“You’re a pompous a**hole,” Elon Musk hits back at Vinod Khosla’s racism claim, cites half-Indian partner, son named after Indian physicist

As Tesla CEO Elon Musk and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla are entangled in a dispute, the internet is abuzz with the controversy. Khosla had accused Musk of racism and that he allegedly tried to poach some of his top talent.

The Tesla boss responded to the controversy by name-calling Khosla while pointing out that his partner is half Indian and that one of his sons is even named after an Indian physicist.

What happened between Musk and Khosla?

It all began after Khosla responded to a September 2025 post by Musk in which the billionaire claimed that “White people are a rapidly diminishing minority of the global population.”

Khosla responded to the post, alleging racism on the part of the Tesla boss and that Musk was not propagating “Make America Great Again” but instead “white America great again.”

“@elonmusk 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!” Khosla wrote.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk claimed that Khosla had tried to stop the public from using a public beach near his house, an allegation he made in the past.

The billionaire appeared to refer to Khosla’s multiple lawsuits over restricting public access to Martins Beach near his estate.

“Vinod, you’re not just such a pompous asshole that you tried to stop the public from using a public beach near your house, you’ve also gone full retard. My partner, Shivon, is half Indian and my eldest son with her is named in honor of the great Indian physicist Chandrasekhar,” Musk wrote.

Vinod, you’re not just such a pompous asshole that you tried to stop the public from using a public beach near your house, you’ve also gone full retard.

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

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 27, 2026

Battle of words between Elon Musk and Vinod Khosla

Musk and Khosla have a history of clashing on social media over various issues.

During the 2024 US elections, Musk had urged Khosla to support Donald Trump. In response, Khosla said it was hard for him to support someone “with no values, lies, cheats, rapes, demeans women, hates immigrants like me.”

Khosla, who is among the first institutional backers of OpenAI, has also defended the ChatGPT maker against Musk’s lawsuits, stating that Musk's suing OpenAI feels like “sour grapes.”

Khosla even went on to say that Musk did not get in early enough in the AI race and did not stay committed, which is why he is now falling back on litigation.

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