A long and uncomfortable silence stopped a CNBC interview with Elon Musk on Tuesday. It was broken when the billionaire quoted the 1987 film "The Princess Bride."
The interview turned as Musk attempted to explain that he's not anti-Semitic.
"No, I’m definitely not. I’m like, I’m like a pro-Semite, if anything," said Musk.
"But why would you even introduce the idea then that would be the case," David Faber asked.
"I mean, it looks we want to make this a George Soros interview," Musk said. George Soros is a prominent philanthropist to progressive and social causes who happens to be Jewish and survived the Holocaust. Implications that Jews own the media is an anti-Semitic trope often used and Musk employs it here, which is why he's being accused of being anti-Semitic.
"No, god, no, I don’t want to at all," Faber scrambled. "But what I’m trying, it even came up though in the annual meeting, I mean, you know, do your tweets hurt the company? Are there Tesla owners who say I don’t agree with his political position because and I know it because he shares so much of it. Or are there advertisers on Twitter that Linda Yaccarino will come and say, you got to stop man or, you know, I can’t get these ads because of some of the things you tweet."
The pause lasted approximately 13 seconds, which is rare on television.
Musk responded to the comment by quoting Inigo Montoya, played by actor Mandy Patinkin. The legendary line that Montoya repeats throughout the film is "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
Musk recalled: "Where he confronts the person who killed his father. And he says, 'Offer me money. Offer me power. I don’t care.'"
The scene he's referring to is part of a chase throughout the castle as Montoya attempts to catch Count Rugen, who killed his father. Montoya is wounded and the fight seems near its end when he is able to regain his strength and the fight continues. Finally, Montoya has the upper hand with Rugen, he repeats the words, "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." He repeats it over and over with each strike of his sword.
"Please, offer me money," Montoya says.
"Yes," says Rugen.
"Power too, promise me that," Montoya says.
"All that I have and more," Rugen promises. "Please?"
"Offer me everything I ask for," Montoya says.
"Anything you want," says Rugen.
Montoya stabs him through with the sword. "I want my father back you son of a b---h."
Musk claimed, "I’ll say what I want to say and if the consequence of that is losing money, so be it."
Taking to Twitter to comment on the CNBC interview, Patinkin explains, "I do not think it means what you think it means."
\u201cI do not think it means what you think it means.\u201d— Mandy Patinkin (@Mandy Patinkin) 1684349750
