift and rebranded the social media platform as X.
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