The Brief: Elon Musk smoked weed on Joe Rogan's podcast, causing an uproar.

Bluesquiggle
DEEP DIVE

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX appeared on comedian Joe Rogan‘s live podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, and took a hit of a blunt.

Did he even inhale?

There is some debate (on Twitter) as to whether or not Musk actually inhaled, or if he pulled a Bill Clinton on that one.

Consequences?

Although marijuana is legal for recreational use in California (where Rogan and Musk were), there have been some criticisms of Musk’s actions. Marijuana is still illegal on a federal level in the U.S. Tesla reportedly drug tests some of its employees. 

In recent Tesla news that does not seem to be directly related to the Rogan podcast, two top executives quit, including the chief accounting officer, and the company’s stock declined by 6% in one day. 

Memeification:

Elon Musk memes, which have some similarity to Mark Zuckerberg memes, are not new. This recent weed smoking incident has inspired some seriously dank memes, many of which make fun of the CEO for being a nerd and a capitalist.

 

Elon Musk Memes are on the rise, Invest! from r/MemeEconomy

Widely applicable Elon format. Invest while you can! from r/MemeEconomy

And this one combines Nike Colin Kaepernick memes with Elon Musk smoking weed memes:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bnb-3IznMTY/?taken-by=black_humorist