Stephen Colbert Called Elon Musk A 'Supervillain' To His Face During Their Late Show Interview

Summary

• Stephen Colbert called Elon Musk a supervillain during a 2015 interview.
• Since then, Colbert's opinion of Musk seems to have shifted.
• Colbert continues to joke about Musk's handling of Twitter.

In the entertainment industry, there are very few jobs that are more sought after than being a late-night talk show host. After all, successful late-night talk show hosts become rich and they get to rub elbows with the biggest celebrities in the world.

During one memorable night, Stephen Colbert welcomed Elon Musk on his talk show. Since talk show hosts typically are very kind to their guests, Colbert and Musk's conversation surprised many viewers. During a fascinating discussion, Colbert called Musk a supervillain right to the billionaire's face.

Why Did Stephen Colbert Call Elon Musk A Supervillain To His Face?

After more than four decades of hosting a late-night talk show, David Letterman gave it all up in May 2015. Roughly four months later, Stephen Colbert took over Letterman's slot when he hosted the first episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

When the first episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert aired, the show's producers clearly wanted someone special to appear. Fortunately for Colbert and the people behind the scenes, they were able to get George Clooney as a guest during that first episode.

The following night, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert needed to keep the momentum going. Fortunately, the show's producers were able to get Scarlett Johansson to appear as a guest that second night. The show's producers also booked another fascinating guest to appear during Colbert's second episode.

The day after the first episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Colbert welcomed Elon Musk as a guest. At one point in the resulting interview, Colbert compared Musk to the fictional character Tony "Iron Man" Stark.

As Colbert went on to explain, the rationale for his comparison was that Musk was working on so many cutting-edge projects. "You've got your finger in so many advanced technologies as I said. SpaceX, Tesla, now you got Solar City and the solar pack people put on their houses."

Colbert then went on to ask Musk about his intentions. "Are you sincerely trying to save the world?" In response to Colbert's question, Musk remarked, "Well, I'm trying to do good things. Yeah, I mean, saving the world is not, not, I mean."

Colbert then interrupted Musk to offer his own commentary on what the Tesla CEO was doing at the time. "But, you're trying to do good things and you're a billionaire. That seems a little like a superhero or supervillain. You have to choose one."

As Colbert and Musk's conversation continued, the talk show host offered praise for one of the billionaire's companies. "So, let's talk about the Tesla. I have a Tesla, okay, and I love it." More remarkably, Colbert then asked Musk about his thoughts on humanity going to Mars.

"Another thing that you are talking about is you sincerely think that we should go to Mars. Like, men and women should go to Mars. Why do we want to go to Mars? It's uninhabitable."

In response to Colbert, Musk referred to Mars as a "a fixer-upper of a planet". Musk then went on to explain his belief that humans on Mars would have to live in domes but only at first. "But eventually, you can transform Mars into an Earth-like planet."

When Colbert asked Musk to explain how that could be possible, the Tesla CEO stated humans would just need to warm Mars up. Unsurprisingly, that led to a reasonable question from Colbert, how would humans warm Mars up?

Musk's response to that question was quite remarkable. "There's the fast way and the slow way." Musk continued "The fast way is to drop nuclear weapons over the poles."

After that remark from Musk, Colbert called back to his earlier remark about the business leader being a superhero or supervillain. Only this time, Colbert jokingly stated his belief that Musk was a supervillain. "You're a supervillain. That's what a supervillain does."

How Has Stephen Colbert's Opinion Of Elon Musk Changed?

When Elon Musk appeared during the second episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the host called him a supervillain. However, as anyone who has seen that moment will know, Colbert's remarks seemed to mostly be in jest.

During the rest of their 2015 interview, Colbert and Musk's conversation was very positive. In fact, aside from calling Musk a supervillain, Colbert seemed to have a positive view of the Tesla CEO at that time.

Since 2015, many people have dramatically changed their minds on who Musk is. For some people, Musk has become more of a superhero while others now see him as more of a supervillain. In Colbert's case, he definitely seems to fall in the latter group as of this writing.

In October 2022 when Elon Musk was taking over Twitter, Colbert called the billionaire "unhinged" during his monologue. Colbert then went on to say that Musk "has a screw loose", labeled him "nuts", and called the Tesla CEO "frankly hard to watch".

A couple of weeks after that, Colbert mocked Musk's handling of Twitter as many companies stopped advertising on the platform. “One company is brave enough to stick it out. Because SpaceX purchased a big advertising campaign on Twitter. Yes, Elon’s SpaceX is gonna save Elon’s Twitter. And Elon’s solar panel company is gonna save Elon’s Tesla."

Within days of that, Colbert yet again seemed to delight in Musk losing money. Not only that, Colbert joked about Musk's past spending excesses.

“After a series of very public setbacks, Elon Musk’s 2022 wealth loss exceeds $100 billion. Listen, Elon. I know belt-tightening is no fun, but you’re not alone in these tough economic times! OK? All of us are having to cut back on how many cars we shoot into space.”

As a late-night host, it is Stephen Colbert's job to joke about the biggest news of the day. As a result, it would be strange if Colbert didn't joke about Musk regularly. However, Colbert's jokes about Musk seem to be especially harsh.